The Money Charity’s 'money workshops for schools'

• Description of the programme
• The study
• Key findings
• What are the costs?
• Points to consider

Description of the programme

The Money Charity developed their series of five money workshops for students in schools and colleges in response to the introduction of financial capability into the secondary school National Curriculum. The workshops were first delivered in 2010 and then adapted in 2014 to ensure they were mapped to the new curriculum.

The aim of the workshops is to increase pupil’s financial knowledge and skills, as well as their confidence. All cover the topics of everyday money, planning, savings, debts and financial products.

Two of the workshops are aimed at Key Stage (KS) 3 pupils (age 11 – 14), two are aimed at KS4 pupils (age 15 – 16) and one is for post 16 education (age 16 – 19). More specifically:

• The first KS3 workshop aims to help pupils understand the importance of setting goals, planning ahead financially and saving, and to teach the skills needed to budget and prioritise spending.
• The first KS4 workshop aims to increase understanding of savings accounts, wages, tax and National Insurance.
• The post-16 workshop aims to prepare students for independent living by providing them with an understanding of the cost of living and increasing knowledge of credit and debt.

The workshops lasts between 45 minutes and two hours, and are delivered by staff or trained volunteers.

During the Autumn term of the 2014-15 academic year, the first KS3 workshop, first KS4 workshop and post-16 workshop were delivered a total of, 140 times to 3,148 students. The evaluation considers the outcomes of these 140 workshops.

The study

Sterling Research conducted an independent evaluation of the programme, which was published in 2015. Evidence was collected using pre- and immediate post-workshop questionnaires with 3,148 students who took part in the first KS3, first KS4 and post 16 workshops. Around 1,000 students from each age group took part in the evaluation. No comparison group was used.

Note: a more recent study of this programme has been conducted, using a randomised control trial. Evidence Hub Summary available hereopens in new window.

Key findings

The evaluation found positive impacts relating to the following outcomes:

Financial capability (mindset):

• Across all three workshops there was an increase in the proportion of students reporting that they felt confident managing money: a 30-percentage point increase for KS3 students, 62 percentage point for KS4 students, and 59 percentage point increase for post-16 students.
• Across all three workshops there was an increase in the proportion of students reporting that they believe a budget is the best way to stay on top of their money: a 19-percentage point increase for KS3 students, 23 percentage point increase for KS4 students, and an 8-percentage point increase for post-16 students.

Financial capability (ability):

• KS3 workshop: the proportion of students who knew the difference between priority and non-priority spending rose from 60% to 84% after the workshop, the proportion who knew that a credit card was a form of borrowing increased from 30% to 60%, and the proportion who were confident they knew why it is important to save money rose from 73% to 87%. The proportion of students who reported being able to create a budget rose from 29% to 65%.
• KS4 workshop: the proportion of students who knew the difference between saving and credit increased from 44% to 67%, the proportion who knew what AER stood for rose from 3% to 61%, the proportion who knew that tax is related to earnings rose from 46% to 73%, and the proportion who were confident they knew why it is important to save money rose from 66% to 80%. The proportion who could use a payslip to check that the right amount of money has been paid rose from 21% to 59%.
• Post-16 workshop: the proportion of students who knew what APR stood for increased from 5% to 57% the proportion who knew that unmanageable credit leads to difficulties with debt increased from 68% to 85%, and the proportion who felt confident they could explain what contents insurance is rose from 7% to 35%. The proportion who said they could create a comprehensive budget rose from 10% to 36%.

What are the costs?

Each workshop costs £200 in total to deliver. This amount includes related management costs, delivery fees and expenses, resources and evaluation activity. It also includes the cost of recruiting and training staff as well as programme development costs.

Points to consider

Generalisability: No comparison group was used in the study, so firm causal links cannot be drawn between the programme and the outcomes that were measured.

NB: You can find The Money Charity’s more recent evaluation of this programme, funded by the What Works Fund, here.