Slide 1

Financial Education in Schools:Australia as a case studyRobert DrakeSenior Executive, Financial Literacy,

I would like to thank Russian Presidency and the OECD for their leadership in this area and for the opportunity to present today on Australia as a case study on financial education in schools.

I will be talking about what the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is doing, in partnership with the state education departments and individual schools.1MoneySmart Teaching2

Following OECD principles

Our financial literacy work uses the brand name MoneySmart, with both a consumer website and a schools program MoneySmart Teaching

The strategy is in line with the OECD high level principles.

I will touch on the progress to date, and our plans for the future.2High level support3

First, the program has high level government endorsement. The Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched the MoneySmart program in 2011. Australia will be the G20 Presidency from December this year, so the government perspective on financial literacy is important.

(video: Prime Minister 44 seconds)3Financial literacy in the curriculum 4AGESUBJECTSTATUS5 9Cross curriculum(Maths, English, Science)Optional10 - 13Economics & BusinessCompulsory10 - 16 Cross curriculum(Maths, English, Science)Optional15 +Economics & BusinessElective Second, we have worked hard to get financial and consumer literacy into the curriculum. Australia is rolling out a new national schools curriculum at the moment, so this is a good opportunity to influence it. We have adopted a cross-curriculum approach, so financial literacy can be taught within English, mathematics and science

You will see in this table that there are opportunities to teach financial literacy from age 5 and up. However, it is only optional - it depends on the choice of the individual teacher and school principal.

A new subject - Economics and Business - will taught in schools from 2014.It will be compulsory from the ages of 10 to 13 years old and includes a strand on consumer and financial literacy.

4Phase 1: Pilot5

In mid 2012 ASIC started a pilot program with 90 schools around Australia. Urban and rural schools, government run schools and church run schools.

5Professional learning for teachers6Face-to-face workshops using train the trainer model

Interactive online modules as an alternative

Trained 8,000 teachers so far

We have trialled a professional learning program for teachers, with great success. In 12 months 8,000 teachers have been trained in the face-to-face workshops. There is also an online modules as an alternative for teachers who cant attend a workshop this is very important in a country as large as Australia where some towns are 8 hours from a major city.6A personal learning program via newsletter and video case studies for teachers eg:

Starting investing

Paying off your mortgage

Surviving divorce

Retire ready

Breaking the debt cycle

Being debt free

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Financial Health for TeachersI have a particular passion for the personal learning program Financial Health for Teachers which features real teachers talking through issues such as working through debt and surviving divorce as well as celebrating their achievements such as investing wisely and paying off their mortgage.

The fellow at the top of the slide with the bare feet is not a teacher! He is popular Australian financial commentator and columnist Scott Pape who provides a video and newsletter which has practical advice for teachers.

7MoneySmart Teaching website8

teaching.moneysmart.gov.au

Teaching and learning hub

Lesson plans

20 digital learning objects

23 videos

Links to other key resourcesThe MoneySmart Teaching website is a teaching and learning portal for schools, teachers, students and parents featuring resources that are: free and developed in consultation with education and government stakeholders, downloadable for easy use by teachers and to keep access costs low, units of work linked to interactive digital resources.

Key resources are the teacher lesson plans for primary schools and secondary schools. All sets of lesson plans contain diagnostic, formative and summative assessment to measure short term impacts on skills and knowledge.

Titles include Its raining cats and dogs- and chickens and How much love can fit into a shoebox. And secondary includes titles such as How we can obtain more money? for Mathematics, Should I drink bottled water ? for Science and Could I live smaller? for English. The y focus on real world things important to young people as the context for teaching consumer and financial literacy.

The digital resources can be used on computers and ipads and in the case of the very young students between 5 and 7 the resources are also compatible with interactive whiteboards.

The website also links to quality resources from banks and other agencies.

All MoneySmart Teaching resources are licensed to support free use for education with all print resources distributed under Creative Commons.

89PromotionKey to success will be to stimulate demand, via:

parents teachersschool principals

Phase 2 of the program will involve:

T raining for 24,000 teachers More teaching resources including a new Economics and Business subject and for Indigenous Australians and students with a disability A greater emphasis on promotions. Esp A campaign for parents to lobby their schools to take up the propgram

910EvaluationAustralian Council of Education Research will:

evaluate pilot

recommend how we might track long term behavioural change

Australia is in PISA testing for financial literacy 2012 & 2015

ASIC is evaluating the pilot program, focusing on how we can improve the teacher training and the classroom resources.

Australia is also participating in PISA testing of financial literacy in 2012 and 2015.

The challenge for ASIC will be how to start evaluating students for long term behavioural change ACER will be providing recommendations on how we should approach this. The Australian Centre for Educational Research will be making recommendations for us.

1011What children learn

ASIC is evaluating the pilot program, focusing on how we can improve the teacher training and the classroom resources.

Australia is also participating in PISA testing of financial literacy in 2012 and 2015.

The challenge for ASIC will be how to start evaluating students for long term behavioural change ACER will be providing recommendations on how we should approach this. The Australian Centre for Educational Research will be making recommendations for us.

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Teaching.MoneySmart.gov.au12