Financial education charity pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) is to launch a major new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programme in partnership with NatWest, following the inclusion of financial education in the new National Curriculum for England. The programme aims to equip future generations of secondary school mathematics teachers with the professional skills necessary to deliver high quality financial education to their students.
From this September, ‘financial mathematics’ will be taught in all maintained secondary schools in England as part of the new mathematics curriculum, with ‘financial capability’ also included in citizenship education for 11 to 16 year olds. The move follows years of campaigning by pfeg, MPs and Peers in the All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People and MoneySavingExpert.com’s Martin Lewis.
As part of the new programme, expert pfeg education consultants will work with 10 Initial Teacher Training (ITT) institutions in England to embed the teaching of this new ‘financial mathematics’ content into their existing courses. The programme will benefit 400 student teachers during the first two years and a further 2,000 in the following three years, creating a generation of secondary mathematics teachers confident in the delivery of high quality financial education.
In addition, the partnership will enable pfeg to offer Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and ongoing advice and support to newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in how to bring money to life in the mathematics classroom. 150 NQTs will also be given intensive support to become Financial Education Champions in their schools, disseminating their expertise to colleagues and acting as advocates for the integration of financial education across the school curriculum.
