Financial literacy learning for life

ICAEW Financial literacy
Financial literacy
learning for life
The subprime crisis has revealed a chasm in financial knowledge among populations in
developed economies. Governments are leaping into action on financial literacy.
A programme to help teachers deliver financial know-how in UK schools using chartered
accountants’ expertise is proving a sustainable model – with wider possibilities
Niklas Halle’n/Barcroft India
generation set to reap the legacy of debt and ignorance in
consumer finances that the subprime crisis has revealed.
They will also pick up the ‘pensions time-bomb’ of ageing
populations with under-funded pension provision.
Governments and responsible organisations are
now waking up to the need for financial literacy and
personal responsibility – especially among the upcoming
generation of financial services users. It is becoming, as The
Economist puts it, a ‘global crusade’.
The responsibility of all
India’s street children queue up for
banking services at the Delhi branch
of the Children’s Development Bank
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F
orget, for a moment, financial literacy problems
in developed economies and consider this.
In a remarkable project founded in Delhi,
street children aged between eight and 18
are managing bank accounts, building businesses and
supporting their families financially.
The Children’s Development Bank is a multinational
co-operative run ‘by street children for street children’.
It enables them to save, earn interest and take out loans
at nominal interest which the bank shares among its
members. In India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal,
kids to whom destiny has dealt a bad hand, dare to
dream they can become doctors and millionaires.
If they can do it, then anyone can. It is a compelling
example for developed economies in the art of the
possible. And it matters because today’s children are the
Governments can create the conditions for improvement
but, as recent experience has shown, their ability to
get the message about personal responsibility across
to individuals is limited. Governments are recognising that
effective delivery of financial literacy requires a
multi-stakeholder approach. They simply cannot do
it on their own.
In the European Union, European Commission initiatives
on financial literacy and inclusion will be in partnership
with member states and encouraging private sector
participation. This follows research in May 2008 that
highlighted the link between social exclusion and financial
ignorance. Almost half of adults in the EU-10, the new
member states, do not have a bank account: many do not
even know what a bank account entails.
In the US, the new Bush President’s Advisory
Council on Financial Literacy has already approved a
new curriculum for middle-school students, ‘Money
math: lessons for life.’ The council, a veritable Who’s
Who of US leaders from every walk of life, is chaired by
Charles Schwab, chairman and CEO of Charles Schwab
Corporation. It is encouraging private sector volunteering
via a White House USA Freedom Corps financial literacy
volunteer initiative.
July 2008 accountancymagazine.com
Financial literacy ICAEW
A new approach in the UK
This level of activity is similar in other markets. In
Russia, for instance, where there is widespread financial
illiteracy, the finance ministry has set up an inter-ministerial
committee to coordinate the government’s response.
The Russia Partnership for Responsible Business Practices,
an International Business Leaders Forum offshoot of Russian
companies and multinationals, is working with numerous
organisations including banks, insurance companies and
NGOs to support and deliver financial literacy programmes.
What all these initiatives will drive is wider underlying
benefits to economies beyond those to individuals. As
research commissioned by the Australian Commonwealth
Bank Foundation concluded, increasing financial literacy by a
modest amount among the 10% least financially literate over
10 years would contribute Aus$6bn (£2.9bn) annually to GDP
and create over 16,000 new jobs.
A new initiative in the UK to encourage and train private
sector volunteers to work directly with teachers to deliver
financial literacy taps into this worldwide emphasis on
public/private stakeholder partnership.
The programme has been developed by the Personal
Finance Education Group (Pfeg) – the education charity
charged by government to lead the financial capability
agenda in UK schools – and is sponsored jointly by the
ICAEW and GE Money, the consumer finance arm of
General Electric.
The ICAEW is the only UK accountancy body playing such
a role in an eminently practical approach which leverages the
expertise of some of the nation’s premier finance professionals.
‘Our members can give teachers confidence to explain
personal finance concepts,’ says Michael Izza, the institute’s
chief executive. ‘What we are doing is creating a pool of
volunteers from the accountancy profession and ultimately
across the finance sector, whom we will train in the culture
and curriculum in schools.’
GE Money CEO Richard Harvey concurs: ‘Our employees
have a wealth of experience that they put to use in volunteer
work across all our offices in the UK. So we were delighted to
develop this programme with ICAEW for Pfeg: teachers can
draw on the real-life experience and expertise of our people.’
Izza is emphatic: ‘Everything we do is geared towards
supporting teachers’ objective of delivering the
personal finance in the national curriculum in a flexible and
adaptable way.’
The programme is set against a background of worrying
headline figures for UK policy-makers. Research by the
Institute of Financial Services in 2004 found that 79% of
Facts about
financial
literacy
■ Nearly half of all adults in the EU-10
accession countries do not have a bank
account ; many do not know what a bank
account entails
European Commission, May 2008
■ 1 in 4 UK school-leavers believes an
ISA (individual savings account) is an MP3
player accessory or an energy drink
Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest, March 2008
Russia
■ 40% of Russians do not use banking
products, and still keep about US$80bn
‘under the pillow’
OECD, Nov 2006
US
■ Only 1 in 3 teens in the US knows
how to read a bank statement, balance a
chequebook and pay bills
Charles Schwab, Teens and Money
2007 Survey
A lasting legacy
‘Raising people’s financial capability is good for the
individual, good for the financial services industry and
good for society as a whole’
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
During my time as economic secretary to the Treasury, I was always clear that to have a financially
capable society we needed to develop knowledge, skills and understanding from a young age through
good financial education in schools.
In Financial Capability: the Government’s Long-term Approach, we set out our aspiration that every child should receive a planned and coherent
programme of personal finance education while at school. As secretary of state for children, schools and families, I am responsible for making that vision
a reality through an £11.5m investment.
The funding will be used to create stimulating learning opportunities for young people, develop the capacity of school leaders and local authorities to
champion financial education and increase the capability of teachers to deliver this aspect of the curriculum.
This, coupled with curriculum changes, which will have seen the teaching of economic well-being and financial capability in schools from September 2008,
will, I believe, leave a lasting legacy for personal finance education. Alongside this school-based work, the government, working closely with the Financial Services
Authority, is taking forward a broad range of initiatives to provide better financial support to young people as they move into adulthood and better education
and advice to adults, families and those in retirement. Taken together, and working in partnership, I believe we can make a real difference to people’s lives.
accountancymagazine.com July 2008
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ICAEW Financial literacy
‘Who wants to be a squillionaire?’
at City College, Coventry
‘Looking at different scenarios made me
more aware of how people try to cope
when they have money problems.’
Hassan Sherif Mohamed
‘It was nice to talk to a professional
businessman and ask lots of questions,
someone who actually works in a
financial position.’
Robert Farmer
City College runs a huge range of courses
for its 14,000 students. ICAEW member
Jeremy Cox has been helping one of its
teachers, Julie Harris, to provide basic
financial skills training for groups of
vulnerable learners, helping them to reach
their potential.
‘Many of the young people I work with
don’t have formal qualifications such as
GCSE maths, so they are automatically at a
disadvantage in the world of work outside
of college,’ Cox says. ‘Julie wants me to
help them gain basic skills so they can be
financially independent as they undertake
vocational training or further education.
These skills are also vital if they are going
to work in the community.’
Cox works in financial planning for
Coventry Building Society and has been able
to use his financial knowledge to plan and
run a series of interactive lessons for students
that help them to understand the basics of
money. ‘But it’s not about mortgages and
investments,’ he says. ‘It’s about the most
basic things – what is the difference between
debit and credit cards and what does a 50%
discount mean, for example.’
Harris says she has been really pleased
with the extent to which Cox has been
willing to get stuck in. ‘He’s been brilliant
and the students have been really
engaged. Jeremy makes the lessons really
interactive and plays games such as ‘Who
wants to be a squillionare?’ with the kids to
keep them interested. I hope Jeremy can
continue to work with us.’
Cox himself can’t wait to get involved
again. ‘I’m definitely going back next year.
These kids are vulnerable to getting into
debt and not managing their finances well.
To give them some basic skills and guidance
and showing them where they can go for
further help has been really rewarding.’
Jeremy Cox
A new curriculum for financial literacy
UK Financial Services Authority
According to the FSA, the number, complexity and
risks in financial products has left UK consumers
confused and apathetic about finance. In 2005, it
found 81% of the pre-retired believed the state
pension would not be adequate to support them,
yet 37% had made no extra provision.
‘There’s a feeling, especially among young people,
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that finance is just too complicated. And let’s face
it, you don’t naturally think about retirement when
you’re at school or university.’ So says Steve Stillwell
who manages the learning team to reach young
people within the FSA’s financial capability division.
The FSA is responsible for delivering the UK’s
national strategy for financial capability training.
Working with partners in government, and the
voluntary, community and business sectors, it educates
school children, helps employers and provides
resources for new parents. The FSA funds the ‘Learning
Money Matters’ project through which Pfeg will deliver
the national schools curriculum on economic wellbeing and financial capability. It expects over 4,000 UK
secondary schools to have benefited by 2011.
Stillwell believes the key to success is to engage
people as early as possible and not blind them with
financial jargon. ‘We’re giving people information
that’s easy to understand, familiar and in a comfortable
environment. We support teachers to create financial
lessons they can deliver with volunteers in a fun and
interactive way. For new parents, we’ve got midwives
distributing The Parents Guide to Money.’
The FSA wants to increase the involvement of
volunteers from the business community. ‘I want to
say how much we value the work ICAEW members are
doing in schools,’ says Stillwell. ‘Accountants are an
essential part of the bigger picture. If we can
encourage young people to think ahead
and understand the importance of
planning for the future – joining a
pension scheme as soon as they start
work for example –
then we’ll have
made a big
difference.’
July 2008 accountancymagazine.com
Financial literacy ICAEW
my nan who looks after it
the UK population did not know what APR means and
40% admitted they did not understand financial products
such as mortgages.
Such statistics encouraged the government to add
‘economic wellbeing and financial capability’ to the national
curriculum from September 2008. As part of personal,
social and health education, subjects include personal
finance issues such as taxation, personal budgeting,
pensions, interest rates, trade and investment.
The initiative is the brainchild of Wendy van den Hende,
Pfeg’s chief executive, who has been working with the ICAEW
and GE Money for nearly two years to shape the project.
‘There are many excellent examples of learning materials
and courses in financial education,’ says van den Hende. ‘But
this project taps into a whole new resource – the human
capital of financially literate professionals across the UK. As
the charity tasked with driving the government’s financial
capability strategy in schools, I wanted to get my hands on
that resource.’
The initiative has caught the imagination of
both the teaching community and political leaders. Ed Balls,
secretary of state for schools, children and families, has
described it as ‘an excellent model for how professionals in
the finance sector are putting their expertise to good use in
local communities across our country’.
profession to join up and give something back to their
community with their skills – perhaps to the school they
attended or that their children go to.’
As Durgan points out, the majority of teachers want
to teach financial literacy. Yet research by the Financial
Services Authority, the UK regulator, has found that less
than a third feel confident to do so.
The initiative – initially developed and test piloted
in the West Midlands – provides volunteers with an
online learning tool to enable them to develop an
understanding of the issues and approaches teachers
need to use to engage students. Once they have
undertaken the learning programme, volunteers are
asked to sign up to a database matching them with
schools in their area.
According to Pfeg’s Van den Hende, institute members
do not necessarily need to go into the classroom.
It is more about building teachers’ confidence.
‘Bringing in expertise from outside the classroom can
really boost teachers’ confidence in planning and
teaching financial capability,’ she says.
‘Drawing on knowledge gained in a real life financial
setting can make teaching more relevant to pupils every
day lives and the teacher/volunteer relationship can add
real value to bringing financial education to life.’
in a jar. I ask her when I
Understanding teaching needs
The public interest
Graham Durgan, a chartered accountant and
businessman with more than 20 years’ experience in
education and training, was asked by the ICAEW to lead
the initiative.
‘It is an extremely uplifting project,’ he says. ‘If we can
use real-life examples, such as a student’s mobile phone
bill, or a pay slip from a holiday job, to give young people
an idea of how money is created, and how society uses
taxes to pay for public goods and services, then I believe
we’re making a valuable contribution to society.’
Durgan continues: ‘That’s why I’m urging my
Giving something back, volunteering, is part of many
organisations’ corporate social responsibility activities.
But one of the key benefits of the ICAEW’s approach in
using the accounting profession’s expertise in this way is
its grounding in the public interest. This is independent,
objective, professional help geared toward teachers’
needs – with no strings attached.
According to Jonathan Labrey, the ICAEW’s head of
public affairs who helped kick-start the programme,
there are a lot of financial literacy schemes but they
often include an ‘underlying commerciality’.
What are young
people saying
about money?
‘My money usually goes
straight into my wallet and
then straight into
someone’s cash machine.’
‘£10 comes in and £20 goes
out. I always end up with
big debts.’
‘The money I save goes to
need some of it back.’
‘I have got my own bank
account but I’m not sure
how much is in there.’
Source: Pfeg
Why are ICAEW members getting involved?
‘I despair when I hear about
the levels of debt in the UK.
My parents saved up if they
wanted to buy something,
but there is tremendous
pressure today to borrow money just to spend
on unnecessary items. I’d like to improve
understanding about the importance of
money management to help young people
budget properly and prepare for work.’
Matthew King, a vice president
at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing.
accountancymagazine.com July 2008
‘Educating children is one
of the most important
things, and we don’t always
give teachers the support
or credit they are due. As
accountants, we can bring an external view
on finance for children and help teachers
educate their pupils about money matters –
within the home and in work.’
‘I want to give
something back to
the community.
I knew instinctively I
should get involved as I
have knowledge to share. If someone looks
back and says I helped them avoid getting
into financial trouble, then I will have made
a difference.’
Nikki Cavaciuti, currently on maternity leave,
wants to work with young people while on
a career break.
Gladys Warirah, finance manager at Aviva plc,
recently worked with a school in West Sussex.
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ICAEW Financial literacy
The right attitude
‘We’re actively encouraging national and regional
education authorities to look at how they could better
deliver financial education through schools. Financial
education is not only about acquiring knowledge but
also about promoting the right attitudes.’
Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for the
Internal Market and Services
It’s a sad fact that two in 10 adults in the EU 15 long-term member states,
and a half in the 10 new member states, do not have a transaction bank
account. Many more have no savings and lack access to credit. Behind
these statistics lies a story of social exclusion for millions of Europeans.
Access to financial services is a basic necessity for people to control their
lives, plan for their future. And that’s just part of the picture, because
financial exclusion leads to other difficulties. Without a bank account, you
can’t find a legitimate job. Without a job, your family suffers. The result is
often indebtedness and misery.
The issues of exclusion are serious ones for policy makers. Certainly,
they’re ones which we are encouraging member states to address
individually and together with the European Commission. That is in the
interests of the EU internal market as whole.
But it is not the whole story. Ensuring people are financially included is
closely linked to financial education. We’ve found that one of the biggest
barriers to simple banking services is a lack of understanding of what they
entail. What are average consumers, let alone the financially uneducated
or excluded, to make of the variety and complexity of financial products
on the market today?
Levels of financial literacy within the EU are worryingly low. All of which
is why the commission is promoting the importance of financial education
with national governments and other stakeholders, and implementing
concrete initiatives which we announced in our Communication on
Financial Education in December 2007:
● a new EU expert group on financial education, sharing best practice and
experience, and advising the commission on financial education policy;
● an online reference database of financial education schemes and
research in the EU;
● development of a website offering support materials for teaching
financial matters at schools, adapted to specific conditions in each
country (Dolceta);
● providing patronage to selected public and private financial literacy
initiatives and events.
Right attitudes
We’re actively encouraging national and regional education authorities to
look at how they could better deliver financial education through schools.
I believe that familiarising children and young adults with financial issues
is essential.
Financial education is not only about acquiring knowledge but also
about promoting the right attitudes.
The expanded EU online consumer education tool, Dolceta, providing
teachers with financial literacy educational support kits, will be designed
for voluntary use in primary and secondary schools in all member states.
However, promoting the right attitudes also applies to the financial
services sector, because the commission is not convinced that financial
education alone is enough to tackle financial exclusion. We have an
ambitious goal that nobody should be denied access to a basic bank
account, high quality services and high performance standards from the
industry. That will rely on the social and financial sectors working together,
member states sharing best practice and a European-wide response.
Initiatives such as the ICAEW’s, bringing together public and private
sectors to teach financial literacy, are to be welcomed in preparing
a new generation of financial services users and decision-makers.
The end game for Europe will be to create a truly financially aware, and
inclusive, society.
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July 2008 accountancymagazine.com
Financial literacy ICAEW
A bigger picture
For the ICAEW, the financial literacy programme in schools
is one part of its commitment to a broader financial
capability programme. A high-level advisory group
of members in industry, financial services and public
practice, and including Pfeg’s van den Hende, has been
set up to help drive and expand the institute’s approach.
One of the group’s first actions has been to start
working with the Poplar Housing and Regeneration
Community Association, based in one of the most
deprived boroughs in the UK: some 50-60% are
unemployed. They jointly hope to encourage ICAEW
members to provide finance and debt advice surgeries,
mentor Poplar Harca’s
staff or work with other
community and youth
groups in the area as well
as provide inspiration to
local children through
fun learning events.
Given the widespread
international concern
about financial capability
levels, the institute’s
work with Pfeg in the UK
could ultimately have
international relevance.
ICAEW CEO Michael
Izza stresses the need to
prove the concept fully
in the UK first but says:
‘There are opportunities to use this model on a much
larger scale – and to do it in developing nations where we
have members.’
Evidently, there is great enthusiasm and optimism
about the possibilities. Izza concludes: ‘All our work so
far has given us direct exposure to key social issues and
we’ve met potential partners and political and industry
stakeholders. Now we understand the value of our input
and the difference we and the membership could make.
We are going to be looking for many more members to
become involved.’ ■
The Times/NI Syndication
‘They might involve banks who want kids to open up
accounts, or maybe they just involve glossy brochures
and CD ROMs being mailed out,’ Labrey says. ‘They don’t
necessarily give teachers the confidence they need to
teach kids about finance.’
The programme’s chairman, Graham Durgan, points
out that the relationship is led by teachers – ‘Our
members help them in whatever way they want’ – and
that the ICAEW’s qualification, the ACA, gives Pfeg
assurance that teachers will receive consistent, high
quality support. ‘Teachers are looking for a minimum
academic background or level of training from the
people who are going to be helping them,’ he says. ‘The
institute, through its qualification, can provide that level
of consistency.’
Children at Lauriston Primary School,
Hackney, where institute staff help
with basic numeracy
A matter of life and debt
‘The consequences of being caught in a spiral of indebtedness
include stress on relationships and the family unit,
increased likelihood of depression, teenage pregnancy, and
underachievement in schools.’
Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
The welfare of children and young people is an issue close to my heart. As more of our young people face a world where debt through personal loans is
increasingly seen as a routine thing, it’s important that they feel confident and equipped to tackle the challenges of balancing a budget. And in a climate
where economic fluctuations make over-reliance on credit a highly risky affair, financial literacy from an early age is all the more vital.
The Church of England has already begun its own campaign, ‘A Matter of Life and Debt’, to offer help and practical advice to adults on how to balance
their budgets and avoid the worst pitfalls of debt. There is an urgent case though for more support for financial education in schools and further
education institutions.
Young people are vulnerable to pressure to embark on risky and costly ventures into borrowing. They need skills to assess risks and interpret
borrowing conditions, and better awareness of the uncertainties of the whole system. This needs to start early. But Credit Action estimates that less than
5% of secondary schools in the UK give anything like adequate priority to education in money management as part of their citizenship and personal,
social and health education curriculum.
Recent studies prove that the consequences of being caught in a spiral of indebtedness include stress on relationships and the family unit, increased
likelihood of depression, teenage pregnancy, underachievement in schools and a lack of motivation in relation to work and self-care. A healthy approach
to finance, starting at an early age, will better equip our young people to face the challenges of today’s society with confidence and hope.
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ICAEW Financial literacy
‘How businesses work’ at Coundon
Court School, Coventry
Npower, the integrated UK energy supplier and
retail arm of RWE npower, is one of the major
corporate supporters of the ICAEW’s financial
capability project. Finance director Jason Clark
spearheads the programme. ‘At npower, we see
supporting the local community as a key focus
for our efforts,’ he says. ‘Last year, 60% of our staff
members volunteered for community projects.’
One participant is chartered accountant Stuart
Philips, gross margin accounting manager at
npower Business. He got involved when Clark
invited all his finance team to start helping out at
local schools.
Philips attended a briefing session and then
met Helen Marsay, head of business studies at
Coundon Court school. ‘I’m always looking for
opportunities to give A-level students exposure
to the real world,’ says Marsay. ‘We can only teach
so much from a book. I wanted specialist help
in business planning and investment analysis.
Accountants take them beyond just the numbers.’
Phillips spent time with Marsay beforehand
and planned out the lesson. He also attended
Pfeg briefings and training to help him
understand how schools and classes work. ‘I was
quite nervous. I spend a lot of my time reporting
to company boards, but a group of 17 year olds
is far more daunting as you forget what school is
like,’ Phillips says. ‘I’m pleased to say it was great
as the students were really interested to hear
about how businesses work. I found I could give
them insight into the real world of money and
finance so they could see beyond the financial
calculations and start to think about what
investment analysis actually means.’
Learning to be an employee
Another school benefiting from npower’s
experience is Higham Lane School in Nuneaton.
Head of maths Jayne Ward spent the last year
with ICAEW member Katie Simpson of npower,
devising a set of lessons from 7-10 year olds
that help them manage their finances. Instead
of single lessons, Simpson and Ward devised a
programme over 12 weeks.
‘Children were playing the role of employees.
I would give them a wage on paper and then
give them a different scenario each week. Maybe
their car would break down, or they would
want to go on holiday or buy their family some
presents,’ Ward says. The aim was to encourage
children to manage their finances and see how
their decisions could impact them in the long
term. ‘It wasn’t about wrong or right answers,
but understanding
consequences,’ says Ward.
‘Some students were quite
mean, some spent too
quickly and those that
didn’t do their homework
had their wages cut the
next week.’
Stuart Philips
Planning ‘The Apprentice’ at Bishop Luffa School, Chichester
Blanca Timblick, business enterprise coordinator at Bishop Luffa
School, says: ‘Many students are not financially capable. They do
not know the value of money and how hard it can be to make
ends meet when you leave school.’
Timblick is involved in managing a financial education
programme for her school, which sees years 7 to 11 undertake a
variety of activities, such as Young Enterprise, and basic lessons
on how to manage money. In year 12, students get lessons and
advice on how to budget when in further education. ‘We want
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students to be able to open bank accounts, to know what savings
are, to teach them about interest rates, mortgages, wages, taxes
and paying bills.’
Helping Timblick is institute member David Willis, Bishop
Luffa’s ‘Sir Alan Sugar’ in an upcoming series of ‘Apprenticestyle’ games the school is running to help students learn about
business planning and budgeting. ‘I guess they want someone to
be like Alan Sugar and I don’t know whether being an accountant
is an advantage but I’m happy to help in any way I can,’ says
Willis. ‘I just want to help kids learn about basic economics,
budgeting and managing money. I’ve agreed to help out with
Young Enterprise, careers evenings and helping the teachers
plan a range of financial literacy lessons.’
Willis has been amazed by the teachers’ enthusiasm. ‘Everyone
was pleased to see me when I joined, and they have been happy
to work around my availability. I’m only giving them a handful of
hours but you can make a big impression in that time. Everyone
should get involved.’ The only thing that Willis was concerned
about was being asked to stand up in classes and teach children.
But Bishop Luffa has been happy for him to work in a purely
advisory capacity without him missing out on, as he puts it, all
the ‘fun stuff’.
David Willis would
be Sir Alan Sugar
July 2008 accountancymagazine.com
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
HERE’S HOW
The institute is aiming to match volunteers with schools all
over the UK by the end of 2008. Why not be one of them?
Your help will be invaluable. Many teachers are nervous about providing personal finance education to children, which is why the
knowledge and real life experiences of ICAEW members are so needed.
Volunteers don’t have to follow any set framework of learning content, so are free to work with teachers in ways that suit both parties
and draw on the volunteer’s personal skills and insights.
Ways to get involved
You decide the amount and type of support you want to provide. You could, for example, decide to focus on helping a teacher to plan
learning materials. You could provide background information and develop case studies. These could relate to the personal financial
decisions people need to make in life – such as how to understand mortgage interest rates, or to business situations.
There is no need to stay in the background. If you wish, you could offer to help deliver these learning materials in the classroom,
inspiring children with the importance and relevance of financial understanding face to face.
If you are part of a finance team, you could encourage your colleagues to become volunteers too. Promoting financial capability in
schools could become part of your organisation’s corporate social responsibility programme.
Online training to get up to speed with schools
A short online learning programme has been developed to help give members confidence about volunteering. It aims to raise
awareness of the school curriculum and how the typical school works, as well as demonstrating the importance of developing financial
capability. Members will be able to see how teachers plan and deliver personal finance education and gain insights into how they can
help them do this.
Working through the material takes between 4 and 6 hours, but it can be completed gradually at convenient times. Members should
then feel confident about embarking on a volunteering relationship with a partner school.
Step by step guide
1 Visit www.useyourexpertise.org The site is password protected,
so you will need to enter a username and password.
Username: useyourexpertise Password: financialcapability
2 Register your interest, providing your contact details.
3 Agree to follow the volunteering code of conduct and
partnership agreement.
4 Apply for your Criminal Records Bureau check, which you
will need in order to be cleared to work in schools.
5 Create an online profile outlining the skills you can
offer, your availability and any previous volunteering experience.
6 While waiting for the CRB check to be completed, which may take
up to 4 weeks, work through the online learning material provided
in the ‘Get Prepared’ section of the www.useyourexpertise.org site.
7 Once CRB cleared, you will be ‘verified’ on the site and can search
for suitable volunteering opportunities with schools in your area.
8 When you find a relevant school, you can send an email to make
an appointment to meet and explore in person how you can help.
You may also be contacted by schools that have done their
own searches and identified you as someone with skills they would
find helpful.
Further information and contacts
To find out more about financial capability and volunteering for this initiative, try
these websites:
www.icaew.com/financialcapability – find background information on why financial
capability is such an important issue, what the institute is doing to help and how you
can get involved.
www.pfeg.org – the site of the Personal Finance Education Group, which is charged
with helping schools equip young people with personal finance skills in the UK.
www.useyourexpertise.org – where online learning material is accessible and
potential volunteers can register their interest.
accountancymagazine.com July 2008
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