Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adding financial education to the primary school national curriculum.

Financial education is taught within the compulsory mathematics curriculum at primary level, which provides young people with the knowledge to make important financial decisions. There is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic that pupils should be taught. This is vital, as a strong grasp of arithmetic will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. The mathematics curriculum also includes specific content on financial education, such as calculations with money.

Primary schools can also teach financial education through citizenship. Although this is not part of the national curriculum until Key Stage 3, the Department has published a non-statutory citizenship curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2, to support schools in ensuring that pupils are taught how to look after their money and realise that future wants and needs may be met through saving. There also is a wide range of resources available for schools, including the Money and Pension Service’s (MaPS) financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England, which can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.

The Department does not monitor financial education in primary schools, but it continues to work with MaPS and HM Treasury to consider the evidence and explore opportunities to promote the importance of financial education to schools. To this end, the Department is currently working with MaPS on a series of joint financial education webinars during this academic year, to promote the importance of financial education to school leaders of primary and secondary schools, and to build teachers’ confidence in this area.