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Why these quick fixes won't work for teaching today or tomorrow
If you belong to a social media group for teachers, you’ve inevitably seen a post that goes like this: Jane, a twenty-something early career teacher writes…
“I’ve been teaching for three years but am burnt out and ready to quit. I’m thinking I could get a job writing classroom resources for teachers. Where can I apply?”
These 30 words capture the impact of a flawed ideology that has been shaping education in Australia for several decades. A new job market for teachers has been created as a result of governments regarding schools as production lines with standard inputs and outputs.
Curated Insights
In Australia, several states and territories have banned bank branded financial education in schools, paving the way for school-led programs free from commercial interests. However, there is a growing number of providers pitching "solutions" to school leaders and teachers. This article outlines some guiding criteria to help school leaders strengthen their financial education programs.
Despite the demise of Dollarmites, banks are still pursuing children through sophisticated 'pocket money' apps that they say teach financial capability. Check out my insights in this article by Choice Magazine.
There's more to a "good" financial education than banking, budgets and best buys. In this interview, I consider what it means to be financially capable, how we can best educate young people for changing financial times, and who should be driving school programs and lessons.
Students are digital natives and have access to complex and costly choices at their fingertips. Whether via their mobile phone, television remote control, or gaming console, they can accrue significant expenses in the name of entertainment. They are also subject to new forms of financial risk and deception, including unwanted calls and scam emails and texts. All of these ‘fintech’ (financial technology) developments and issues warrant teaching about.
Students are interested to learn about cryptocurrency. This is somewhat unsurprising given the ‘get rich quick’ hype and range of well-marketed trading apps luring investors in. Trade of cryptocurrency is a largely unregulated process, and this leaves space for risky dealings. This article offers some simple orienting ideas to tune teachers into students’ learning needs in this area.
Advice on money often boils down to simplistic messages about budgeting, understanding compound interest and avoiding debt. But research suggests financial decision-making depends as much on our values, expectations, emotions and family experiences as information taught at school. In short, the way people interact with money is highly complex and so the way we teach our kids needs to catch up.
I recently helped shape Victorian senior secondary curricula that better supports the development of critical numeracy. This article explains some of the research and theory that guided the curriculum writers in developing exciting new curriculum frameworks.
Maths prepares students for the ultimate test — life beyond school. As maths is everywhere, regardless of where life leads you, the more maths you learn at school, the better prepared you may be to understand the world. This article gives school students evidence-based advice for choosing subjects in their senior years.
Most of what is taught and learned in financial literacy programs in schools reflects middle class values and a conservative ideology about the role of government and individuals in achieving economic prosperity. It's time for a more holistic and modern vision.
There’s nothing like a financial crisis to remind us of the importance of quality financial education at school. So, is a NewsCorp columnist and financial self-help author the saviour schools need?
How can we prepare a financially capable citizenry through school education? Watch my opening keynote address at the Building Financially Capable Communities Conference in Auckland, November 2019. Hosted by the Westpac Massey Fin-Ed Centre.