Do you ever tell your pupils that debt is a bad thing?’ I challenged the headmaster of a thriving Midlands prep school.
His answer was more nuanced than I was expecting — but since independent school heads are also educational entrepreneurs these days, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. ‘I’d be anxious about too much moralising in this area. Actually a lot of our pupils’ parents are business owners, for whom debt can be a good thing when it allows their businesses to grow. But we do try to teach the older ones that debt always has to be managed, and to ensure that our 13-year-olds leave here with some financial savvy.’
The teaching of personal finance in schools is by no means new, but it has moved up the agenda in recent years as part of the ‘economic’ element of ‘Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education’ in the national curriculum. That places it alongside all the stuff about respecting gender differences, staying safe on social media and avoiding radicalisation.
But precisely how finance should be taught, at what age — and with how much moralising attached — are open questions.
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