Teachers call for schools to teach financial education beyond maths lessons

To mark Talk Money Week, national financial and enterprise education charity Young Enterprise has revealed from a commissioned poll that nine in 10 UK teachers believe financial education should be taught in more than just maths lessons.

The poll, conducted by Teacher Tapp, finds that teachers overwhelmingly agree on a need to embed financial education across subjects such as PHSE (75 per cent) and citizenship (40 per cent), and not just in maths lessons.

Analysis reveals that this belief remains consistent between primary and secondary teachers, as well as in both state-funded and fee-paying schools. While many teachers agree that maths provides essential foundations, many feel a broadening of responsibility across subjects is necessary to equip young people with genuine financial skills. 

A decade since financial education became a compulsory part of the English national curriculum, the question of responsibility remains unresolved. With this insight into teacher perspectives, Young Enterprise said it is clear that providing meaningful financial education requires a broad, interdisciplinary approach – and that ongoing support for teachers is crucial. 

Russell Winnard, CEO of Young Enterprise and a former teacher, said: “Too often, questions to the government about how they can do more to support young people’s financial capability are consistently routed back to maths provision, with limited consideration of the role of other subjects in developing financial capability. 

“The Curriculum and Assessment review is a rare opportunity to elevate financial education without overburdening teachers. Training and resources exist for effective delivery, but uptake will remain low until the government explicitly recognises financial education as ‘more than maths’.”

Evidence shows the impact of changing the approach to financial education, and the embracing of applied learning speaks for itself.

 Young Enterprise’s work in schools where disadvantage is high has demonstrated that 80 per cent of teachers reported a positive impact on learning attitudes, and 67 per cent observed improvements in the quality of students work when providing greater opportunities for young people to apply their learning.

Responding to the new research, Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Schools recognise that financial education is really important in preparing children for the opportunities and responsibilities of adulthood.

“It can help protect children from the harm caused by everything from gambling and scams, to in-game purchases and online exploitation, and financial wellbeing also helps to support children and young people’s mental health.

“However, it can already be challenging for schools to cover the national curriculum and qualification specifications in the time available – a situation made worse by education policy introduced under previous governments, including high stakes accountability measures focusing on particular subjects.

“We supported the recommendations of the parliamentary education committee earlier this year for improved teacher training around financial education and support to access high-quality learning resources. However, it’s vital that the current overcrowded curriculum is reduced before any expansion of requirements is considered.”