Financial literacy falls after the age of 60

A recent study by Texas Tech University has found that Americans are becoming less literate about money after the age of 60, regardless of gender or education.

The study, which tested participants knowledge of investments, insurance, credit and money basics at different stages of life, found that knowledge peaked at age 45-49 but then fell by 2% each year from age 60 (scoring 59%) and declined dramatically after that, with 80+ year-olds scoring a dismal 30%.

The findings are particularly worrying as this is the age that many people are making key financial decisions about social security, medicare and retirements funds. The study also found that confidence in financial decision-making abilities rise with age – suggesting that rather than being older and wiser, people are becoming older, less smart and overconfident!

Source: Marketwatch.com

Nicki

Launch of new research project on enterprise education

With the world economy facing turbulent times and individual countries rethinking how they and their citizens can flourish in the global marketplace, many would argue that the importance of enterprise education has never been greater. But does this mean teaching people how to write a business plan or is it about gaining a broader set of skills essential to success in the 21st Century?

Drop in young people applying to university

The Guardian reports today on new research conducted by City & Guilds which suggests that just under half of young people (47%) are less likely to apply to university following the increase in fees.

Of the 1,000 pupils surveyed, aged between 14 and 19, more than a quarter (29%) are considering alternative education such as vocational qualifications and apprenticeships, a quarter (24%) will go straight into employment and nearly a fifth (16%) will look for work experience or take a gap year.

The survey also highlighted that schools are still failing to highlight alternatives to university. Whilst 75% of pupils were told about their university options only 49% received information on vocational qualifications.

“University is still seen as superior, even though many are suited to – and therefore should pursue – more hands-on learning”, said Chris Jones, City & Guilds CEO. “Practical, work-based learning provides a valuable career progression route and gives learners the skills and confidence to succeed.”

Read the full story.

Nicki, Business Director

Thousands of children ‘not ready for school’ at five

The Telegraph reports that up to half of five-year-olds are not ready for school as working parents increasingly abandon traditional games, nursery rhymes, bedtime stories and lullabies.

An interview with child development expert, Sally Goddard Blythe supports many of the findings from a recent Ofsted report which found growing numbers of school children were diagnosed as having special education needs when they were in fact ‘no different’ to other pupils.

Advertising is key to success of government campaigns

Marketing Week reports on research commissioned by Credos, the Advertising Association’s independent think-tank which reveals that the majority of people believe public money should be spent on advertising campaigns. Two thirds of people in the UK believe advertising is vital to the success of government campaigns on issues of public concern such as climate change and drink driving.

However, not all issues are given the advertising ‘thumbs up’. Benefit fraud and awareness of terrorism were considered more important issues for government spend on advertising than health issues such as diet and smoking. Debt management was seen as the only issue that the majority of people did not feel should be publicly funded.

The research also found that adults had high levels of trust in advertising, with TV and print media enjoying the highest levels of trust and direct mail the least.

Read the full report.

Source: Marketing Week

Nicki, Business Director

UK ‘continues to fail children on wellbeing’

The UK continues to be among the worst performing developed countries for children’s wellbeing, according to Save the Children.

The charity’s annual ‘State of the World’s Mothers’ report ranks the UK among the bottom half of developed countries at 23 in the world, in its children’s index which is based on pre-school and school enrolment as well as under-five mortality rates. While pre-primary school enrolment is 100 per cent in France, Germany and Netherlands the UK’s rate is just 81 per cent.

Save the Children’s chief executive Justin Forsyth said: “We know that pre-school nursery or playgroup access helps all children but especially the poorest. It is a national embarrassment that the UK lags so far behind other countries of a similar size and wealth.”

Online education tools help improve financial literacy

A new study conducted in the US by Wells Fargo, in partnership with Visa, has shown dramatic improvements in financial literacy as a result of an early online education intervention. 

The study invited new college student credit cardholders to participate in an online education programme to increase awareness of building good credit. The programme, hosted on Visa’s ‘Practical Money Skills for Life’ website, consisted of two lessons and quizzes designed to improve the cardholders’ understanding of responsible borrowing and credit management and demonstrate the effects of this education on their credit behaviour.

The results showed that students who responded to the invitation and completed the lessons (3,563 in total) did remarkably better on a number of credit related metrics than those who did not, this included:

•  51.2% less likely to file for bankruptcy
• 45.1% less likely to be 60 days past due date
• 22.8% less likely to have late fee accounts
• 20% fewer revolving monthly balances (even though use of credit cards increased)

Providing learners with online education environments, especially ones that include games, other competitive opportunities and potential interactions with peers are increasingly being used by financial institutions to help increase knowledge, build skills and encourage responsible financial behaviour. One example being used extensively across the UK is Nationwide Building Society’s ‘Nationwide Education’ personal finance programme for ages 4 to 18+.

Read the full report and visit Nationwide Education.

Nicki, Business Director, dbda

Careers advice is failing a generation of school leavers

New research commissioned by Future First into social mobility and careers advice, has found that a generation of young people is being let down as a result of bad careers advice at school.

The poll, conducted by YouGov, revealed that 64% of adults said their school careers advisors had not been important in helping advance their careers and only 13% of young people said their careers advice had been important in helping them access a job.

The research also reveals the concerns of 16-19 year old students - 70% of whom believe it will be difficult to gain access to a good career and 39% who said they don’t know anyone with a career they would like to do.

Jess Cordingly, managing director of Future First said, “With youth unemployment at a record high and social mobility stagnating, this research is a wake-up call that should lead to meaningful change in the provision of careers advice.” She added, “Access to role models is key to social mobility and we are at risk of limiting the prospects of 600,000 young people this year alone, by not providing credible careers advice.”

Read the full report at Future First.

Nicki, Business Director

Ofsted finds science improving in secondary schools

The quality of science education has improved over the past three years with pupils’ progress in science reported as good or outstanding in 70% of primary schools and in two thirds of secondary schools visited. However there are areas that need further improvement, particularly in primary schools.

Key points for dbda:
- in schools which showed clear improvement in science subjects, key factors in promoting students’ engagement, learning and progress were more practical science lessons and development of the skills of scientific enquiry
- the best science education has scientific enquiry and other aspects of ‘how science works’ at its heart
- insufficient professional development  in science to tackle the lack of confidence amonst primary teachers, particularly in their understanding of scientific enquiry skills and the physical sciences
- lack of specialist training and short tenure in the role, limited the effectiveness of science coordinators in developing teaching and raising achievements in primary schools
- secondary teachers in particular benefited from attending courses at the network of Science learning Centres, but too few of the schools visited had taken advantage of this high quality provision

Ofsted’s report ‘Successful Science’ is based on an evaluation of science education in England 2007-10 which looked at the strengths and weaknesses of science in 94 primary schools, 94 secondary schools, two special schools and 31 colleges.

For full report: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Successful-science

Source: Ofsted (Nicki)