To mark Talk Money Week, national financial and enterprise education charity Young Enterprise has commissioned a poll, conducted by Teacher Tap, revealing that 9-in-10 UK teachers believe financial education should be taught in more than just maths lessons*. The research finds that teachers overwhelmingly agree on a need to embed financial education across subjects such as PHSE (75%) and Citizenship (40%), and not just in maths lessons.
Consistency in attitude, complexity in practice
Analysis reveals that this belief remains consistent between primary and secondary teachers, as well as in both state-funded and fee-paying schools. While many teachers agree that maths provides essential foundations, many feel a broadening of responsibility across subjects is necessary to equip young people with genuine financial skills.
A decade since financial education became a compulsory part of the English National Curriculum, the question of responsibility remains unresolved. With this insight into teacher perspectives, it’s clear that providing meaningful financial education requires a broad, interdisciplinary approach—and that ongoing support for teachers is crucial.
“Too often, questions to the Government about how they can do more to support young people’s financial capability are consistently routed back to maths provision, with limited consideration of the role of other subjects in developing financial capability,” comments Russell Winnard, Chief Operating Officer, Young Enterprise, and former teacher.
“The Curriculum and Assessment review is a rare opportunity to elevate financial education without overburdening teachers. Training and resources exist for effective delivery, but uptake will remain low until the Government explicitly recognises financial education as ‘more than maths’.”
Putting it into practice
Evidence shows the impact of changing the approach to financial education, and the embracing of applied learning speaks for itself. Young Enterprise’s work in schools where disadvantage is high has demonstrated that 80% of teachers reported a positive impact on learning attitudes, and 67% observed improvements in the quality of students work when providing greater opportunities for young people to apply their learning**.
For more information, please contact youngenterprise@mww.com.
*Teacher Tap is a widely respected tool for collecting insights from teachers – administered through an app asking registered teachers two or three questions every working day. Young Enterprise’s survey question was answered by over 9,500 teachers across England. The sample was drawn from over 3,000 primary teachers, and over 6,000 secondary teachers.
**Data from Young Enterprise’s Inspiring Futures Strategy
