Money lessons attract interest

government-backed financial education programme fully aligned with the curriculum, so can be taught as part of day-today classes in subjects as diverse as maths, social studies, technology, English and even health.

A wide range of resources, designed by teachers for teachers, is already available through sortedinschools.org. nz, and we deliver professional development courses and webinars to help teachers feel confident in teaching the subject.

Of teachers who have taken our professional development courses, 95 per cent report being ‘‘very satisfied’’ with the quality of the resources.

And because the programme is funded by the government, it’s all free.

But there’s a catch. It’s optional. So far 69 per cent of secondary schools have registered their interest in the programme, and 35 per cent are using the resources, but we want to see those numbers increase.

Teachers need to make an active choice to take our ‘oven ready’ lessons off the shelf and put them into action in the classroom. When the curriculum is already crowded, and a teacher’s day so busy, what drives that choice?

For many of the 1000 teachers so far registered to use the programme, it’s their own passion for helping students become good with money, and that’s fantastic. But sometimes the adoption of something new needs driving from the top down, or from within a school’s parent community.

We urge principals to get behind Sorted in Schools, advocate for its importance in ensuring their students’ future wellbeing and drive a plan for how all their students could benefit from it.

This might mean nominating a champion for the programme to work with us in introducing it to heads of department and teachers throughout the school, and coordinate our professional development programmes.

When 82 per cent of school leavers tell us they wish they’d learned more about money in school, you’ll get no argument from your students.