Category Archives: Financial Literacy

Financial Education: How does that work?

From September 2014 it will be compulsory for schools to teach financial education. This will be built in to the mathematics and the citizenship curricula. See this article from the Daily Telegraph. Notice the picture of school life that they choose to illustrate the article with. This is how students learn; in rows at individual desks, looking seriously bored! The trouble is that a good proportion of the materials available for ‘financial education’ in schools is perfect for this scenario. Standard worksheet based discussion and practice activities are the norm and work in the same way that makes PSHE such a disappointing subject, taught by non-specialists, with no exam, it is hard to see the purpose when you are in school.

What makes these important things come alive is getting students into the setting. They have to care about the issue in order to engage with the ideas. I have seen fantastic drugs education sessions where former users and dealers have come in and talked to teenagers about their experience and where they are now. It is edgy, but it is real and they certainly listen. You can learn more about modern finance if your visit Skrumble. You can also check out this helpful resource at foxinterviewer.com to navigate the tax.

Finance is tricky. Kids in school rarely have any real need to save with interest and if they have a bank account, their main worry is losing their cash. Certainly, they cannot borrow beyond their means or need to budget in a life changing way. Some, certainly, have life experiences that may necessitate any or all of these, but they are a small albeit important minority.

We have been working in financial education for over a decade. As a development of the Number Partners project which I was director of for many years, we designed a series of large format board games designed to set up scenarios in which players have to make important financial decisions: how to invest a small amount of capital, to generate profits to reinvest. Managing money between cash and different bank accounts, to enable purchasing but retaining security. Budgetting for a holiday and managing exchange rates. Making the life transition from school to work, while meeting your life goals.

The power of a board game is that the social setting frames the decision making. You are playing with real people who you have to engage with, framed by the settings of the games. The games were trialled in very ordinary schools, in classrooms with groups of students and have been widely used in different settings since. The effect is impressive. Students talk to each other about their financial decision making, developing strategies to succeed in that setting. Naturally, winning strategies involve good financial decision making.

We set up a web site to showcase the games. So see what you think. All of the games have teacher guides with extra materials and school use ideas. Please get back to us with your questions and thoughts. But, when you plan to deliver financial education this September, get your students into a setting in which they care. Only then will they be able to make decisions in a way that matters to them.

Our Island Life Game

Island Life is a game for ages 8 to 13 (but is great to play by anyone). There are two versions, both of which come with the same board, but are different games with different components.
The board shows three holiday islands with a range of exciting attractions, linked by rail, road and ferry. Naturally, you will be cycling around these dream islands, so you choose a coloured bicycle and rider as your playing piece. Continue reading Our Island Life Game

Making it ‘Real’

As owners of a games shop we are honour bound to play games at Christmas! No really, we do love them. So, Val, Katie (13) and I played a game of Risk. Now Risk is not so PC overall but, well, when you have made an alliance with the mass armies (in this case of the evil of middle earth) and they have attacked your opponent on your behalf and your turn comes round and you now realise you can renege on your agreement and wipe them out … well that is tough. Emotion, scruples, morality all bound up in tough decision making. Now I think you really (up to a point seriously) do have to debrief after a game like that, but is sure is that you are in the situation making the decisions … a history lesson for sure but not just discussing the issues cold. Continue reading Making it ‘Real’

Financial Literacy

I was manager of a numeracy volunteering project called Number Partners for many years. Business volunteers play maths games with kids in school. As part of this project I designed and developed a set of large format board games (the size and scope of Monopoly). They take an hour or so to play, so we put in rules for how to stop half way and pick it up later (so they could be used in lesson times). People have bought them for their families and say they are great games just to play for fun. However, the idea in each case is to put the players in a scenario in which they make financial decisions with pressures like they would really experience. It can get pretty intense when your aims are messed up by an unexpected payment or a bit of bad luck. We’ve really found this works so differently from the usual run of standard teaching activities that are normally used. Web Wheeler Dealer is the most intense, you buy and sell stuff on the web and try to collect sets of weird bits and bobs, ‘cos you know the set is always worth more than the sum of its parts. You win if you sell one big valuable set, but how much you actually get is a bit of lottery, so the spinner is your friend or your devil! Check them out. Play them at home or in school. We even did teachers notes with extra activities. Just ask for them. To Your Credit is the latest one … manage your finance from college to job and achieve your life goals.