Association for Citizenship Training (ACT) – October 2024

In March 2024, ACT was delighted to be named the Oak National Academy’s official curriculum partner for Citizenship. Over the coming year, we will be developing an innovative new secondary Citizenship curriculum, complete with comprehensive resources designed to support educators in their planning, classroom teaching, and curriculum
development. At ACT, we remain dedicated to ensuring that high-quality, impactful Citizenship education is embedded in every school. Our partnership with Oak marks a significant step forward in achieving this goal.

Financial and economic education is an important component of the statutory Citizenship curriculum. Done well it can be intricately woven into the fabric of the subject, fostering a holistic approach to preparing pupils for responsible and informed civic participation. Our new Citizenship curriculum sequence is designed to do exactly that.

At Key Stage 3, pupils aged 11-14 are approaching a stage of greater independence and future financial responsibilities. Through our financial education unit, How Can We Manage Money Well?, pupils will be taught about key life skills including budgeting, saving, and making informed financial decisions. The unit prepares them to manage allowances,
part-time earnings, and future financial challenges with confidence. By building a strong foundation in money management early on, pupils avoid common financial pitfalls and set themselves up for a more secure future.

As they move into Key Stage 4 pupils take their learning about how money and financial systems work and apply it towider society, exploring financial and economic themes such as:

• public taxes
• budgeting practices
• risk management
• credit and debt
• insurance
• the debates around government priorities and provision of public services.

Pupils take their financial knowledge and use it to explore a range of key enquiry questions such as:

•  How does the economy work?
• What has the economy got to do with me?
• How can the local economy support sustainability?
• How can we prepare well for financial decision making?
• How do we look after an ageing population?

The units are carefully designed to incorporate essential financial knowledge for pupils, contextualised within pressing societal challenges, such as looking after an ageing population and making informed decisions regarding housing and living arrangements