Nine in ten parents think financial education should be taught in schools, Yorkshire Building Society research finds

The vast majority of parents think financial education should be taught in schools, new research commissioned by Yorkshire Building Society has found.
A survey of 2,000 parents of school-age children undertaken by Opinium on behalf of the building society found 89 per cent think financial education should be taught in schools.

Of those questioned, only 24 per cent discuss financial issues with their children once a week or more, with one in ten never talking to their children about the issue.

The new research comes as the Government reviews the national curriculum, with Yorkshire Building Society among the organisations calling for mandatory financial education for all children, including for primary aged children in England.

The research douns that on average, parents thought children should start learning about money management from around nine years old and two-thirds (66 per cent) thought they should start learning about money management before they turn 10. But separate findings have suggested that children have already set many of their money habits, including the ability to plan and delay gratification, by the age of seven.

Almost all (91 per cent) of parents said they would be confident talking to their child about money management, with most (80 per cent) agreeing that they would be confident talking about saving money, but this number reduced significantly when it came to confidently talking about key skills such as budgeting (68 oer cent) and recognising the difference between needs and wants (62 per cent). Just over half (56 per cent) said they would feel confident to teach their children about avoiding debt and only 43 per cent would feel confident teaching their children about credit.

Chris Irwin, director of savings at Yorkshire Building Society said: “This research shows that parents recognise that financial education is incredibly important, but they are juggling many different priorities when it comes to talking to their children about life skills. Although most recognise that children should start learning about money during primary school, many may not realise that attitudes and behaviours start developing at a very early age, and habits can form by the age of seven.

“We can see that most parents lean on personal experience to teach their children about money, meaning that those from less financially-savvy families could be at a disadvantage, and we can also see how parents’ confidence dips when talking about important, but more complex topics such as debt and credit.

“We hope that the Government will increase the focus on financial education in schools – and make it mandatory for all pupils across the country so no child misses out on developing important life skills relating to money.”