At GoHenry, our mission is to make every kid smart with money. We know we can't achieve that through our app alone, so we've been campaigning hard to make financial education compulsory in all schools from primary age, joining forces with industry experts to show that financial education is the key to unlocking a more prosperous future for kids.
The next step in this push is the launch of our Financial Education Manifesto, which outlines how the next Government can improve the delivery of financial education in schools.
The Financial Education Manifesto
Our manifesto includes 10 key recommendations* for making financial education work for all young people, as 84% of kids and teens * say they would like to learn more about the topic in school. These include ensuring that financial education is taught in all schools - not just those that follow the curriculum - from primary to secondary school and that lessons include practical and theoretical elements. The manifesto also recommends that financial education becomes a statutory part of the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PHSE) syllabus.
The complete list of our recommendations includes:
- Financial education must be taught in all primary schools.
- Financial education must be compulsory in all secondary schools, not just those that follow the curriculum.
- Financial education must include practical elements, not just theoretical lessons, to ensure children of all ages engage with it.
- Additional elements of financial education are welcome in the maths curriculum, but we can't rely on maths alone.
- Financial education should be a statutory part of the PHSE syllabus—a change that can be made quickly without any primary legislation.
- Financial education should be taught using a Bikeability-style external delivery model to ensure consistency and high-quality lessons.
- In the long term, teachers should be given the time, resources, and training to deliver financial education lessons themselves, with support from external delivery providers to provide practical experience and add colour to lessons.
- External delivery organisations should be subject to oversight and quality control from an independent body.
- Dormant Asset Scheme funding should be used to establish a financial education external delivery model at the earliest opportunity.
- The Oak National Academy should be used as a repository for wide-ranging financial education resources that all teachers can access.
Kids want financial education in schools
Our ongoing campaign for all young people in the UK to receive a consistent level of financial education in schools has found support from a broad cross-party consensus on the need for improvement, as illustrated by the Education Select Committee's findings on strengthening financial education in schools.
The committee recommended making financial education compulsory from primary school and expanding it beyond Maths, with a focus on making the E of PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) compulsory.
Our#makemoneycount petition calling for the Government to make financial education compulsory in all schools from primary age also resulted in over 12,500 signatures and a formal Government response with GoHenry CEO and co-founder Louise Hill handing it over to Number 10.
More importantly, we know young people want to learn.
Saira, a 12-year-old GoHenry customer, says: "Learning about money is super important because, as kids know, we need money for stuff, but sometimes we don't really get how it works. Some kids think money just magically appears when we grow up! Financial education lessons at school could help us understand how to manage money properly, especially for the future when we have jobs and might need to save up for expensive things."
Our recent research into what kids think about financial education in schools also discovered that:
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84% of kids and teens would like to have more financial education in school
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84% of young people say that financial education is equally or more important than other core subjects like Maths, English, and Science
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68% of 18-year-olds are worried about leaving school without any money skills
Commenting on the launch of the Manifesto, Louise Hill, co-founder and CEO of GoHenry, said: "The next Government has a golden opportunity to improve financial education provisions and give young people all over the country a brighter future. Our manifesto outlines how we feel this can be delivered efficiently and effectively without the need for significant public spending, primary legislation, or overburdening teachers. More importantly, young people want to learn. I hope that whichever party forms the next Government takes note of these important voices and gives them access to the practical money skills they need - and want - to navigate the adult world successfully."
Our industry supporters explain why we need this manifesto
"In order to combat the national financial capability crisis, it is vital that children and young people are given the opportunity to develop financial and money management skills through robust financial education. Delivering financial education through schools is an important way to boost children's money confidence and financial resilience, which can help them in the future when facing economic difficulties. I urge the Government to listen to our calls and improve financial education for children across the country."
Stewart Perry, Director of the Centre for Financial Capability
"Children start forming habits from a very young age; forming good money habits is critical in setting children up for the best start to their financial lives. Whilst financial education is technical, children are capable of navigating this. Indeed, our experience at MyBnk, is that our work in primary schools is really powerful in helping children to start thinking about forming good habits like saving but also include technical topics like APR and AER in a fun, engaging and contextual way. Children respond really well to it.."
Leon Ward, CEO, MyBnk
“The current curriculum in our schools is outdated and does not equip future generations with life skills they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving world where money is integral. We need financial education to extend beyond numeracy taught in Mathematics. We need it to include practical subjects, like budgeting and understanding to help our children make healthy financial decisions and gain financial security.”
Peter Komolafe, financial expert @conversationofmoney
“It’s worrying how ill-equipped we are to navigate adulthood financially in schools. Lessons on how to manage our finances effectively in both primary and secondary schools would be a game changer in the way young people manage and feel about their personal finances. Now’s our chance to come together to make a very much needed change to the national curriculum and apply this change to all schools across the UK!”
OIa Majekodunmi, financial expert @allthingsmoney and MyBnk Trustee
“We know that children form their earliest money habits by the age of seven, and yet financial education is a glaring omission from the national curriculum at primary level and inconsistently delivered at secondary level. It is vital that we equip the next generation of young people with the skills they need to manage their money effectively before they reach adulthood. It’s about more than just their wealth prospects but their long-term wellbeing too.”
Davinia Tomlinson, rainchq founder & author of Cash is Queen
What can you do?
While it’s not easy to change the way things are done in schools, we know that delivering effective financial education has to be a collaborative effort, with parents, the Government, charities and industry players all playing a part. There are some simple ways to instil good money habits at home, such as:
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Give regular pocket money. This is one of the best ways to accelerate your child's financial education and teach them to be financially literate. It doesn’t matter how much you give. Just having their own regular ‘income’ gives a child a sense of financial freedom and the ability to participate in the economy.
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Use a financial education app to boost their learning. Money Missions on the GoHenry app helps kids learn about money by watching fun videos, taking quizzes and earning points and badges to complement the practical skills gained via the app and card
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Get creative with budgeting. Grab a pizza and explain that it represents monthly income, with each slice relating to different expenses that need to be paid, such as water, council tax, and rent/mortgage. This is a fun way to show kids how monthly finances add up and the importance of budgeting for each expense.
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Set savings goals. Help kids set up different savings pots with short—and long-term goals to help them see the benefits of saving and motivate them to delay gratification in favour of saving for a better goal.
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Teach them about needs versus wants. Explain to your kids that wants are desires, things you wish to have but can live without, and needs are necessities for you to survive, so money has to be prioritised on these things.
*The research was conducted on behalf of GoHenry by Censuswide with a sample of 2,000 UK Children aged 6–18-year-olds (Minimum of 50 respondents per age). The survey fieldwork took place between 07.03.2024 and 13.03.2024. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society, which is based on the ESOMAR principles, and are members of The British Polling Council. UK children surveyed who have attended/currently attend school.
