Most teachers say financial education should be taught across more of the curriculum than maths lessons, a survey has found.
Some 91 per cent of teachers in the Teacher Tapp poll for the Young Enterprise charity said teaching about money should be delivered either in PSHE, citizenship or across the curriculum.
This compares with 58 per cent who said financial education should sit within maths and numeracy lessons.
The curriculum and assessment review led by Professor Becky Francis is ongoing.
‘Elevating financial education without overburdening teachers’
“Too often, questions to the government about how they can do more to support young people’s financial capability are consistently routed back to maths provision, with limited consideration of the role of other subjects in developing financial capability,” said Russell Winnard, former teacher and chief operating officer at Young Enterprise.
He added that the curriculum and assessment review is an opportunity “to elevate financial education without overburdening teachers”, but uptake will remain low until the government recognises financial education as “more than maths”.
Under the former Conservative government, the Commons Education Select Committee recommended an urgent review of the maths curriculum to expand financial education.
The then committee chair and former schools minister Robin Walker said at the time that financial education could also be emphasised in PSHE and citizenship - but the committee had heard that very few people take GCSEs in these subjects.
The former committee had also recommended that schools and multi-academy trusts should appoint a financial education lead to coordinate learning across the curriculum.
However, union leaders warned at the time staffing budgets were too stretched in most schools to recruit a financial education coordinator.
In October 2023, Labour said it would set out plans to upskill primary school teachers to teach “real-world” maths - such as financial literacy.
Only 1 per cent of primary teachers believed their pupils had adequate financial skills, according to a Social Market Foundation poll earlier this year. Primary teachers said they did not have enough time to teach financial education, while many also cited a lack of resources and expertise.
In today’s survey, 74 per cent of teachers said they felt Young Enterprise’s applied learning programmes - which include financial education - have a positive impact on pupil engagement.
The survey involved 9,521 teachers (3,325 in primary, 6,196 in secondary).
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
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