Financial education should be taught in primary schools, say UK MPs

Financial education should be taught in primary schools, MPs have said.

A report released this week called for the subject to become compulsory in primary schools to enable children to learn day-to-day financial skills.

Benefit

The report stated that children in primary schools get left behind early in life as a result of not learning financial skills. It called for day-to-day skills such as dealing with bank statements and filling out tax returns to be introduced.

Whilst financial education has already been rolled out in secondary schools, the report showed that one in five teachers of the subject do not know enough about it.

Schools have already been provided with resources to help pupils learn about issues such as debt after the Government launched the Illegal Money Lending Team two years ago. However, the report found that just one in six secondary school teachers are trained to teach the subject.

Encouraged

According to the report, “strengthening school provision at both primary and secondary level remains a critical issue.”

“We need to encourage teaching – in both mathematics and citizenship – to focus on real-life contexts, such as reading bank statements and paying taxes,” it added.

The report went on to discuss the importance of introducing financial education at primary level, stating that the role that primary schools can play in helping to familiarise children with money concepts in an age-appropriate manner needs to be recognised.