Financial literacy is about more than personal responsibility – wealth and inequality should be part of the new curriculum

<div class&equals;"theconversation-article-body">&NewLine;<h2>Financial literacy will become a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;beehive&period;govt&period;nz&sol;release&sol;transforming-financial-education-schools" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">core element of the New Zealand social sciences curriculum<&sol;a> for Year 1-10 students from 2027&period; But what is being proposed presents a limited picture of the factors influencing people’s financial wellbeing&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The specifics of the curriculum have yet to be released&period; However&comma; the government’s announcement emphasised a focus on individual responsibility&period; Young people will be taught what they need to live within their means and how to accumulate enough wealth for retirement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;beehive&period;govt&period;nz&sol;release&sol;transforming-financial-education-schools&num;&colon;&percnt;7E&colon;text&equals;We&percnt;20are&percnt;20all&percnt;20consumers&percnt;2C&percnt;20and&comma;Affairs&percnt;20Minister&percnt;20Scott&percnt;20Simpson&percnt;20says&period;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">announcing the new curriculum<&sol;a>&comma; Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson said&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>We are all consumers&comma; and financial literacy can set young Kiwis up to be savvy consumers – whether it’s knowing how to invest wisely&comma; choose the best loan at a bank&comma; or even identify a scam&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; as our <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nzcer&period;org&period;nz&sol;nzcerpress&sol;curriculum-matters&sol;articles&sol;its-who-you-are-and-who-you-get-chosen-curriculum" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">research<&sol;a> shows&comma; focusing only on individual responsibility risks ignoring the economic systems – and inequities – that shape young people’s lives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Inequality in New Zealand <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;bwb&period;co&period;nz&sol;books&sol;too-much-money&quest;srsltid&equals;AfmBOoqETTtdD&lowbar;Di9uqaexIbLCjYde9Fnu6lik64SbITuI9SVbVS&lowbar;Iyj" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">has risen significantly<&sol;a> in the past three decades&period; And the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;oecd-comparisons-reveal-an-unflattering-picture-of-inequality-in-nz-could-that-change-239306" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">richest New Zealanders pay less tax<&sol;a> than in similar OECD countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Knowing how to manage household accounts is&comma; undeniably&comma; an important skill&period; But individual skills can’t necessarily overcome the hurdles within the broader economic and social context&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Focus on managing money<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Financial literacy – under the term &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;financial capability” – is only briefly mentioned in the current New Zealand curriculum&period; The topic is positioned as a potential outcome of learning across different subject areas&comma; rather than taught as its own distinct class&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Classroom resources focus on individual actions&period; Students are taught to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nzcurriculum&period;tki&period;org&period;nz&sol;Curriculum-resources&sol;NZC-Online-blog&sol;Financial-capability-in-New-Zealand-schools" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">manage money&comma; set goals and manage risks<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;14303" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-14303" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-14303" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;08&sol;AdobeStock&lowbar;215531776-300x200&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"200" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-14303" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">© Watchara<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; stock&period;adobe&period;com<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>There is no real discussion of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;link&period;springer&period;com&sol;article&sol;10&period;1007&sol;s40841-024-00349-z" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">economic inequality in the curriculum<&sol;a>&period; And even the few references there are have a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;doi&period;org&sol;10&period;18296&sol;cm&period;0034" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">strong focus on personal responsibility<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Teaching resources available for senior economics&comma; for example&comma; explore topics such as income&comma; taxation&comma; product costs and the scarcity of resources&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In senior business studies&comma; references to economic inequality are indirect&period; For example&comma; the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;key concepts” page alludes to ideas such as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;supply and demand” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;scarcity” that can loosely be associated with economic inequality&period; But it is not explicit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The resources being used in the classroom also exclude any significant discussion of broader economic systems and policies&period; Much of what is currently available is created in partnership with banks and financial organisations such as ASB’s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;asb&period;co&period;nz&sol;banking-with-asb&sol;financial-literacy-get-wise&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">GetWise<&sol;a> and BNZ’s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;savy&period;org&period;nz&sol;our-programmes" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">SavY<&sol;a> programmes&period; These focus on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;doi&period;org&sol;10&period;18296&sol;cm&period;0034" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">budgeting&comma; saving&comma; banking and paying off debt<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Towards collective responsibility<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Globally&comma; there has been a growing emphasis on financial literacy education&comma; partly because of the complexity of modern financial products&period; And&comma; as <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;doi&period;org&sol;10&period;1080&sol;02763877&period;2021&period;2009955" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">one study observed<&sol;a>&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the risks of&comma; and responsibility for&comma; financial decisions are being increasingly shifted from governments and employers onto individuals”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;tandfonline&period;com&sol;doi&sol;full&sol;10&period;1080&sol;10253866&period;2014&period;1000315" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">political economist Chris Clarke has noted<&sol;a>&comma; there is an &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;irreconcilable gap” between the aims of financial literacy education and people’s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;actual success in securing their security and wellbeing through financial markets”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other economists have <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;fraser&period;stlouisfed&period;org&sol;title&sol;review-federal-reserve-bank-st-louis-820&sol;first-quarter-2017-620801&quest;page&equals;173" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">pointed out<&sol;a> how issues of intergenerational wealth and entrenched socioeconomic disadvantage – the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;racial wealth gap” – cannot be overlooked when talking about &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;poor financial choices and decision making”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But another form of financial literacy education is possible&period; Young people could be taught to understand and analyse how governments make decisions for the financial wellbeing of their citizens&period; They could also learn the value of employment rights&comma; labour and workplace safety laws&comma; and the role of unions and other civic initiatives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rather than focusing on taxes and balancing household accounts&comma; students could learn about their individual responsibilities within the economic systems they are part of&period;<&excl;-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag&period; Please DO NOT REMOVE&period; --><img style&equals;"border&colon; none &excl;important&semi; box-shadow&colon; none &excl;important&semi; margin&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; max-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; max-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; opacity&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; outline&colon; none &excl;important&semi; padding&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;counter&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;content&sol;256225&sol;count&period;gif&quest;distributor&equals;republish-lightbox-basic" alt&equals;"The Conversation" width&equals;"1" height&equals;"1" &sol;><&excl;-- End of code&period; If you don't see any code above&comma; please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button&period; The page counter does not collect any personal data&period; More info&colon; https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;republishing-guidelines --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;jennifer-tatebe-2354520" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Jennifer Tatebe<&sol;a>&comma; Senior Lecturer Curriculum and Pedagogy&comma; Faculty of Arts and Education&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-auckland-waipapa-taumata-rau-1305" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Auckland&comma; Waipapa Taumata Rau<&sol;a><&sol;em>&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;derek-shafer-2389795" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Derek Shafer<&sol;a>&comma; Lecturer&comma; Te Kura Toi Tangata – School of Education&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-waikato-781" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Waikato<&sol;a><&sol;em>&comma; and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;marta-estelles-2351836" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Marta Estellés<&sol;a>&comma; Senior Lecturer&comma; Te Kura Toi Tangata – School of Education&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-waikato-781" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Waikato<&sol;a><&sol;em><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4>This article is republished from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">The Conversation<&sol;a> under a Creative Commons license&period; Read the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;financial-literacy-is-about-more-than-personal-responsibility-wealth-and-inequality-should-be-part-of-the-new-curriculum-256225" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">original article<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;