Due to the overwhelming support for this petition and because it received more than 100,000 signatures (only the 4th to have done so at the time) the petition was debated in Parliament 15th December 2011. The government of the day was the 2010–2015 Conservative led Liberal Democrat coalition government.

Justin Tomlinson MP commented in his opening remarks that “A number of people have asked me why this subject caught the public’s imagination. A couple of recent studies perhaps explain that. It was found that 94% of people agree that financial education is important; that 69% of parents feel that their children will get into debt; that fewer than a quarter of parents feel confident in educating their own children in money matters; and that 72% of parents do not believe that enough has been done to educate young children.”

The topic was debated and the recommendations of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Financial Education for Young People’s report were presented in Parliament. From reading the transcript of the debate I can outline recommendations as follows:

- With regard to national provision, personal financial education should be a compulsory part of every school’s curriculum.

- Resources produced by outside organisations and visits of providers to schools should be available and accessible if considered helpful by teachers and quality-marked by a trusted body.

- Primary teachers should build upon their teaching of basic money and mathematics skills from an early age across the curriculum in preparation for secondary education.

- On secondary schools, the report recommends: “Personal finance education should be taught cross-curricular in mathematics and Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education with the financial numeracy aspect of personal finance education situated in mathematics and subjective aspects taught in PSHE education. It should be packaged in an obvious and clear way to young people.”

Justin Tomlinson MP, commented that having met more than 100 organisations before even starting to look into producing the report, the statistic “that stands out more than any other is that 91% of people who have got themselves into financial difficulty feel that if they had been better informed, they might well have taken a different path.”

It was clear that all parties and contributors agree adults and our young people should have the opportunity to learn and the knowledge of personal finance to enhance their lives. However, for me, the process is inhibitive, and the report’s recommendations do not go far enough.

The debate and recommendations focus nearly exclusively on providing financial education through our school educational system with no connection to financial education and the personal finance behaviours happening at home. There must be consistency with what is taught at school and what is being taught and practiced at home, otherwise confusion, mixed messaging, contradictory views and imposed opinions are inevitable. Nor does it consider children who do not attend school for what ever reason and the vulnerable.

The report, it’s findings and recommendations were submitted for consideration in the next Primary & Secondary Schools curriculum review, with some elements being adopted in Secondary Schools in 2014. This is what the national secondary curriculum covers now:

- In England, financial education wasn't on the national curriculum at all until 2014, it is included now as part of citizenship and maths for students aged 11 and over.

- In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales there is some financial education mainly delivered through maths and numeracy lessons.

Although there was no inclusion of personal financial education in primary schools it was introduced at secondary school level by being integrated into math and citizenship curriculum in 2014, nearly four years after the petition. The speed of introducing such critical teachings is astonishing when considering the overwhelming agreement that the current situation is unacceptable and unanimous agreement change is needed.

A recent review of the 2014 changes have been reported. The report focused on four areas of financial education that should be regarded as priority to improve financial capability across the country. 

Firstly, strengthening school provision at both primary and secondary level remains a critical issue. Teaching in both Mathematics and Citizenship must focus on real-life contexts, such as reading bank statements and paying taxes, supported by effective provision in PSHE. Teaching needs to start younger and recognise the role that primary schools can, and should, play in familiarising children with money concepts in an appropriate manner. 

It says financial education should not be a ‘postcode lottery’, with some students left out simply due to the school they attend, which is why it is recommended that statutory financial education is introduced at primary level.

The review also found the need to improve teacher confidence and skillset in this area. Their research found that only 17% of secondary school teachers have personally received, or are aware that a colleague has received, training or advice on teaching financial education.

Coordination across the sector given the vast expanse of information, organisations and already overworked teaching staff in our schools was seen as a key priority as well as measuring the long-term impact to ensure what is being taught, how it is being taught and by whom is of value and having the desired impact.

The APPG, which is a group of 200+ MPs and peers from different parties continue to shine a light on this crucial void in the population’s knowledge and confidence. They published a report in 2021 after an inquiry found just one in three children currently receive any financial education at primary school. The report warns this puts young people at risk of financial abuse, fraud and debt from an early age.

While the APPG can raise awareness of issues and influence policy debates, they do not have any direct power to make laws themselves – so ultimately it is up to the Government to decide whether to act on the report's recommendations or not.

The Government response through a Department for Education spokesperson said: 

"The primary mathematics curriculum includes specific content on calculations with money to develop young children's financial literacy.

"At secondary level, the citizenship curriculum for 11-16 year olds includes financial education to make sure young people are prepared to manage their money well and make sound financial decisions."

We know from the report on the impact of the changes in 2014 have been limited and require major improvements and development not only in the curriculum of what is being taught but also the way it is being taught and by those teaching. Furthermore it have only been integrated into certain subjects and is at the discretion of the schools and teachers how this happens.

I firmly believe personal finance should be a specific subject or module of teaching. This ensures clear and due attention  that highlights the subject and its importance while also allowing teachers to upskill and obtain the correct knowledge and how to deliver his knowledge in the educational environment with confidence. It is not good enough to use financial education as a tagline to make maths more interesting and it is naive to think changing apples or sweets to a currency when solving maths problems is an effective way of teaching children sound fundamentals and principles of money and money management…… to be able to check they have been given the correct change, sure, but that is not enough.

It appears that even when there is overwhelming demand from parents and people in general aka the electorate and when there is unanimous cross-party agreement that adults and young people need personal financial education - government, parliament and our representatives still do nothing to address the public's crisis in personal finance knowledge and confidence 

So like so many thinks in this world the answer to the question yes but in reality it is no 

- too long, too little and sadly for so many too late!

I will finish with a quote sited in the petition debate that stood out to me, it stands the test of time and I thought it is worth sharing, Benjamin Franklin said: