The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Finance gets funny to help make pupils’ learning more enjoyable
More than a quarter (27%) of children in the UK enjoy learning about money at school, according to a new survey.
The study among 1,600 youngsters, undertaken by Beano Studios, also found the top three things youngsters believe would make learning about money more fun.
Jokes and funny stuff, games and using “real” money in “real” situations were top of their list.
It comes as the Bank of England (BoE), The Beano – the world’s longest-running weekly comic – and digital education company Tes Global launch Money and Me, a new primary school resource to help teachers engage children in money and financial wellbeing.
BoE governor Andrew Bailey said: “The current economic situation has demonstrated the importance of financial education. This research shows how much further we have to go to embed it into the lives of young people.
“Our Money and Me resource, developed in conjunction with The Beano and Tes Global, will help to fill that gap and support primary school teachers to engage pupils in these vital issues from an early age.”
Money and Me features Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and The Beano gang, who help to bring to life everything to do with financial literacy in 12 step-by-step lessons, with presentations, activities and games linked to school curriculums in across the UK.
Lessons cover questions and topics such as What is Money? Managing My Money, Ethical Spending and What is Debt? Children can work out how Minnie should spend her £10 birthday money, help Dennis avoid a charity fundraising scam and advise Smiffy on the importance of making secure online payments.
The survey also found girls (19%) are less likely to enjoy learning about money than boys (34%).
To help change attitudes, Money and Me features a host of female characters from The Beano, including Minnie, JJ and Rubi, and a broad range of topics to appeal to girls as well as boys.
Beano Studios strategic partnerships and learning director Fiona Hickley said: “Our Beano for Schools lesson plans are every teacher’s secret weapon, translating complicated topics into fun and engaging teaching programmes. Creating these financial literacy lessons with our muchloved characters has been brilliant and we know kids are not only going to really enjoy them but learn essential life skills.”
Money and Me will be hosted on Tes Global’s resource sharing platform.
More than 13 million teachers are part of the online community.
Tes Global chief education and external officer Lord Knight of Weymouth said: “The Beano is an icon of childhood and it continues to have an amazing connection with children.
“This initiative has combined the power of the Beano brand with the expertise of the Bank of England and Tes Global’s resource authors to create a really engaging set of financial literacy resources that will be available to the nation’s teachers.”
Teachers can access the resource at bankofengland.co.uk/education/educationresources/money-and-me
“Our lesson plans are every teacher’s secret weapon”