How financial training sees pupils get wise with money

PROJECT

WizeUp with Jack Petchey

PURPOSE

To help young people understand money matters

FUNDING

The Jack Petchey Foundation provided £40,000 for the 2022/23 academic year. Schools contribute 20 per cent of the costs

BACKGROUND

The government introduced financial literacy education to the national curriculum for the first time in 2014. Since then, research has shown teaching of the subject to be patchy. For example, a survey of secondary school teachers in England featured in a 2023 report by the all-party parliamentary group on financial education found only 44 per cent knew they were required to teach the subject.

WizeUp with Jack Petchey is a partnership between the charity WizeUp Financial Education and grant-making organisation the Jack Petchey Foundation. Both organisations saw the need to improve young people's knowledge and understanding of finance.

WizeUp founder Ed Flack set up the charity after watching his own children make financial mistakes. “My son was sold his first bank account at 14 with a monthly fee – he didn't realise there were free accounts,” he says. “My daughter lost a £400 rental deposit because she didn't know what an inventory was. I started to think there must be somebody out there teaching this stuff, but there wasn't.”

WizeUp joined forces with the Jack Petchey Foundation in 2021 to offer financial education sessions to schools already taking part in the foundation's Achievement Awards programme, which is currently active in more than 1,400 schools and youth organisations in London and Essex.

ACTION

This academic year, the programme is being delivered by WizeUp in 75 schools to about 12,000 students in years 12 and 13. “Our unique personal selling point is really punchy, face-to-face delivery,” says Flack.

The team is made up of nine trainers, all chosen for their delivery skills. “Last year was our pilot year of 10 schools,” Flack adds. “This year we had 113 schools showing interest within 24 hours of the email going out, so we know there is demand.”

Before trainers arrive at a school, Flack and his team meet with teachers to discuss and select what topics will be most useful for their pupils. Options include budgeting, saving and investing, taxation, pensions or crypotocurrencies. Sessions are delivered to whole year groups over an hour and 15 minutes, three times a year, for two years. “Our biggest sixth form is 750 students, and the smallest is 25,” says Flack.

The sessions are interactive to keep students' attention. For example, when teaching about cryptocurrencies, trainers begin by explaining the background to how these currencies developed. Students then take part in a trading game. “We give them £100 to start with,” says Flack. “They choose from five different crypto currencies. We hit them with lots of newsflashes and they start to see their profits and losses on a big screen. For example, influencer Elon Musk comes out and says he's moving from one currency to another. We explain why markets started to move based on the newsflash.”

In sessions on savings, trainers use apps to help students consider how they can put money aside. For example, they introduce savings apps that encourage users to round-up payments – such as to the nearest pound – and put the excess straight into a savings account.

Reactions from young people vary, says Flack. Some students will already have jobs and understand about paying tax, while others have no knowledge of the subject. He has come across students who are doing the grocery shopping for their household, and know all about inflation, while others had no idea food prices had risen or why.

At the end of each session, students take part in a quiz on their mobile phones to see how much they learned. This is incentivised by a prize draw at the end of every half term to win Amazon vouchers. Flack says the rate of correct answers is usually between 60 and 90 per cent.

This year WizeUp formed a youth advisory panel of six 17- to 21-year-olds from different regions within London and Essex. They meet twice a term to help WizeUp improve its services. For example, the panel recommended WizeUp produce short podcasts with financial experts to explain macro-economic questions, such as what a rise in inflation means for young people. “They've helped us an awful lot,” says Flack.

The charity also offers a free talk for parents on student finance. This is particularly aimed at children who are planning to go to university, so carers can learn how to support them.

WizeUp has also started financial education sessions designed for students with additional needs. Flack says working in special schools requires trainers to be flexible and provide more hands-on sessions, using computers for each pupil or setting up a mock shop and acting out scenarios. “The students do some work for us, which is leaflet folding, then get paid with vouchers,” explains Flack. “They can spend the vouchers in the shop, but they budget before they spend. The young people come up with some brilliant ideas, like wanting to give a pound to charity, or some to their mum, and it develops from there.”

OUTCOME

WizeUp surveyed 3,700 year 12 and 13 pupils in 75 schools after the first two terms of the 2022/23 academic year. The results showed 82 per cent said they were less worried about student finance after attending WizeUp with Jack Petchey sessions. The survey found 84 per cent said they felt more able to manage their personal finances as a result of the training while 94 per cent said they felt more confident about personal finance.

EXPERIENCE
SESSIONS GIVE STUDENTS EQUAL ACCESS TO FINANCIAL KNOWHOW

Matt Beckett, head of year 13 at Woodbridge High School in Woodford, has seen the difference financial education makes.

“At Woodbridge we were finding it hard to provide financial education to our year 12 and 13 pupils in a way that met their varied needs,” he says. “Some wanted to move to university, others stay at home. Some were going into apprenticeships and needed to start paying tax.”

He says WizeUp provided the wide range of different sessions needed to address all these requirements. “It allowed us to choose which sessions were most relevant at what stage of years 12 and 13,” he says. “For example, year 12 had a brilliant session on the financial implications of moving away from home just before they chose which universities they would like to apply to. Learning about renting is really important and not something students necessarily know about.”

The school has about 200 students in year 12 and 170 in year 13. Pupils are offered eight sessions over two years. “The sessions are really engaging and the trainers ask the students many relevant questions,” says Beckett.

Not all students have parents who talk to them about finance, he explains. “By doing these sessions we ensure everyone has equal access to that knowledge. WizeUp's team also answers students' specific questions, and their advice is second to none. They have a level of knowledge that us teachers could not offer as they continually bring their research up to date.”

He believes the training helps pupils in two ways. “It reassures students about things they already knew, and worried about, such as student loans,” he says. “But it also flags up subjects students had not considered, like credit scores or tenancy rights. Knowing about such things will give then an advantage in the future.”

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next year the plan is to target the programme at 125 schools, says Flack.

WizeUp has applied for a further grant from the Jack Petchey Foundation and is awaiting confirmation. Flack would also like to reach more special schools.

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