Evaluation of Learning Money Matters (LMM)
07 September 2009
Also see: Personal Finance Education: Effective practice guide for schools
This report presents the final findings of research carried out by NFER, as part of an independent evaluation on behalf of pfeg, of the Learning Money Matters (LMM) initiative. LMM provides help, support and advice for secondary schools in delivering personal finance education (PFE) to their students.
Key Findings
- The research underlines the ongoing need in schools for the support provided by pfeg through LMM. Delivery of PFE remains variable across schools, with many schools not yet delivering lessons to students in all year groups in an effective way. Furthermore, 3,690 schools and colleges – that is over 53 per cent of all providers – had not yet been involved in LMM by the end of June 2009.
- The majority of teachers are very satisfied with the support provided by pfeg consultants. They particularly value consultants’ knowledge of financial topics, resources and curriculum requirements, their professionalism and their flexibility in responding to the needs of the school and students.
- Involvement in LMM often acts as a catalyst to encourage teachers to initiate or expand the teaching of PFE in their schools. However, this encouragement needs to be supported within schools by senior management buy-in, sufficient curriculum time and enthusiastic and motivated teaching staff in order to ensure the successful and sustained delivery of PFE.
- The main barriers to the successful delivery of PFE in schools include other competing curriculum demands, lack of time to prepare and coordinate delivery, and difficulties in finding staff that are interested, confident and enthusiastic about teaching Personal and Financial Education (PFE).
- PFE lessons have a noticeable impact on students’ attitudes towards saving and borrowing, their confidence in dealing with money and their views on being taught about finance at school. The study also identified an impact on students’ knowledge of finance and financial products in some schools.