News release
Only a quarter (27%) of children in the UK enjoy learning about money at school, according to a new survey. The survey of 1,600 children, undertaken by Beano Studios, comes as the Bank of England, Tes Global and Beano launch Money and Me a new primary school teaching resource to help teachers to engage children in money and financial wellbeing.
The survey found that the top three things that children believe would make learning about money more fun are jokes and funny stuff, games, and using “real” money in “real” situations.
Money and Me features Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and the Beano gang who help to bring to life everything to do with financial literacy in 12 step-by-step lessons, with presentations, activities and games linked to the curriculum in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Lesson topics cover questions and topics such as What is Money?, Managing My Money, Ethical Spending and What is Debt?.
Children can puzzle over how Minnie should spend her £10 Birthday money, help Dennis avoid a charity fundraise scam, and advise Smiffy on the importance of making secure online payments.
Money and Me will be launched at 12.15pm by Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, during a live webinar hosted by Schools North East entitled Everyday Economics: the importance of financial education post-Covid.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, said:
“The current economic situation has demonstrated the importance of financial education. However, this research shows how much further we have to go to embed it into the lives of young people. Our Money and Me resource, developed in conjunction with Beano and Tes Global, will help to fill that gap and support primary school teachers to engage pupils in these vital issues from an early age.”
The survey found that girls were less likely to enjoy learning about money with only 19% of girls, compared to 34% of boys saying they enjoyed the subject. Money and Me was produced by Beano for Schools, Beano Studios’ educational programme, in partnership with Tes Global and features a host of female Beano characters including Minnie, JJ and Rubi and a broad range of topics to appeal to girls as well as boys. Regionally, children living in the East Midlands are most likely to enjoy learning about money (36%) compared to those in Wales who are least likely to enjoy learning about money (17%).
Fiona Hickley, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Learning, Beano Studios said:
“Our Beano for Schools lesson plans are every teacher’s secret weapon, translating complicated topics into fun and engaging teaching programmes. Creating these financial literacy lessons with our much-loved characters has been brilliant and we know kids are not only going to really enjoy them but learn essential life skills.”
Money and Me will be hosted on Tes Global’s resource sharing platform. More than 13m teachers are part of the online community.
Lord Jim Knight, Chief Education and External Officer at Tes Global said:
“Beano is an icon of childhood and it continues to have an amazing connection with children. This initiative has combined the power of the Beano brand with the expertise of the Bank of England and Tes Global’s resource authors to create a really engaging set of financial literacy resources that will be available to the nation’s teachers on our highly regarded resource sharing platform.”
Teachers can access the new Money and Me resource.
Notes to editors
Join the launch webinar.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England’s remarks made during the live webinar will be available afterwards.
Money and Me provides 12 step-by-step lessons with presentations, activities and games for children aged 5 – 11 years. It is mapped to the English, Northern Irish, Welsh and Scottish curricula and includes learning objectives and outcomes. The lessons cover - All about money; What is money?; What’s new with money?; What can I do with money?; Introduction to Banking; What is the Bank of England; Why prices change over time?; Why is money so important?; Managing my money; How can I keep my money safe?; What is debt?; and Ethical spending
About Tes Global
Tes Global is an international provider of software enabled education services to schools and teachers, including news and information, recruitment, online tools and resources, support and professional development. Our mission is to support schools in their work to improve children’s lives through education.
Tes Global helps schools find the teachers they need, brings new teachers into the profession through initial teacher training and provides continuous professional development. More than 13m teachers are part of our online community and we work with more than 25,000 schools in over 100 countries.
About the survey
The survey was undertaken by Beano Brain, the insights consultancy from Beano Studios between 8 July and 13 July 2020 and sampled 1,642 children aged 7 to 14 years.
About Beano Studios
Beano Studios is a rebellious entertainment studio and creative agency powered by data and insight. The Studio produces diverse entertainment content across TV and the award-winning Beano.com - as well as theatrical, experiences, consumer products, and the legendary Beano comic and annual.
International Emmy nominated Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! has been sold to 90+ countries, including to the BBC and Netflix, reaching over 200 million people. Beano's digital entertainment network, Beano.com, organically reaches over a million British and American kids a month, providing content that kids love - and come back to.
Trouble, Beano Studios’ full-service creative agency, offers transformative insights to help brands understand and engage with kids, teens and their millennial parents. Everything at Beano Studios is powered by the Beano Brain, to understand the tastes, demands and growing purchase power of kids, teens and millennial parents.
About Schools North East
Schools North East is an inclusive network led by headteachers from across the North East and runs a wide range of events and initiatives to support schools across the whole region.