Lessons4Life Campaign Launch
We are launching Lessons4Life
- The campaign is urging local education authorities to make ‘life lessons’ compulsory on the curricula or primary and secondary schools.
- This will aid pupils by preparing them for life after education.
- Lessons will consist of topics such as budgeting, buying a house and how to get a mortgage.
Saving for a mortgage, paying taxes, managing money and voting are matters which are necessary throughout any adult’s life. So why is it that the education system turns a blind eye to these topics? Why is the responsibility left to that of the individual, learning either by themselves or their family? According to the annual report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, in 2018 more than 1 in 5 people are living in poverty in the UK. We believe that lack of education could be one of the factors to the root of this epidemic. In 2017, the Money Advice Service found that 8.3 million people in the UK are living with a debt problem, with the figure expected to have risen since the most recent statistics. With research from Santander suggesting that only a quarter of people aged between 25 and 34 will own their own home.
These figures clearly demonstrate that there is a nationwide issue revolving around the handling of money, the issue of poverty and young people being able to get onto the property ladder.
The Young Persons’ Money Index is an ‘annual survey that tracks the delivery of finance education in schools in the UK’. The 2018 report demonstrates that although the amount of young people receiving education about money management in schools (62%) has increased since 2017, the amount of time spent on these lessons has significantly decreased, with a quarter of children saying ‘it had been a year or more since they’d had any financial education’.
This shows that even though the problem has been highlighted, not enough action is being taken due to this type of education being optional for schools and not a necessity, despite the report highlighting that 71% of young people are worried about money and 83% saying they want to learn more about money in school.
Lessons4Life will at first focus on the city of Manchester, with hopes to extend to the national curriculum. At first calling on Andy Burnham the Mayor of Greater Manchester and Councillor Bernard Stone, head of the Executive Committee for young people at Manchester City Council.
In order for Lessons4Life to reach its goal of permanently implementing life lessons on to the school curricula across the UK we require your help to attract the attention of those in positions of power. Please sign the petition and follow the campaign on Twitter and Facebook @lessons4life1