Description of the programme:
A 2016 inquiry into Financial Education Delivery in Schools highlighted the need to start financial education at an earlier age. MyBnk’s Primary Money Twist Programme, supported by KickStart Money (KSM), sought to address this by raising children’s awareness of the effects of money habits, and their ability to develop positive habits. The programme was also designed to give children confidence when discussing money with peers and parents. MyBnk’s expert trainers delivered three 75-minute workshops in primary schools across England. Target areas were London and the surrounding area, South of England, Liverpool, North West England and Scotland. This report is an evaluation of the second year of the programme.
The study:
The evaluation, conducted by Substance, followed the baseline survey which was conducted in 2018. This baseline survey assessed the extent to which the intervention achieved the following outcomes:
- Young people build capacity to defer gratification.
- Young people can understand, discuss and articulate new knowledge of money habits.
- Young people have an improved understanding of the concept of ‘future’, ‘plans’ and ‘consequences’.
These outcomes were also consistent for the second year of the intervention. The evaluators collected data from the second delivery year between April 2018 – March 2019, including:
- Quantitative pre-and post-delivery surveys of pupils aged 7-11 across 83 schools (resulting in 645 matched pre- and post- surveys for analysis).
- Quantitative pre- and three-month post-delivery follow-up surveys of pupils aged 7-11 (94 usable, matched pre- and follow-up surveys).
- Quantitative annual follow-up with year one delivery pupils aged 7-11 (resulting in 212 responses).
A range of other research and data collection methods was used, including qualitative case study research, surveys and interviews with teachers, a control group (totalling 1,107 participants) where the intervention was not delivered, analysis of web analytics and focus groups. This summary focuses on the quantitative findings.
Key findings:
- The intervention had a positive impact across all three outcomes. This was more pronounced in relation to Outcome 2 – young people can understand, discuss and articulate new knowledge of money habits - than other outcomes.
- As with the first year, the evaluation showed that a high proportion of pupils showed understanding of key concepts prior to training. Pupils with a lower understanding of key concepts at baseline (those ‘most in need’) were examined as a separate group, and showed the most significant rates of improvement, confirming the training was not just ‘preaching to the converted’.
- Overall, across all outcome areas, there was an average improvement of 11% for all pupils and a 56% improvement for those ‘most in need’.
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Outcome 1 - young people build capacity to defer gratification: Overall, there was an average improvement in this outcome of 10% across all pupils (6% in 2018), and 63% among those pupils who were ‘most in need’ (41% in 2018).
- One-in-six (17%) pupils displayed a more balanced approach to spending and saving (i.e. moving away from saving or spending all their money; compared to 7% in year 1).
- Among the follow-up group (consulted three months after delivery), 67% were working towards a savings goal (70% in year 1).
- For pupils with a lower understanding at baseline, 59% who showed little capacity to delay gratification initially were able to do so at the end of the sessions (68% in year 1).
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Outcome 2 - young people can understand, discuss and articulate new knowledge of money habits: Overall, there was a 15% average improvement in this outcome across all pupils (an increase from 2018 when there was an 8% improvement). Among those pupils who were ‘most in need’ the average improvement was 47% (although this was a decrease from 61% in 2018).
- One-in-eight (13%) of those unable to correctly identify the definition of the term ‘habit’ were able to do so following the training.
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Outcome 3 - young people have an improved understanding of the concepts ‘future’, ‘plans’ and ‘consequences’: Overall, there was a 7% average improvement in this outcome across all pupils (compared to a 3% improvement in 2018), and 59% among those pupils who were ‘most in need’ (33% in 2018).
- More young people (14%) strongly agreed with the statement ‘how I think about and treat money now will make a difference to my future’ following training.
- More than three-in-five of the teachers (63%) felt their pupils’ ability to identify some key money skills/talents that might be developed in the future had improved.
Points to consider:
Methodological strengths and limitations:
- This evaluation uses a range of robust data collection and analysis methods as well as a control group, allowing findings from the intervention group to be compared with an external group for benchmarking purposes.
Relevance:
- These findings are based on several regions in England and Scotland, and are therefore not necessarily representative of the entire UK.
Generalisability/ transferability:
- The evaluation is of significant interest to people interested in enabling or evaluating financial capability interventions, and particularly to those targeting interventions at young children.
