Teach us how to manage our money, say young people - January 6, 2010
11-18 year olds
want more lessons on financial literacy to avoid future credit crunch
HeadsUp.org.uk
The
young people using the HeadsUp online The Economy: What Went Wrong? forum expressed a
sense of shock that adults had allowed the credit crunch to happen and thought
it was important for their generation to learn from the situation to avoid the
same thing happening in the future. They wanted more education from a young
age, about economics and how to manage their personal finances:
"The younger
generation should be taught how to manage their money as in later life we will
be to blame if the economy fails again"
"Money literacy,
economic literacy...would be a great addition to what we learn at the moment.
I've been at high school for five years and we haven't had any serious money
education at all."
"At our school a
woman from Natwest comes to some of our PSHE lessons and helps us understand
how to manage our money...I know so much more than when I started."
HeadsUp is the Hansard Society's innovative web forum, where 11-18 year-olds
debate political issues with legislators and policy-makers. This forum, the
second of the 2009/10
series, was The Economy: What Went Wrong? and the full report is available
to download here.
Public spending was also discussed, including which
services should be saved or cut. The forum discussions were aggregated to find
HeadsUp users priorities for public spending. The top 5 choices were:
1.
Spending on education
2.
Scrapping ID cards to save money
3.
Creating jobs
4.
Creating more youth training schemes/apprenticeships
5.
Investing in health
The young people understood that Government debt must be
cut and that this would mean reductions in public spending. However, as with adult
discussions, there were a variety of views about where the cuts should be made:
"Rather than focusing on one, why not cut each one
slightly and share it out?"
"Some things cannot afford to be cut slightly, like
the NHS..."
Beccy Allen, HeadsUp Project Manager, said about the
forum:
"It is rare for students to request more lessons at
school but HeadsUp users clearly feel that there is a gap in the curriculum
where economics is concerned. In the forum it was suggested that there should
be fewer lessons about the dangers of smoking or drugs, for example, and more
lessons about how to manage your finances. Whatever we may think, the economy
effects us all and the young people growing up during the credit crunch are
very aware of its importance to their lives now and in the future."
For more information contact Kate Egglestone at the
Hansard Society on 0207 438 1210 or k.egglestone@hansard.lse.ac.uk
Editors' Notes
- HeadsUp (http://www.headsup.org.uk/) is an
innovative website where 11-18s debate political issues and learn about
the political process. The site is a non-partisan, cross-party educational
resource that provides a secure, structured and student-centred
discussion platform.
- Two ways to register to participate in
HeadsUp:
- Young People - If you are
11-18 and want to get in on the action you need to complete the Student
Sign Up Form.
- Teachers/youth workers -
can register a whole class/school year/group by completing our Teachers
Registration Form.
- All HeadsUp forums are
open to be viewed and the debate followed by the public. Participants need
to register or login to post comments (11-18s and supporting
teachers/youth workers only).
- The project is
part-funded by the House of Commons.
- There are 908 schools currently
registered with HeadsUp.