Teaching Financial Capability

Financial capability is an essential life skill

Today our children and young people face many financial challenges in our increasingly consumer society. With new products and services, new methods of payment and marketing campaigns, financial decision-making has become more time-consuming and complex. However, managing finances is necessary in everybody’s life, including your pupils'.

To enable effective decision-making today and in the future, children and young people need to understand the principles behind money management and the consequences of the financial decisions they make.

What do you know about the amount of money that your pupils have at their disposal?

What do you think of the number of marketing initiatives aimed at children and young people?

How significant was your own education in building your financial literacy and consumer skills?

Teaching financial capability through maths

Surveys show that children and young people today have difficulty in making informed financial choices and that their parents may not be the best advisers due to a lack of knowledge about personal finances themselves. How do we ensure that children and young people will be capable of managing their finances?

Maths teaching has a significant role to play in this area. Through Northern Bank's resources such as Moneyville, Money Talks and Control Your Money, pupils from primary to post-primary levels can develop their financial capability skills as outlined in the Northern Ireland Curriculum. Examples of some of the mathematical skills and competencies supported by these financial capability teaching materials are listed below.