FE0065

Written evidence submitted by the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT)

Our submission focuses on:

●       What should we be teaching young people about money? What should financial education include and are there any aspects missing from the current provision?

●       Where should financial education sit within the National Curriculum between the ages of 11 and 16? To what extent does its current position within the curriculum limit the amount of delivery time it receives?

●       What steps should be taken to support teachers and schools in their delivery of financial education?

●       Should the provision of financial education in schools be extended beyond key stages three and four. Is there scope for it to be embedded more extensively at primary-school level?

●       Examples of best practice in teaching financial education.

1. What should we be teaching young people about Financial Education?

1.1 Education for effective Citizenship is vital if we are to collectively tackle the challenges we face in society and to create a more inclusive democracy. Topics such as financial and economic education, climate change, race equality, global migration and the proliferation of misinformation and conspiracy theories, alongside core knowledge about the political system, parliamentary democracy and justice, highlight the relevance of the subject today.

1.2 For primary schools, Citizenship has a non-statutory national programme of study which the DfE expects schools to follow. For secondary schools, Citizenship is both a compulsory national curriculum foundation subject and GCSE qualification. The subject is derived from the academic subject disciplines of political science, law and sociology. The current national curriculum specifies what should be taught in schools at different ages in broad terms. For example, in relation to financial and economic education the subject purposes and aims for Citizenship include that teaching:

‘should also prepare pupils to take their place in society as responsible citizens, manage their money well and make sound financial decisions’;  and that pupils

‘are equipped with the skills to think critically and debate political questions, to enable them to manage their money on a day-to-day basis, and plan for future financial needs.’

1.3 The Citizenship programme of study teaching requirements include:

At key stages 1 and 2 (5-11 year olds)

●        to realise that money comes from different sources and can be used for different purposes

●        about the range of jobs carried out by people they know, and to understand how they can develop skills to make their own contribution in the future

●        to look after their money and realise that future wants and needs may be met through saving.

At key stage 3 (11-14 year olds)

●        the functions and uses of money, the importance and practice of budgeting, and managing risk.

At key stage 4 (14-16 year olds)

●        income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.

GCSE Citizenship Studies includes content on:

●        how public taxes are raised and spent by government locally and nationally

●        the practice of budgeting and managing risk and how it is used by government to manage complex decisions about the allocation of public funding

●        different viewpoints and debates about how governments and other service providers make provision for welfare, health, the elderly and education.

1.4 While these teaching requirements set out the broad areas of content that must be studied, they lack detail and specificity and need to be amplified and translated into teachable topics, and linked with the development of Citizenship and financial competencies including digital skills such as using online financial tools. The contexts and issues used to develop financial education and bring learning to life are important for engaging students in a range of personal and social situations and teaching needs to focus on considering the needs of students. These areas will need fuller consideration should there be a future review of the national curriculum and or GCSE content. However, it is also worth recognising that alongside ACT, other organisations such as NatWest Making Sense, and Young Enterprise’s Young Money programmes provide highly regarded and detailed support for teachers and schools.

1.5 ACT has also been in discussion with the Royal Society about their work on the future of mathematics and the ways in which Citizenship and mathematics education develop different levels of knowledge, understanding and competency in relation to information, statistics and financial education.

2. Where should Financial Education sit in the curriculum?

2.1 Curriculum location and status do impact on what schools teach, and how well they teach. The current arrangements for financial education through mathematics and Citizenship offer schools a way to develop the functional, personal and societal dimensions through study of subjects that form part of the core and foundation national curriculum requirements. However, while Citizenship is a subject in the national curriculum and a GCSE qualification, it would no doubt be higher profile in more schools if national levels of support and investment were received on a par with core subjects such as mathematics.  In addition, the inconsistency of the status of the subject, that is, that Citizenship is non-statutory in primary education and statutory in secondary education (but only in state maintained schools), coupled with the lack of investment and profile afforded the subject by the government over the past 12 years, affects both the status, quality and  effectiveness of provision in schools.

2.2 ACT research with 75 schools across England, including state, private, mixed, single-sex, mainstream, SEN, urban and rural institutions. In 2022-3 as part of our ongoing National Citizenship Education Survey (NCES) in collaboration with Middlesex University we identified the following:

●        Teachers’ qualifications impact on student experiences in terms of the curriculum and the breadth and depth of certain topics addressed.

●        Students taught by specialist citizenship teachers are more likely to experience an open classroom climate which is important for addressing sensitive topics (such as those that arise in financial education).

●        40% of secondary schools do not include a statement about their curriculum for Citizenship on their school website even though this is a requirement, leaving parents and others uninformed about the subject.

●        60% stated they have a nominated subject leader for the subject, but that this person was not always a subject specialist, suggesting 40% do not have a subject leader in place.

●        Almost half of schools in the sample did not have a consistent teaching team for the subject, and models of delivery relied on  non-specialists.

●        Just under half of those in the sample take up regular opportunities for Citizenship CPD.

2.3 The NCES survey also asked about the regularity of teaching the different topics required in Citizenship. The findings shows that economic and financial education is taught several times during the key stage 3 by over a third of teachers, at least once by over a quarter and not at all by the rest. At key stage 4 this improves with over half of those surveyed  teaching economic and financial education several times, over a third at least once and around 10 percent not all at all. The improvement at key stage 4 is likely to reflect that 40% of those in our sample offer the GCSE Citizenship Studies, which includes requirements to teach about the economy and financial education. While in reality we recognise these responses are from teachers who are in the main linked with the association and therefore might reflect a more positive than the actual national picture,  the findings also confirm the value of statutory requirements and measures to raise the profile of financial education such as  through GCSE. We strongly support the inclusion of Citizenship as a statutory subject in primary education and we believe this would in turn strengthen provision for financial education overall.

2.4 In addition, it is worth noting that Citizenship is a specialist teacher training subject. However, it is the only national curriculum subject not to have in place a financial bursary to support those who choose to train as a specialist.. A Citizenship trainee receives £0 of financial support compared with a mathematics trainee who can receive £27,000. In a climate of continued cost of living issues, there is little doubt this situation is unhelpful in attracting Citizenship trainees. However, across all subjects, teacher training numbers have declined in recent years and DfE statistics confirm targets have been missed by almost 40%; so there is a deeper issue here. Specific Citizenship teacher trainee numbers are not collected by the DfE. However, our research indicates there are less than 50 trainees on specialist Citizenship courses in the current academic year which is around 35% of the numbers from a decade ago.

Ofsted Annual Report findings for Citizenship and financial education

2.5 The recently published annual report by HM Chief Inspector of Schools highlights a number of contradictions and issues which do not help Citizenship or financial education. First, Ofsted has arbitrarily decided to inspect Citizenship under the Personal Development inspection measure rather than as part of the Quality of Education, which includes other national curriculum subjects. In effect, this means the aspects of financial education that fall into Citizenship are also inspected as one of the many aspects of Personal Development. The consequences of this are a less detailed approach to evaluating the quality and impact of teaching and outcomes for pupils.

2.6 Secondly, the Ofsted annual report indicates 89% of schools were judged as having ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ personal development while simultaneously stating:

●        schools are doing a lot of effective work in the area of personal development, but it is, too often, not as coherent as it could be

●        in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education and in citizenship, some schools do not identify what pupils need to know and be able to do

●        the curriculum offer in citizenship in secondary schools does not typically match the scope and ambition of the national curriculum

●        across primary and secondary schools, assessment practices are not fit for purpose

●        too many schools do not prioritise this curriculum area enough and give leaders time to fulfil the demands of their roles

●        teachers do not receive enough professional development to give them sufficient expertise to teach subjects such as PSHE and citizenship well.

2.7 Clearly, on Ofsted’s evidence alone, there is considerable work to do to improve the quality and sufficiency of Citizenship education. Until this is addressed with the seriousness it deserves, the work that ACT and others who support the subject including financial education will be hindered. It is noticeable, too, that no comments are made by Ofsted about the state of primary Citizenship education, which we believe plays a very important role in setting the knowledge, skills and habits for life when it comes to making sense of money and effective financial education.

3. Examples of Practice - What has ACT been doing to support improved financial education in Citizenship?

3.1 Following the publication of the APPG’s report: Building Beyond Barriers – A roadmap for enhancing financial education in schools  earlier this year and our own evidence collection, we have been undertaking work that helps to address the committee’s key recommendation, ‘a more ambitious and collaborative approach is adopted which further supports the educators at the heart of delivery’. We agree with the committee,  ‘schools have a vital role to play in the delivery of financial education, especially in deprived areas’. At ACT we  have only been able to undertake the activities we have because of funding that we raised to help us expand our offer and work with schools. We have had no funding specifically to support the development of financial education in Citizenship.

3.2 In line with the APPG recommendations our recent work has aimed to:

• address lack of awareness about curriculum requirements and statutory duty to deliver financial education through the curriculum including through the subject of  Citizenship

• offer teachers accessible and ready-to-use resources and professional development, with training closely tied to how to meet curriculum requirements

• exemplify how to link teaching about financial topics and the economy to contemporary and relevant issues and to model how to contextualises teaching  to their settings and to learner needs

• contribute to winning the hearts and minds of teachers because financial education through Citizenship is important for young people’s futures.

3.3 ACT has an important role in raising awareness of financial and economic education through existing curriculum requirements, as well as understanding the issues teachers face in terms of finding curriculum time and navigating challenging and sensitive conversations around finance. Our activities over the past 12 months to develop further curriculum resources to help model how to ensure financial education is taught effectively as part of the Citizenship curriculum and to provide teachers with continuing professional development. This built on earlier work with Young Money, MAPS, Kingston University and Citizenship educators to develop a summary of the key concepts and opportunities that arise through Citizenship.

(see illustration 1 below).

Illustration 1: ACT concept map economic and financial education in Citizenship.

3.4 Our model Curriculum resources now offer examples of how to link financial education with a range of Citizenship topics and contemporary issues. The resources  include sequences of lessons, ready-to-use slide decks and student materials, and professional advice on how to teach the lessons effectively for non-specialist teachers. The new materials  are designed around progressive sequences of enquiry questions to stimulate critical thinking and learning and link concepts, synopticity, assessment opportunities and links to GCSE Citizenship Studies requirements as well as to the national curriculum subject.

3.5 We have included three examples of the work with samples of materials that we have developed in the last year:

Example 1. How can we be informed consumers? Students begin by considering the factors that influence how we choose to spend our money, including an introduction to price, value and budgeting. They then focus on ethical considerations and consumerism, learning about sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals, environmental issues and fair trade. With a focus on the clothing industry, they learn about child labour and related rights and legislation. Designed for teaching students in key stage 3. A summary of the curriculum package is provided below.

Example 2 What has the UK economy got to do with me?

Students explore where the government’s money comes from and consider spending priorities nationally and locally, including the need for emergency spending. They then focus on the role of taxation, looking in detail at how Income Tax and National Insurance contributions are calculated and learning how to read a payslip. They find out about credit and debt in both individual and national contexts and debate a range of ethical issues through case studies. Is our current tax system fair? Is it wrong to try to avoid paying tax? Should countries always have to pay back debt? Finally, they consider how, as individuals, we all contribute to the economy in our day-to-day lives before returning to the key question for this scheme of work – What has the UK economy got to do with me? Designed for teaching students in key stage 4.

Example 3. Fraud is the biggest crime in society – what can we do about it?

New resources to support Fraud Education have been written by ACT and developed with secondary teachers with funding from the Home Office and the National Crime Agency. The resources consist of four lessons and two assemblies for use with students in secondary education and are ideal for specialist or non-specialist teachers including tutors. The assembly resources can also be used by police community engagement teams and youth workers as well as by teachers in schools and colleges.

The materials are designed to educate young people on the risks of fraud and how to protect themselves and others. The lessons come with lesson plans and address the key requirements of the Citizenship National Curriculum in relation to the law, crime and the consequences of crime for individuals, communities and society. The materials address:

●       the definitions of fraud

●       the Fraud act 2006

●       money muling

●       how to protect yourself from fraud and how to report it

The four lessons are designed for students in Year 9, but can be adapted for use with younger or older age groups. The content can be taught within separate timetabled Citizenship lessons or as part of a school’s personal development curriculum.

The next phases of this work involves ACT  delivering a series of teacher continuing professional development sessions to provide further support to schools around these topics. This work is taking place between December 2023 and March 2024.

4. What should happen next

4.1 Schools, parents and society must be confident in the quality of Citizenship education. Teachers should be supported and encouraged as they develop a rich, rigorous and robust curriculum for Citizenship which includes financial education. We urge the DfE and the Money Advice and Pensions Service to make more of the opportunities to promote the opportunities for teaching financial education through Citizenship and to support work that schools do.

4.2 ACT believes financial education should become statutory through Citizenship in the primary curriculum to ensure good progression to secondary education requirements. We believe teachers should be better supported through high quality resources, initial and continuing teacher education; and that the curriculum and GCSE requirements could be strengthened to provide clear expectations and detail of what should be taught and when.

4.3  We welcome opportunities for collaboration with other organisations and opportunities to work with those in Government and the DfE to help achieve these shared goals to raise awareness of the Citizenship curriculum and its unique contribution in high quality financial and economic education.

www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

ACT is a registered Charity and the recognised subject association for Citizenship.

December 2023

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