School children to learn that money counts

The book marks the introduction of personal finance into the new curriculum from this year. It will help teachers develop financial capability in children from Reception to Year 6, preparing them for the sort of financial decisions they will face as adults.

The FSA has a statutory objective to promote public awareness of the UK financial system. The Authority welcomes personal finance in schools as an important step in achieving this objective. Not only will primary schools be tackling personal finance education secondary schools will also be delivering it as part of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). The FSA is developing a range of resources to help teachers, including a website and TV programmes.

Through lesson-length activities and extended projects linked to the National Numeracy Strategy, Money Counts can help to develop three key areas of financial capability:

Financial Understanding - What forms money takes, where it comes from and where it goes;

Financial Competence - Looking after money, spending money and budgeting, and basic concepts of risk and return; and

Financial Responsibility - Making personal life choices and understanding the social, moral, aesthetic, cultural and environmental implications of finance.

Gill Hind, of the FSAs Consumer Education Department said:

Despite enormous changes in the world of personal finance in recent years, there remains a striking lack of financial awareness amongst large sections of the adult population.

By introducing teaching resources like Money Counts now, we are helping to lay the foundations of greater financial capability in the future. Giving children the chance to learn basic financial skills means they will be much better prepared for the financial landscape they will face later in life.

In the past, the curriculum evolved around cash-based transactions between individuals and shopkeepers. But todays children are more likely to experience shopping as putting items in a supermarket trolley and paying with a plastic card. Similarly, many childrens experience of pocket money has changed, as parents are less prepared to allow children to go to a shop unaccompanied, and as the kind of corner shops where pocket money is traditionally spent become rarer.

This book shows teachers how to develop childrens knowledge and understanding of money in the modern world, within the daily maths lesson and PSHE and Citizenship.

A free copy of Money Counts will be issued this week to all state primary schools in England and Northern Ireland, and to schools in Wales and Scotland later in the year. Further copies, priced 10, are available from:

BEAM Education Maze Workshops 72a Southgate Road London N1 3JT Tel 020 7684 3330

Notes for editors

1. The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; the protection of consumers; and fighting financial crime.

2. The FSA aims to maintain efficient, orderly and clean financial markets and help retail consumers achieve a fair deal.

3. Money Counts was produced on behalf of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), Northern Ireland Curriculum Council for Examination and Assessment (NICCEA) and the Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales (ACCAC) for the FSA. Other partners in the production of the resource were the Basic Skills Agency (BSA), the National Numeracy Strategy and the Standards and Effectiveness Unit.

4. A version for Scotland is in production which reflects practice in Scottish schools. This is being produced in collaboration with Learning and Teaching Scotland. It will be sent to all primary schools in Scotland later this Autumn.

5. The FSA has already produced Mega Money for schools. These are giant cardboard coins which can be used in the daily mathematics lesson, and are available from BEAM at the above address.

6. The FSAs website for teachers is at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumerhelp and is regularly updated.