The Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, has lamented the lack of understanding of finance among the UK population and called for more economics teaching in schools.
Mr Haldane said only a third of schools in the UK offer economics education, with only 1.4 per cent of pupils aged between 14 and 16 studying economics at GCSE in the 2016-17 school year.
He added that only 4.3 per cent of pupils are studying the subject between the age of 16 and 18.
He contrasted that with a survey conducted by the Bank of England which showed that 80 per cent of respondents thought economics should be part of the school curriculum.
The economist said in addition to low availability of the subject, the second problem is that among those who study economics at university, private school pupils and those from London are disproportionately represented.
Mr Haldane said this means economic policy is largely formed by people whose experience is limited to particular social circles.
The Bank of England’s chief economist attended a state school in Leeds. He said when he joined the central bank as a graduate, he found the jargon, which he called “bankese” to be hard to decipher.
He said the terminology used by many bankers is based on Latin, which state school pupils have little opportunity to learn.
Mr Haldane co-founded a charity called Pro Bono economics. As part of this initiative, he visits state schools to improve economic teaching.
Financial education became a mandatory part of the secondary school curriculum in September 2014, although there is currently no assessment in schools.
At The True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance conference earlier this month, Jonquil Lowe, lecturer in personal finance at the Open University Business School, said financial education works best when it is “salient and relevant”.
But she was sceptical about teaching financial education to young children and said teaching finance in schools had “little impact”.
Instead, she noted, “the workplace is shown to be an effective place for financial education interventions”.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
