Teachers say financial education should go beyond maths lessons

To mark Talk Money Week, national financial and enterprise education charity Young Enterprise has commissioned a poll, conducted by Teacher Tapp, revealing that nine in 10 UK teachers believe financial education should be taught in more than just maths lessons.

The research found that teachers overwhelmingly agree on a need to embed financial education across subjects such as PHSE (75 per cent) and Citizenship (40 per cent).

Analysis revealed that this belief remains consistent between primary and secondary teachers, as well as in both state-funded and fee-paying schools. 

While many teachers agree that maths provides essential foundations, many feel a broadening of responsibility across subjects is necessary to equip young people with genuine financial skills.  
 
Russell Winnard, chief operating officer for Young Enterprise, said: “Too often, questions to the government about how they can do more to support young people’s financial capability are consistently routed back to maths provision, with limited consideration of the role of other subjects in developing financial capability."
 
“The Curriculum and Assessment review is a rare opportunity to elevate financial education without overburdening teachers. Training and resources exist for effective delivery, but uptake will remain low until the government explicitly recognises financial education as ‘more than maths’.” 
 
Evidence shows the impact of changing the approach to financial education, and the embracing of applied learning speaks for itself. Young Enterprise’s work in schools where disadvantage is high has demonstrated that 80 per cent of teachers reported a positive impact on learning attitudes, and 67 per cent observed improvements in the quality of students work when providing greater opportunities for young people to apply their learning.