Schoolchildren exposed to basic money skills from 'a very early age'

British children as young as five will be taught basic money management from next year. But the idea, announced in the UK earlier this month, is not novel, the Education Ministry told The Times Business.

Local schoolchildren have been exposed to basic money skills from a very early age under the compulsory, wide-ranging Personal and Social Development curriculum, since 1989.

Under a new Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum, all pupils in England aged five to 16 are to be given financial literacy lessons from next year. Five-year-olds will learn how to identify banknotes; secondary school students will be taught about mortgages, loans, credit cards and how to manage household finances like bills. Teachers will spell out to 14- to 16-year-olds how debt and financial problems could affect lives.

In Malta, the themes of the new UK curriculum - including changing opportunities in learning and work, the contribution of work to prosperity, money management, and the transition from school to further education and work - are already being tackled in various subjects.

"Guidance teachers and school counsellors within the Directorate of Educational Science also organise visits, talks and seminars besides job placement experiences to bring the students closer to the world of work and further education," the Education Ministry said.

The Career Guidance Policy For Schools working document mapped out by the ministry in 2007 also suggested the introduction of career education within PSD, dealing with most of the themes the UK is working to introduce within the PSHE curriculum next year. Money management has long featured in the home economics syllabus. Elements of financial loss, value for money, and financial consideration as a personal value, are covered. The main, related topics range from methods of saving to insurance, consumer rights and shopping practices.

The Home Economics Seminar Centre in Birkirkara facilitates seminars for state and non-state primary and secondary schoolchildren. It addresses the main principles of the national minimum curriculum, including financial perspectives.

Locally, fourth-formers are given lessons in budgeting - keeping a fixed budget, managing pocket money, and exploring the role of banking institutions and their services.

Fifth-formers are exposed to decision-making, and values and transitions like change and the preparation, skills and educational opportunities available to deal with it.

Some British banks run programmes in schools. Natwest's Money Sense for Schools initiative has recently been the focus of a major TV campaign. The programme, which has a separate set-up for adults, was created in 1994 after the bank found 90 per cent of adults in the UK were never taught money management at school.

According to the Education Ministry, schools and banks, besides other financial institutions, have a "good relationship".

A Bank of Valletta spokesman said that although there is no "official" relationship with schools to provide personal finance lessons, requests from principals to explain the basics of banking were accommodated.

"Our response varies from branch visits to sending bank officials to schools to present basic banking knowledge as well as to answer the multitude of questions that children love to ask. Our Community Programme includes an education pillar, a structure that will, in future, provide the framework for educational initiatives for schools aimed at demystifying banking for young students."

HSBC Bank Malta said it does not yet have a specific educational programme running in schools but similarly accommodated frequent requests from heads.

"HSBC handles initiatives to visit schools or have schoolchildren visiting premises where children are given a presentation about our operations, what a banking system is all about, and how to make it work to manage personal finances, with a strong emphasis on savings and investing wisely for a rainy day," a bank official explained.

APS Bank does not have a direct relationship with schools on money management issues, but offered a free educational tool to children aged up to 13, according to an official. The bank's First Coin Account aimed to educate children on how to save. The "tool" is a money box which children build; it features three components: one for savings, one for sharing and one for spending.