Secondary school students across Australia will be taught about the financial principles of planning, saving, spending, donating and investing wisely as part of a program developed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Funded by the Australian Government, ASIC’s MoneySmart Teaching Secondary package will be launched in Adelaide next Tuesday (11 December) at a national conference for secondary school teachers.
‘ASIC’s MoneySmart Teaching program will equip younger generations with the skills and behaviours to make responsible financial decisions, but to do this, teachers and parents need the tools to help them understand money’, said ASIC Commissioner Peter Kell.
[quote] All units of work are aligned to the Australian Curriculum[/quote]
ASIC’s MoneySmart Teaching Secondary package will be trialled by teachers from term 1, 2013, and uses financial literacy as a context for learning in mathematics, science and English. All units of work are aligned to the Australian Curriculum and have been developed for students in Years 7–10.
‘MoneySmart Teaching emphasises that consumer literacy and financial literacy are interdependent. The classroom units address some of the immediate issues facing young people like buying a mobile phone or purchasing goods online. MoneySmart Teaching aims to help young people meet real-life challenges through education which is relevant to their lives’, said Mr Kell.
‘Today, three out of four children own a mobile phone by the time they start secondary school. In one of our maths units of work, How can we reduce our spending?, Year 7 students learn about saving money by buying ‘smart’ and comparing mobile phone plans ensuring that their mobile phone costs remain within budget.’
Head of Department (Business), Jason Knight, whose Kings Christian College is in the MoneySmart Teaching program, said students will benefit from early opportunities to understand money and apply that knowledge with confidence.
‘Our students need to understand how money works and how bad decisions can actually lead to long-term consequences. We need to give them the building blocks now so that they make wise decisions throughout life’, Mr Knight said.
ASIC’s MoneySmart Teaching Secondary package marks the second phase of a trial to improve consumer and financial literacy in schools. Resources for primary schools were released in August 2012 and are being trialled in 58 schools nationally. For more details on the launch into primary schools, see ASIC’s previous media release.
ASIC’s secondary package will be trialled in approximately 35 secondary Government, Independent and Catholic schools across Australia. Face-to-face professional learning will be delivered to approximately 2,000 secondary school teachers. Online professional learning will be available to all teachers via the MoneySmart Teaching website.
ASIC is also developing a range of online digital activities, freely available, to create engaging and fun learning in the classroom and at home. These resources will be available on the MoneySmart Teaching website in early 2013.
To find out more about the units of work for secondary schools, please refer to the overview attached. For more information about ASIC’s MoneySmart Teaching program and to access resources, visit www.teaching.moneysmart.gov.au. A list of MoneySmart trial schools is on the website.
Background
ASIC’s MoneySmart Teaching packages for primary and secondary schools are part of the $10 million Helping Our Kids Understand Finances (HOKUF) initiative to improve financial literacy in schools announced by the Australian Government in August 2010.
ASIC has entered into national partnership agreements with five jurisdictions, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT. Permission has been given by education departments in Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory for ASIC to work directly with schools and teachers ensuring that MoneySmart Teaching is trialled nationally.
Overview of MoneySmart Teaching Units of Work – Secondary
A comprehensive overview of the units of work is available on ASIC’s web site.