FE0072

Written evidence submitted by Mrs Christine Ponton

EVIDENCE 1

The resources for curriculum mapped financial education are already available, and have been for several years.  See below

   MoneySavingExpert.com 

   News 

   2021 

   October

MSE News

First-ever financial education textbook now available across the UK

Emily White | News & Investigations Reporter 

Updated 11 October 2023 | Created 26 October 2021

The first-ever curriculum-mapped financial education textbook – funded by a personal donation by MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis – is now available in secondary schools across the UK.

Download a free copy of the right textbook...

As the textbooks are curriculum-mapped, which one is right for you depends on which UK nation you are in. For the sake of transparency and openness, we have detailed the funding of each textbook...

•                               England. This was the original Your Money Matters - England and was funded solely by Martin in 2018, with a donation of £325,000 to the Young Money Charity, which included sending 340,000 free copies to all English state secondary schools, one per two children. Since then, an additional 6,000 copies have been sent to schools and colleges in England – bringing the total to 346,000. 
•                               The other UK nations. After the success of the English textbook, the Money & Pensions Service agreed to split the cost (£162,000 each) of adapting and republishing the textbook for the rest of the UK nations:
  
  - Your Money Matters - Northern Ireland (15,450 copies were sent to schools)
  - Your Money Matters - Scotland (27,000 sent to 350 schools)
  - Your Money Matters - Wales (16,500 copies to 200 schools in Wales)

As well as the textbooks, schools are given an accompanying online teacher's guide and a PowerPoint version for use in lessons, which were all made available for free to support home learning. Digital copies of the textbooks can also be downloaded for free (via the links  above). 

EVIDENCE 2

It is a matter of grave concern that the ‘Your Money Matters’ resources that were made available FREE of charge to schools across UK have not been used to incorporate financial education into the curriculum: hence the discussion with Robin Walker MP on Radio 4 Money Box broadcast on 9th December 2023 

The absence of financial education, and the need and want for this essential life skill, was voiced by the youngsters interviewed for the programme as well as by Robin Walker MP.

I can confirm this too from discussion with my 3 grandsons aged 15 to 17 years who attend a state school (with outstanding OFSTED) and a public school.  They assure me they have never seen the ‘Your Money Matters’ materials in any format.  They have learned about compound interest in mathematics and some finance related matters in computer science.

In the meantime their parents assumed that the finance education was being covered at school and did not take steps to obtain the materials themselves.  (I am very glad that I did to accompany a gift of money at age 16 years to ensure it would be used wisely and responsibly with confidence and competence.)

EVIDENCE 3

Is the failure to provide financial education with the ‘Your Money Matters’ resources that were provided to schools since 2018 evidence that the education system as a whole is seriously wanting?

It seems that to ‘teach to the test’ is the overarching principle and that essential life skills education not included in the formal exam curriculum will not be included, regardless of the help provided to schools.  Furthermore, the students and their families are not being warned and advised where and how to pursue the education for themselves.

December 2023