Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Deferred
Paragraph: 21
Insufficient time dedicated to financial education in secondary school mathematics curriculum.
Recommendation
The amount of delivery time dedicated to financial education in secondary school mathematics is insufficient and does not reflect the importance of personal financial literacy or the emphasis which has been placed on it by the Government. More financial content, based on real-life, problem-solving activities, should be included within the secondary mathematics curriculum.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledged the importance of maths for financial management, highlighting existing relevant content in the secondary curriculum. It indicated that the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) will seek to deliver a broad curriculum. Additionally, Oak National Academy plans to release new financial education resources for various key stages by Spring 2025.
Paragraph Reference:
21
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The government agrees that maths is a fundamental skill that underpins effective financial management, including financial risk, and the confident and competent application of financial skills and tools. The primary maths curriculum includes arithmetic knowledge that supports pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, calculations with money and percentages. In secondary maths, pupils are taught topics such as how to calculate compound interest, which is relevant for personal finance. As noted above, the CAR, covering ages 5 to 18, will seek to deliver a rich and broad curriculum that readies young people for life and work. Maths is one part of the review which aims to secure excellent foundations for all pupils. The review will consider children and young people’s education and experiences from the beginning of key stage 1 through to key stage 5, ensuring that children build on their learning and development in the early years. The government notes the Committee’s recommendation that more financial content should be incorporated into the maths curriculum. The committee mentions the Oak National Academy (Oak). An independent evaluation8 shows that Oak was used by around 1 in 3 teachers in the 2023 to 2024 academic year, across all types of school and school phase. Maths resources were the most popular among schools, accounting for 21% of all resources used. Now that Oak has completed its initial curriculum resources for maths, it will be producing additional lessons on financial education and applying maths in real life contexts across key stages 1 to 4. These are expected to be available from spring 2025. Lessons on finance and the economy also feature in Oak’s new citizenship curriculum, launched earlier this academic year. Teaching resources for these lessons will be released by autumn 2025. We will consider further the suitability of support available to schools in the light of the CAR outcomes.