With the curriculum of
schooling ever growing, and the definition of what is considered literacy
constantly expanding, being considered a literate person has become far more
complicated than just knowing how to read and right. As 21st century
is literacies is broken down in my previous blog, and has continued to be done
in my courses at Brock, I have come to learn that the about nine forms of
literacy that must be addressed in the classroom. Although most of these
literacies are topics and skills that I myself as a student have gained, at
least in some form, throughout my education, one literacy that have very rarely
been taught about myself is financial literacy. As a future teacher, this is a
topic I fear, one that I feel I am not prepared teach as I still struggle
myself to understand what is involved in finances and can barely imagine
learning how to do them. Financial literacy was not something that was
discussed throughout my primary and secondary educational experiences. We were
taught about how to save money, how to invest, about taxes or mortgages, which
are things that are important for my future students to understand; so how will
I teach it?
 |
| http://moneyasyougrow.org/ This website provide students with financial literacy based on their age and provides a guide for teachers about what students should know at what age to be financially intelligent. |
According to Blue,
Grootenboer and Brimble (2014) the importance of financial literacy education
is to create a foundation for effective decision making. It is the job of
schools and educators to teach students about earning income, buying goods and
services, saving, using credit, financial investing and protecting and
insuring. The goal here is to create able students who plan and set goals when
making and assessing decisions. financial education is the key to creating
financially literate youth and it needs to begin in primary and secondary
school as today children and youth are growing up in a society where money is
increasingly invisible through the use of debit and credit cards, and money is
able to be spent at all hours of the day as a result of online shopping (Blue
et al., 2014).
With the teaching of
financial literacy education becoming mandatory and the substantial knowledge
that students are expected to know I am left feeling more uncomfortable and
unknowledgeable as ever. Although I understanding what is involved in the
financial literacy curriculum, I still do not know how to teach it or explain
it in terms that make sense to primary students.
The below video provided
me with some perspective on how to start teaching financial literacy early in
education, and how to engage students in learning by making it relevant to
them. It discusses how financial literacy can teach young students about
financial literacy can break the cycle of poverty. The school presented in the
video teaches financial literacy to their students by relating to their
everyday life, to decisions they have to make or will have to make in the
future. For example in this school in the first grade they discuss personal
finance, in the second grade is a combinanation of economics and personal finance
and third grade is about monetary policy and what money is, while in older
grades it becomes more fluid to make the information relevant.
Although my knowledge
has expanded I still believe that it is important that teachers are provided
with professional development to ensure that they are teaching financial
literacy properly, and that this professional development is kept up to date as
the economy changes.
References
Blue, L., Grootenboer, P., & Brimble, M. (2014). Financial literacy education in the curriculum: Making the grade or missing the mark?. International Review of Economics Education, 16, 51-62.
