The majority (77%) of UK adults said they did not or could not recall receiving any financial education at school, according to a report commissioned for Talk Money Week.
Formerly called Financial Capability Week, Talk Money Week aims to get more people talking about their finances in a bid to improve money management across the UK.
Of the 77% of UK adults that said they did not receive financial education, some 79% wished that they had received some form of financial education while at school.
Jane Goodland, corporate affairs director at Quilter, which commissioned the survey of 2,000 adults, said: “Over the past number of years we’ve seen a disturbing number of statistics on the financial fragility of UK household finances.
“Despite this, financial education remains worryingly absent from the school curriculum.”
Start early
Quilter believes talking about money needs to start from a young age and financial education should be included as part of the primary school curriculum.
UK adults agree, with 98% of respondents believing that financial education should be taught in school and 41% saying it should be part of the primary school curriculum.
Goodland added: “Common sense would dictate that, if we want to give the next generations the best chance at financial success, we need to give them the tools and education to do so. Financial education isn’t going to fall on deaf ears, the population is craving it.
“Part of financial education includes understanding value for money. The government needs to realise that financial education offers incredible value for money for them in terms of policy making because it treats the cause of the epidemic of under-saving and reliance on debt rather than the symptoms.”
Dedicated lessons
Justin Urquhart-Stewart, co-founder and head of corporate development at 7IM, added: “Financial education in the classroom is vitally important and we’d all like to see more of it. But schools have so many competing pressures it makes financial services regulation look like a walk in the park.
“Rather than trying to shoehorn financial education into other lessons, in my ideal world I’d like to see one day a term devoted entirely to financial education.
“This would allow schools to delve into personal finance in a much more meaningful and engaging way (and actually get kids really talking about money) without creating too much more curriculum bureaucracy.”
