Financial education and youth

Financial literacy is a core life skill for participating in modern society. Children are growing up in an increasingly complex world where they will eventually need to take charge of their own financial future.

National surveys show that young adults have amongst the lowest levels of financial literacy. This is reflected by their general inability to choose the right financial products and often a lack of interest in undertaking sound financial planning. Even from an early age, children need to develop the skills to help choose between different career and education options and manage any discretionary funds they may have, whether from allowances or part time jobs. These funds may entail the use of savings accounts or bank cards.

The OECD's Principles and Good Practices for Financial Education and Awareness recommend that financial education start as early as possible and be taught in schools. Including financial education as part of the school curriculum is a fair and efficient policy tool. Financial education is a long-term process. Building it into curriculums from an early age allows children to acquire the knowledge and skills to build responsible financial behaviour throughout each stage of their education. This is especially important as parents may be ill-equipped to teach their children about money and levels of financial literacy are generally low around the world.

OECD PISA assessments of the financial literacy of students

May 2017 - PISA 2015 Results (Volume IV): Students’ Financial Literacy explores students’ experience with and knowledge about money and provides an overall picture of 15-year-olds’ ability to apply their accumulated knowledge and skills to real-life situations involving financial issues and decisions.

July 2014 - PISA 2012 Results: Students and Money presents the first financial literacy assessment of 15-year-old students in 18 countries and economies. It provides a unique international benchmark on the level of financial literacy of young people.

APEC endorsement

Finance ministers at the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting adopted a policy statement recognising the importance of financial education in schools and encouraging APEC members to make use of the OECD's High-level Principles on National Strategies for Financial Education, Guidelines for Financial Education in Schools and other methodologies and tools. The statement also encourages APEC economies to consider the participation in the Financial Literacy Measurement Programme for International Students Assessments (PISA) in 2015.