Ecstra Foundation has hosted a financial education webinar for teachers, academics and government stakeholders, exploring what resources and support teachers need in order to teach young Australians to be more financially literate.
Ecstra Foundation is an independent charitable foundation that launched the Talk Money program in February 2022 in response to the financial education gap in Australian schools. The in-classroom workshops teach foundational money lessons, are interactive to encourage students to ask questions, discuss what they are learning and take those lessons home to share. The program is offered free to all schools for years 5-10.
The webinar brought together a number of education experts to discuss how schools can better provide students with the knowledge and skills to navigate financial decision-making in an increasingly complex world.
The presenters were:
- Rachelle Willington (ACARA curriculum specialist, HASS)
- Rachael Whitney-Smith (ACARA curriculum specialist, mathematics)
- Melanie Hughes (ACARA curriculum specialist, technologies)
- Andrew Dadswell (ASIC MoneySmart)
- Alex Symonds (RBA Education)
- Lynette Rose (Office of Fair Trading Qld)
- Dr John West (President of the Maths Association WA)
- Sheila Griffin (Numeracy Consultant)
- Bronny Burger (Next Generation Project Lead)
- Roset Khair (Vice President Economics and Business Educators NSW)
Dr Tracey West, financial education manager at Ecstra Foundation, said while there is broad agreement that financial literacy is an essential skill in today’s world, there are still challenges to finding the best way to improve literacy levels.
“We know teachers already have enough on their plate. What they want is resources and activities that can be readily incorporated into existing lesson plans, in a way that is engaging and authentic.
“A constant theme from teachers is that they need financial literacy resources that are hands-on and practical, and that replicate real-life experiences and challenges.
“In addition, these resources need to consider the different environments and backgrounds of the students. This includes literacy and numeracy levels but also individual situations – for example, a student in a remote area has very different experiences and contexts from those in urban areas.
“It’s also important that any resources are current – for instance, teaching about paper money and coins is becoming much less relevant in today’s world,” Dr West says.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has recently updated the school curriculum to further incorporate financial literacy across the curriculum. This includes applying maths to a consumer and financial literacy context, and adding elements such as taxation and superannuation.
Dr West says these changes will help teachers embed financial literacy in their lessons.
“One of our speakers told us that financial literacy is not a four-week program in maths class but rather needs to be running through every class all the time. The updated curriculum should make it easier for teachers to do this, and to teach financial literacy in a way that is authentic and suited to the way society is changing.
“Ecstra recognises that school and community programs are a vital part of the solution to closing the financial literacy gap. We have called on the Australian Government to drive a nationally coordinated approach to financial capability, supporting the efforts of the many organisations working to support consumers across all life stages,” Dr West says.
As at 31 October 2023, Talk Money has reached 231,832 student bookings across 6,258 workshops in 1,031 schools, with a presence in all Australian states and territories. A significant proportion of schools in lower socio-economic areas (32%) and regional and rural locations (23%) benefited from the program.
More information, including bookings, is available at: https://talkmoney.org.au/
