Schools to teach children about money

Money education will be taught in all maintained secondary schools in England from September 2014 after it became part of the national curriculum. 

A campaign run by the creator of MoneySavingExpert.com Martin Lewis has been pushing the government to implement changes so young people are more prepared for adulthood.

The coalition published the new curriculum last night (September 12th) with personal finance now taking a place in the Key Stage 3 and 4 citizenship classes. 

It will also feature prominently in Key Stage 3 mathematics.

The government has kept its word and the published curriculum includes all that was initially promised. As a result of the changes, future generations will learn about many issues that will have a large impact on their lives, such as budgeting, credit, debit, insurance and pensions.

MoneySavingExpert.com has been working with the Personal Finance Education Group and the All Party Parliamentary Group to make financial education for young people compulory for a very long time and this will be a big victory for all involved.

With better financial education in schools, kids will emerge with the necessary knowledge required to get by and be successful in adult life.

Currently, there are too many youngsters leaving school with little to no information on money and how it works. This often leads to them falling helplessly into debt.

Mr Lewis said the legislation was a boon for the country and would help millions of children and parents as a result.

"The campaigning of so many people, including the 100,000 who signed the e-petition that forced the parliamentary debate that made this happen, has paid off. In 20 years' time, if we get the launch right, we should have a much more savvy and less ripped off populace due to this," he added.

However, the next move for the campaign will be to encourage teachers of the other schools not covered in the scheme to teach it too, even though they do not have to.

By Amy White