provide a rationale for consumer and financial education in Australian schools
describe essential consumer and financial capabilities that will support lifelong learning
provide guidance on how consumer and financial education may be structured to support a progression of learning from Foundation–Year 10.
The endorsed MCEECDYA National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework (2011) is being used to inform the development of a complete MoneySmart Teacher Package (the Package) linked to the phased development of the Australian Curriculum. The Package will include professional learning (online and PDF), units of work, guidance and support for parents and other online resources. The Package linked to Phases 1 and 2 of the Australian Curriculum will be trialled in 2012/13 and available on the MoneySmart Teaching website from mid 2013.
In its capacity as the Australian Government agency with responsibility for financial literacy policy and initiatives, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) led the revision of the Framework6 in consultation with the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board,7 representatives from the Commonwealth and state and territory education sectors and consumer affairs agencies8 and selected teacher professional associations.9 This revision takes account of national and international research on financial literacy, international best practice in financial education,10 the advent of the Australian Curriculum, and the rapid advances in technology that influence the everyday lives of Australians.
The scope of student learning in the Framework spans Foundation–Year 10. The Framework builds on the learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework11 and recognises the diversity of family, cultural and community backgrounds that students bring with them to school. Teachers are encouraged to consolidate and extend consumer and financial education into the senior years of schooling. It is in these years that students develop a growing personal familiarity and engagement with consumer and financial contexts, making it more likely for them to develop deep understandings and appreciate connections between concepts.
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6
The importance of building consumer and financial capabilities in Australian students was agreed nationally for the first time in 2005 and a National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework was developed under the auspices of the then Ministerial Committee for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).
7
See www.flb.gov.au for information about the Financial Literacy Board.
8
See Appendix 2 for more information.
9
The Australian Association for Mathematics Teachers, the Australian Science Teachers Association, Business Educators Australasia and the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English were consulted on the draft revised Framework. These associations provided recommendations to ASIC in 2010 /2011 on how the National Framework could be improved.
10
The revised Framework has drawn on guidance material developed by the OECD’s International Network on Financial Education to support financial education at school [INFE (2011)9] as well as the financial education frameworks of a number of countries, specifically, Financial education for 7–19 year olds in Wales (Welsh Assembly Government, 2010); Financial Education: Developing skills for learning, life and work (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2010) and the New Zealand Financial Capability Progressions (NZ Ministry of Education, 2009).
