On Wednesday, the Centre for Financial Capability published its report ‘How can we deliver effective financial education in schools?’, which outlines teachers' views of financial education provision in schools.

The report was informed by research among teachers commissioned by the Centre earlier this year, as well as insights from the parliamentary roundtable we co-hosted with Baroness Sater on ‘The Future of Financial Literacy in 2024’.

One of the key focuses of the report is on how teachers can be better supported in their delivery of the subject. Placing “[teachers] at the heart of the conversation”, it highlights key barriers and solutions for improving the provision of financial education, focusing on teachers’ perspectives.

Indeed, the research commissioned by the Centre found that while nearly 90% of teachers surveyed across primary and secondary levels in England believed it was important for financial education to be taught in schools, 58% felt they needed more training to successfully deliver the subject.

Following these findings, the Centre hosted a roundtable with support from Young Enterprise, which included teachers currently providing financial education, parliamentarians, and teacher union representatives. The aim of the roundtable was for attendees to understand in more detail the barriers educators face in their attempts to deliver high-quality financial education.

The resulting report, which offers a series of recommendations, details teachers’ enthusiasm for delivering the subject, but also highlights the “unfortunate truth” that many teachers do not feel confident, empowered or supported in how to provide effective financial education.

The recommendations of the report were:

1.      Embed financial education across the national curriculum at primary-aged level.
2.      Give teachers access to the training, resources and support that they need in order to deliver effective financial education.
3.      Financial education should be built into the OFSTED Inspection Framework to support schools to improve delivery of financial education and access long-term impacts.
4.      Ensure all children receive a high-quality, effective and up to date financial education.
5.      Champion and endorse quality financial education at every stage to enable wider and more consistent take-up.
6.      Allocate funding for schools to access resources like consultants to support implementation.
7.      Work with the National Governance Association to add into their guidance for governors to ask questions about the provision of financial education in schools.

You can read the full report here