Financial capability is highlighted in The New Zealand Curriculum as an example of the type of theme that schools could use for effective cross-curricular teaching and learning programmes.
Financial capability is highlighted in The New Zealand Curriculum (p.38, 2007) as an example of the type of theme that schools could use for effective cross-curricular teaching and learning programmes.
Developing financial capability supports ākonga to:
In becoming financially capable, students will develop:
Financial-capability – What-is-financial-capability
Questions for you in your school
Discuss the way that Terry Shubkin and Pushpa Wood define financial capability in the video.
What does financial capability mean to you?
What financial skills and knowledge do you and your school community want to help your students acquire?
The cross-curricular theme of financial capability supports The New Zealand Curriculum’s vision by providing a learning context for students to become:
Supporting students to become responsible, confident, and independent managers of money will enable them to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities.
Financial capability lends itself to authentic and motivating contexts for learning and provides opportunities for engaging with parents, whānau, and the wider community.
Building financial capability encourages links across learning areas, particularly social sciences, mathematics and statistics, and English. Financial capability is readily developed within authentic contexts for learning. It provides students with life skills as well as opening pathways for further learning.
The New Zealand Curriculum encourages students to look at significant future focused issues such as citizenship and enterprise.
Building financial capability contributes to exploring the issue of citizenship through identifying how values, such as community participation and manaakitanga, influence personal financial goals and actions.
Financial capability deals with managing finances to attain personal goals while enterprising activities are aimed at generating personal income. Building financial capability enables students to:
These financial capabilities are necessary for students to be able to engage in enterprising activities.
Our values affect the financial decisions we make. Knowing, respecting, and valuing who students are, where they come from, and building on the values they bring with them is essential when building financial capability.
This table provides suggestions for ways in which values can be explored and modelled while developing financial capability.
| Values | Explored and modelled through... |
|---|---|
| Excellence |
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| Innovation, inquiry, and curiosity | Thinking creatively, critically, and reflectively to:
|
| Diversity |
|
| Equity |
|
| Community |
|
| Ecological sustainability |
|
| Integrity |
|
| Respect |
|
Providing authentic learning contexts to build students’ financial capability enables the development of the key competencies in relevant and meaningful ways.
This table provides suggestions for financial capabilities that support the development of key competencies within a financial context.
| Competency | Financial capabilities |
|---|---|
| Managing self |
|
| Relating to others |
|
| Participating and contributing |
|
| Using language, symbols, and texts |
|
| Thinking |
|
Financial capability can be integrated across all curriculum learning areas. Financial capability supports the development of literacy and numeracy skills.
Financial-capability – Financial-capability-and-the-NZ-Curriculum
Questions for you in your school
In this video interview, Robyn Scott states that:
"Financial education is a really important part of The New Zealand Curriculum, because what we’re all about is future proofing young people to equip them with the skills and capability to live in the world that they’re living in now."
Consider this statement in your own school context.
Cross curricular or thematic approach
Financial capability provides an authentic context for linking or integrating learning areas via a broad theme. Key competencies and values can be developed through the learning experiences.
Inquiry
Building students' financial capability works well using an inquiry approach. This approach enables students to ask and find answers to their own questions, make links to contexts which are meaningful and relevant, recognise choices they can make, and the potential consequences. A social inquiry approach to building financial capability considers the impact of financial decision making on the community and wider society.
Enterprise
Financial learning and enterprise learning can happen simultaneously – one context reinforcing the other. Financial capabilities enhance students' engagement in enterprise learning, and enterprise learning enhances students' engagement in building their financial capability.
Inclusion
Different cultures and families/whānau may have very different values and approaches to financial decision making. An inclusive approach to financial capability involves exploring the diverse values that people have about money.
Financial-capability – Integrating-financial-capability-into-the-school-curriculum
Questions for you in your school
What opportunities do you have to integrate financial capability within learning areas at your school?
What teaching and learning approaches could you use?
How could you involve parents and whānau at your school in learning about financial capabilities?
Published on: 03 Sep 2020
