Can you teach children to be good with money?
To avoid future debt, we believe financial capability education should start at primary school, before children start managing their own money and bad financial habits are learned. To do this, we created a programme that covers a wide-range of financial subjects in an engaging and interesting way.
Wants & Needs
This module is designed to introduce children to the basic idea that there is a difference between the things needed to live, water, food and warmth, for example, and the things that we want. It also explores how focussing on wants can lead to money problems.
Budgeting
Fairly self-explanatory, in this lesson we teach that there are three types of budget, and the dangers of not sticking to a budget.
Payments and Savings
This module examines the various types of banks and payments that currently exist and the benefits and drawbacks of each. We also look at why we save money and how to do that.
The World of Work
To effectively manage their money, pupils need to understand how people earn money to begin with and start thinking about type of career they would like to do to earn that wage.
Pupils are introduced to the idea that the skills required are different for each job, as are the rewards. By thinking about their own strengths and interests, children are made aware of the importance of planning ahead.
Financial Risks
This lesson is one of the most vital aspects of the programme and the focus of DebtAware’s creator, Debt Advice Foundation. This section of the programme moves onto more adult themes, to allow pupils to understand why people borrow money. There is also a focus on the different types of borrowing and how interest is calculated on borrowed money.
Advertising & Value for Money
This final module explores the ways that we are all encouraged to spend through clever advertising techniques. We look at real-world examples and talk about how to decide if something is genuinely good value for money.
The DebtAware Money Management Programme also has supplementary modules in income tax, money through the ages and currency.