Financial capability

The Financial Services Authority has funded the National Skills Academy for Financial Services (NSAFS) to help further education staff deliver financial capability to their students as part of the Money for LiFE initiative, the further education project of the FSA’s National Strategy for Financial Capability.

There was a pilot project in the 2008/9 academic year based in 3 regions:

• Yorkshire and Humber
• South West
• London

The pilot phase reached more than 15,000 students in 27 further education colleges (FECs) in that academic year culminating in Money Week in March 2009 and a celebration event held at The Mansion House in London in April 2009.

This success has led to further funding of the project in 2009/10 with the following targets.

• To cover the seven NSAFS regions in England
• To reach 75 FECs
• To reach 30,000 learners

The project is split into three phases based around the key themes.

Phase one is a whole college approach, providing support to learners at registration / induction week (September 2009) with the theme of ‘Be aware of your rights and responsibilities’.

Phase two is specifically for learners undertaking tutorials during the academic year with the theme of ‘Recognise the signs of financial difficulty and take action’.

Phase three. A further 27 colleges will be included in the project during Money Week. This means that a total of 75 colleges will take part in phase three of the project. The plan is for competitions and fun activities to take place at all the colleges throughout the week and to involve as many students as possible. The theme of Money Week will be ‘beware of deals that seem too good to be true’.

Phase one: Registration/Induction week

Phase one of the project has already taken place. The aim was to raise awareness about some of the financial challenges further education students face, particularly at the beginning of a year of study. Students were encouraged to fill in a ‘Pledge Postcard’ to:

• select the most concerning financial challenges for them from a list of six options (bank account, savings, mobile phones, loans and mortgages, university fees and credit/debit/store cards)
• make a written pledge of something they would do differently to improve their financial situation

18 further education colleges across 22 campuses took part in phase one. 2365 students completed pledge postcards and the two main areas that concerned further education students were savings and university fees.

We are continuing to encourage students to make their pledges during tutorials and in the New Year. The best of these pledges will go forward to a national competition to win a prize (the latest iPod touch).

The postcards were retained by college staff so the content of tutorials in phase two could be tailored to students’ needs.

Phase two: October 2009 to March 2010

The aim of phase two is to get colleges to incorporate financial capability into tutorial programmes. College staff that are new to the project will be supplied with tried and tested resources, lesson plans and email/telephone access. The overall aim is that this will become a standard part of the college programme.

The work done during the tutorials will focus on helping students to recognise the signs of financial difficulty and take action. Particular attention will be given to any needs identified from the pledge postcards.

Tutorials or taught sessions are to be held at a total of 48 colleges, including those from phase one.

Phase three: Money Week – 8 March 2010

A further 27 colleges will be included in the project during Money Week. This means that a total of 75 colleges will take part in phase three of the project. The plan is for competitions and fun activities to take place at all the colleges throughout the week and to involve as many students as possible. The theme of Money Week will be ‘beware if things look to good to be true’.

Read this year’s Money Week 2010 case studies:

Aquinas College Money Week 2010 case study

Southampton City College Money Week 2010 case study

Last year’s activities included:

• using a shopping budget of £5 to buy and make a meal for two
• a taste comparison of branded and unbranded goods
• a comparison of mobile phone offers online
• setting up a comparison resource for buying a car
• finding out how much a place of your own really costs
• looking at the affordability of higher education while maintaining a social life