{"id":71825,"date":"2024-06-11T11:24:49","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T01:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=71825"},"modified":"2024-06-11T18:18:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T08:18:01","slug":"call-for-government-to-lead-national-financial-capability-action-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2024\/06\/11\/call-for-government-to-lead-national-financial-capability-action-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for Government to Lead National Financial Capability Action Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A schools-based financial education program has seen significant improvements in students\u2019 understanding of important money concepts, but more needs to be done to ensure Australians are equipped to face financial challenges, says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecstra.org.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ecstra Foundation\u2019s<\/a> CEO <strong>Caroline Stewart<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The foundation says that since its launch in February 2022, its Talk Money program has expanded to become Australia\u2019s largest face-to-face, free schools-based financial education program.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_65028\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65028\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/03\/Caroline-stewart-cropped-e1679366364549.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-65028\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2023\/03\/Caroline-stewart-cropped-e1679366364549.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Caroline Stewart &#8230;the results are highly encouraging, but they are only the tip of the iceberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Through interactive workshops that help students learn about money lessons for life, the program has reached 262,171 students across 7,000 workshops in 1,125 schools.<\/p>\n<p>Citing its latest <a href=\"https:\/\/talkmoney.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2023-TM_impact-report_Final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Impact Report<\/a> the foundation says through survey feedback after the workshops, 90% of teachers said their students\u2019 money knowledge had improved and 82% of teachers observed an increase in students\u2019 confidence to manage money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMotivation to achieve financial goals increased and teachers credit the program for covering topics that would not otherwise have been taught in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stewart says the results are highly encouraging, but they are only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are seeing huge levels of interest, strong workshop bookings and expanded program reach across all States and Territories. There is clear recognition that financial literacy and knowledge are vital life skills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She says money habits formed in early adulthood are likely to persist, and financial behaviour has been shown to have a major impact on wellbeing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to start money lessons early, teach and reinforce financial decision-making skills through school years and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;We continue to call for a national financial capability and action plan led by the government&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While the program is making a positive impact in schools, Stewart says the foundation also knows \u201c\u2026there is a clear financial literacy knowledge gap in Australia, and one program alone cannot possibly address the national decline in financial literacy levels across all age groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to call for a national financial capability and action plan led by the government to elevate the importance of financial education.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She says this is more important than ever, given the financial challenges people face &#8220;&#8230;including the rising cost of living and vulnerability to scams. This would see a range of stakeholders working together to design evidence-based approaches to effective financial education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schools can access the free resources and register for Talk Money workshops <a href=\"https:\/\/talkmoney.org.au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_71834\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71834\" style=\"width: 986px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/06\/talk-money.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-71834\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/06\/talk-money.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"986\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/06\/talk-money.jpg 986w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/06\/talk-money-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/06\/talk-money-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/06\/talk-money-696x388.jpg 696w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2024\/06\/talk-money-753x420.jpg 753w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 986px) 100vw, 986px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-71834\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of Ecstra Foundation&#8217;s 2023 Talk Money Impact Report.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A schools-based financial education program has seen significant improvements in students\u2019 understanding of important money concepts, but more needs to be done to ensure Australians are equipped to face financial challenges, says Ecstra Foundation\u2019s CEO Caroline Stewart. The foundation says that since its launch in February 2022, its Talk Money program has expanded to become [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":71830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8282],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-71825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-government"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}