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evaluation

MyBnk's 'Money Twist'

Evidence type: Evaluation i

Description of the programme

Money Twist aims to provide young people with real life money skills through a series of hands-on workshops. With versions for Key Stage 3 (11-14-year-olds) and Key Stage 4 / 5 (15–18-year-olds), the interactive sessions build upon young people’s knowledge of basic finance and help them engage with money. The programme is five hours in length and split into three 100-minute sessions. Sessions can be run concurrently or on rotation.

The programme is predominantly delivered in secondary schools and sixth-form centres, as well as by youth organisations, and meets the financial capability requirements of the Citizenship, Maths and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) curriculum.

The programme covers:

Money Twist KS3

  • My Money: History and functions of money, security features of notes, currency and exchange rates.
  • My Choices: Budgeting, youth employment, minimum wage, needs and wants, shopping deals, risk and saving.
  • My Future: Interest, current and savings accounts, ethical banking, flow of money, consumer choice and future of money.

Money Twist KS4/5

  • My Money: Tax, payslips, national insurance, government spending, minimum wage, auto enrolment pensions and careers.
  • My Choices: Needs and wants, lifestyle choices, budgeting, household costs, insurance, pensions, investments, risk and saving.
  • My Future: Interest, banking terms, current and savings accounts, flow of money, consumer choice, forms of payment, borrowing, credit and debt.

Between August 2010 and August 2011, Money Twist was delivered to 2,862 young people in multiple institutions in Lambeth, London.

The study

Oxford University Consulting undertook an evaluation of the delivery and impact of several MyBnk programmes, including Money Twist. This involved data collection pre- and post-programme for participants and a comparison group of young people with similar characteristics from a school in a neighbouring borough.

Follow-up qualitative research was also conducted with a small number of participants eight months after completing the programme to assess knowledge retention.

Key findings

Process learning identified by the study included:

  • MyBnk had positive and established relationships with the schools and other settings in Lambeth in which Money Twist was delivered. This was identified as important for facilitating the effective take up and delivery of the programme.
  • The programme was funded by J.P.Morgan. This enabled a wider variety of organisations to take up Money Twist than would have otherwise been possible had they been required to find funding themselves.
  • The evaluation found that having a high ratio of trainers to participants enabled more effective delivery. Teachers also felt the young age of the trainers delivering the programme helped the young participants to relate to them and engage with the session. MyBnk have quality and training standards to make sure that those delivering the programme do so to a high standard.

The evaluation found that positive outcomes were achieved in relation to:

  • Financial capability (mindset): participant attitudes, values and self-belief in relation to money.

  • Financial capability (ability): knowledge about money and the financial system had the greatest increase compared to the comparison group; an increase was also observed in skills.

  • Qualitative follow-up research suggests that key knowledge had been retained by at least some of the participating young people. This qualitative research with young people and teachers provided feedback on the value of the programme as well as exploring the reasons why the impact was achieved.

Points to consider

  • Methodological limitations
    • The sample for the follow-up interviews was small and therefore cannot be used to make generalised claims about longer-term knowledge retention by the participants.

Full report

MyBnk’s ‘Money Twist’ - full report

Key info

Activities and setting
Face-to-face in schools and other young people’s organisations
Measured outcomes
Programme delivered by
MyBnk
Year of publication
2011
Country/Countries
England
Contact information

Steve Korris Quality and Training Director MyBnk Steve@mybnk.org