SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has joined up with Dragon’s Den star Sarah Willingham at the launch of a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report on ‘Financial Education for Young People’ – which calls for financial education to be extended to primary level, and for new teachers to learn about it during their initial teacher training.
Mr Durkan, a member of the APPG on ‘Financial Education for Young People’, has consistently called for compulsory financial education in schools in order to boost young people’s understanding of money management and personal finance – not least in Derry and throughout the North.
He said: "Among several recommendations in this new report is the call for statutory financial education to be extended to primary level, and for Ofsted inspections to more explicitly address the extent to which schools provide young people with financial knowledge and skills.
“Improving teacher confidence is also addressed in the report – with a call to ensure that new teachers learn about financial education during their initial teacher training.
“It is vital that we equip the next generation with the understanding to be able to make informed financial decisions.
“Only through teaching our young people about personal finance can we provide them with the knowledge they need in a complex financial climate.
“Through working together – including with organisations like Young Enterprise and the Money Advice Service – I hope that we will be able to help our young people better understand the difficult financial choices they will need to make.”
Photo shows Mr Durkan Dragon’s Den star Sarah Willingham at the Westminster launch of a new report on ‘Financial Education for Young People’.
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