Five Tips for Teaching Kids About Financial Literacy in the Classroom

Financial literacy is as important as reading, writing, and mathematics – though it’s only recently the government and education stakeholders have been pushing for financial literacy in the classroom. Over half of parents surveyed in 2020 say that kids need to learn about finances from school; but how do we do it?

ASIC has a curriculum guide, for example – but there are many more cross-discipline approaches teachers can use to foster financial literacy in primary and secondary age students. Here are five tips to teach kids about financial literacy in the classroom.

Build on What They Know
As much as we’d loathe to admit it, kids are in fact learning from play and video games more than we think. Games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Apex Legends all have in-world currencies and markets that determine the supply and demand of virtual goods. In multiplayer online games, a lot of what kids do is not the fun part – they are often “grinding” or completing repetitive tasks for XP (Experience Points) or in-game currency. This helps them buy better weapons or potions (these are games, after all) – rewards for “working” in the context of the game. “Grinding” may be a tough slog – but imagine if the “grind” was done by many people (forming a business) – or if the XP could be banked, lent out, or invested! All starting points for learning about employment, resources, and finance.

Use Extra-Curricular Resources
ASIC’s MoneySmart and the ATO’s Paying It Forward programs teach children about the basics of money, saving, finance, and tax. Since we live in a market economy, linking concepts of taxation and money to other skills such as mathematics, social sciences, humanities, and English help children become more well-rounded and financially literate. It also teaches them about the connection about tax and how government is funded – how “free stuff” from the government is paid for by taxes!

Join School-based Competitions Around Finance
There are many school competitions out there, and they don’t just have to be about sports. Money and finance competitions such as the Suncorp ESSI Money Challenge teaches students about saving, spending, investing, and watching out for scams. They can also win individual and school prizes. Other competitions on offer are the Wharton Global High School Investment competition, which teaches high schoolers about investment strategy. All these can be great training grounds for investment later in life.

Entrepreneurship Fairs
Another excellent way to teach children about business and entrepreneurship is to hold entrepreneurship fairs or themed days, where kids are given a modest investment to sell products or services. The teams who bring in the most profit “win” the day – and some may find that even though they sold all their wares, they did not bring in the most profit! Though bringing in outside food is a popular choice, paying for delivery, the food, containers, and other bits and pieces all add up! It also gives them a taste of running their own business, a great future career choice for many kids.

Weave it All Together – The Rewards of Saving
Now that your children have made profits – set up a day where the children can learn how to invest their profits so they can have a fun end of year trip, camp, or something similar. Saving for a rainy day is fine – but saving to get something great at the end of it is also a reward.

Students can either invest into a big pool, which is then invested into a managed fund or term deposit (whatever suits the timeframe) – or they can take their profits now. This introduces them to the concept of “future you” – prioritising the future for bigger rewards instead of smaller rewards now. When the kids who spent their money on chocolates and Fortnite skins months ago see the photos of their friends having a grand old time at the amusement park – it’ll be a lesson they’ll never forget.