Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Deferred
Paragraph: 37
Statutory economic and financial PSHE elements effectively expand financial education.
Recommendation
Making the economic and financial elements of PSHE education statutory at primary and secondary school level appears to us to be a simple and effective way of expanding financial education at both levels and signalling the increased importance of the subject to all students.
Government Response Summary
The government points to existing RSHE content that complements financial education and states schools are free to teach more. It will consider consultation responses on RSHE statutory guidance before making further decisions, with a broader Curriculum and Assessment Review also underway.
Paragraph Reference:
37
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
Statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE)10 already includes content that complements financial education in the national curriculum for maths and citizenship. Through RSHE pupils are taught about the risks related to online gambling, including the accumulation of debt. Pupils also learn how data is generated, collected, shared and used online; for example, how personal data is captured on social media or understanding the way that businesses may exploit the data available to them. These are important skills for pupils to have in a financial context, especially with the increasing digitalisation of money and the associated risks online. Schools are free to teach additional financial education as part of Personal, Social, Economic and Health education. The Department for Education is currently carrying out further engagement on the RSHE statutory guidance11. The Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools and, as such, the government will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence, before setting out next steps. The CAR is looking at the whole of the curriculum and how it fits together to ensure that there is space for schools to provide a curriculum that is rich and broad, inclusive and innovative, that readies young people for life and work, and reflects the diversities of our society. The government is legislating so that, following the CAR and the implementation of reforms, all mainstream state schools will be required to teach the revised national curriculum. This will give parents certainty over the core of their children’s education.