A vital addition to the National Curriculum

AFTER much campaigning, financial education was formally introduced into the National Curriculum in 2014 for children in England.

Research carried out by charity the Personal Finance Education Group before it was introduced found just five per cent of young people were leaving school with the knowledge they needed to manage their finances.

As part of the new curriculum children in infants and junior schools – key stages one and two – cover basic topics such as where money comes from and how to spend and save.

In secondary school, students aged 11 to 13 – key stage three – cover topics such as budgeting and managing risk. Those aged 14 and over are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services and how public money is raised and spent. The topics are covered in Citizenship or Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education classes.

Justin Urquhart Stewart, founder of asset manager 7 Investment Management, says: ‘If you think subjects like compound interest are too complicated for young people, think again. I have never met a young person who is not interested in money. Unlike adults, they tend to like talking about it too.’