Teachers ‘need lessons in personal finance’

Teachers as well as their pupils would stand to benefit if they were trained in how to develop young people’s personal finance skills, it has been suggested.

According to the ifs School of Finance, all trainee teachers in the UK should learn how to educate schoolchildren on issues relating to debt management and consumer finance.

The claim from ifs comes after research by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) found that around 90 per cent of parents and teachers in the UK would welcome personal finance lessons in schools.

Anne Kiem, director of external affairs at the ifs School of Finance, said: “The fact that the AIC research suggests almost 75 per cent of teachers would be happy to teach personal finance if it were a statutory course and proper teacher training was provided, again highlights the need for both.”

Prime minister Gordon Brown recently indicated his support for making debt management and personal finance education part of school and college life in the UK.