Charity’s financial education partnership with Experian reaps rewards for more than 1,300 pupils

6 October 2014 - A ground-breaking partnership between financial education charity pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group), part of Young Enterprise, and Experian is reaping rewards for young pupils, as the organisations announce the results of the first year of their three-year plan to create 21 Centres of Excellence for teaching children about money.

More than 1,300 pupils in seven primary schools have already benefited from the partnership, which sees free expert advice and support for teachers in areas where financial education could have the biggest impact on the financial capability of school-leavers.  For year one of the partnership, Experian used its tools to identify Nottingham, Bristol, Redcar, Manchester, Grimsby and London as target areas based on levels of financial literacy and use of financial services such as bank and savings accounts. Schools were recruited in each area and pfeg’s educational specialists then worked with these schools to create a tailored financial education programme for pupils.

Dunkirk Primary School (Nottingham), Luckwell Primary School (Bristol), Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School (Manchester), Waltham Leas Primary Academy (Grimsby) and Old Ford and Culloden Primary Academies (Tower Hamlets, London) have all achieved pfeg Centre of Excellence status*, with these schools recognised as beacons of best practice in the delivery of high quality financial education.  Each school is being supported in cascading their new expertise to other local schools, to spread best practice even further and help thousands more pupils.

Experian and pfeg are now in the process of identifying additional target areas for the partnership’s second and third years, which will see a further 14 primary schools around the country developed into Centres of Excellence.

Michael Mercieca, Chief Executive, Young Enterprise, said:

“The pfeg Centres of Excellence programme is transforming the landscape of financial education in schools.  Our partnership with Experian to provide support to primary schools in highly targeted areas across the country is a key part of our plan to ensure that every young person in the UK gains the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to manage their personal finances.

“With financial education joining the National Curriculum for secondary schools this September, our work in primary schools – including through our Centres of Excellence partnership with Experian – has taken on even more importance.  We know just how important it is that children start to learn about money from a young age, and by working to embed financial education into primary schools’ curricula we can help them give pupils the strong foundations they will need as they progress through the education system.”

Chris Clark, Managing Director, Experian UK&I, said:

“We are delighted to have worked with pfeg to develop this first tranche of primary schools into Centres of Excellence for financial education, in some of the areas in the UK where we know support is needed the most.  There is much work left to do, and through our work with pfeg, high-quality teaching resources and classroom volunteering, Experian is playing its part in making sure that young people have the opportunity to gain the vital knowledge and skills they need to make the right decisions about money.  We look forward to working with pfeg and even more schools in the future to spread the financial education message and support as many young people as possible.”

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For more information contact pfeg’s Sally Thomas on 0207 3309482 or sally.thomas@pfeg.org and/or Experian’s James Jones on 0115 9922336, james.jones@experian.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

*About pfeg Centres of Excellence

• A total of 52 schools and school clusters have now been awarded pfeg Centre of Excellence status, through pfeg’s work with a number of funders.
• Centre of Excellence status is awarded to schools or school clusters that have been recognised and rewarded for taking big steps forward in bringing personal finance education to all the children and young people in their school
• pfeg works with candidate schools and school clusters to embed financial education into the curriculum through the provision of teacher training, consultancy and support to feeder schools
• To achieve Centre of Excellence status, schools must achieve the following criteria
  o Senior leadership commitment – a headteacher who wants their teachers to be trained to teach personal finance education;
  o A champion – a key teacher with day-to-day responsibility for driving quality personal finance education;
  o A school/college development programme – a well planned and high quality provision of financial education;
  o Effective teaching, learning and assessment approaches – trained teachers who can motivate, challenge and assess pupils’ learning;
  o Pupil involvement – pupils who are involved and motivated to learn
  o Community engagement – links to other organisations locally and a willingness to use financial sector volunteers to add value;
  o Dissemination and sustainability – the ability to operate independently of pfeg support and the enthusiasm to showcase and disseminate work to inspire other local schools/colleges;
• For more information on the Centres of Excellence Programme see http://www.pfeg.org/services/centres-excellence

About pfeg

• pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) is the UK’s leading finance education charity
• pfeg officially became part of Young Enterprise, which educates young people about business and enterprise, in September 2014 and pfeg-branded financial education programmes will continued to be offered under the Young Enterprise umbrella alongside its own enterprise programmes.
• pfeg provides free support, resources and expert consultancy to help schools plan and teach financial capability. Its mission is to ensure that all young people leaving school are equipped with the confidence, skills and knowledge they need in financial matters to take part fully in society.
• pfeg works with teachers, government, consumer bodies and financial industry representatives to assist schools in delivering personal finance education to the highest possible standards – making sure that children and young people are able to understand money and make informed choices which will guarantee them security and economic well-being in the long-term.
• pfeg was won a Charity Times Award in 2012 for it’s What Money Means partnership with HSBC and was named Educational Charity of the Year at the Charity Awards in June 2010
• For more information see www.pfeg.org or contact Steve Stillwell on 0207 3309479 or steve.stillwell@pfeg.org

Experian and financial education
 
Experian has run a financial education programme in the UK since the mid 1990s and has developed a wide selection of resources to help young consumers get to grips with issues around money, credit and credit checking. Existing teaching resources include Creditability, an interactive computer game for 14 to 16-year-olds and Getting Credit: A beginner’s guide a set of lesson plans and support materials. All of Experian’s education resources are available from http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/resources.html

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2014, was US$4.8 billion. Experian employs approximately 16,000 people in 39 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.