Financial education has been part of the primary school curriculum since 2021, when the current Spanish Education Law (known as LOMLOE) came into force. Children learn the basics of money management in class: the equivalence of coins and notes, how to make responsible purchasing decisions, etc. However, the family environment still has a great influence in this area. And experts warn of the financial illiteracy that this country (among many others) suffers from, which in turn impacts what is learned in class due to the little prior training teaching staff. Who teaches finances to those who have to teach it to the little ones?
Several primary school teachers consulted by this newspaper indicated that they had not received financial training during their university studies. And when asked if they would have liked to have it, the answer is affirmative in all cases, not so much to be able to practice their profession but to “better personal development”.
“I don’t think I would have needed it to teach,” said Teresa de Andrés, a retired teacher. In the same vein, Nuria, a teacher at a school in Madrid, said: “I think that financial culture in Spain is scarce and that it would be necessary to develop it.”
“Any type of training is welcome, but I think this type has to be fundamental for secondary school teachers“especially,” admitted Isabel, a teacher at another public school in Madrid.
Learn How to Teach Money
To be able to teach, “you have to have your own knowledge,” said Mariona Massip, a professor at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), in a telephone interview with elEconomista.esHe also stressed that “economic knowledge is very important to understand reality.”
From this perspective was born the First financial education course for primary school teacherscreated by two public universities (UAB and the University of Barcelona, UB) and a public entity: the ICO Foundation (Official Credit Institute).
Manuela Bosch, professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the UB, is the academic director of the aforementioned course, “a project that took a lot of time,” as she revealed to this media. “It cost us a lot,” he said.
Following the crisis that emerged in 2008, she sought to help citizens have a better financial education. Together with Yolanda Blasco, associate professor at the same university, they did a “scan” of what was already underway and realized that there were projects aimed mainly at secondary education. Then, as she said, they both asked themselves: “Why don’t we start at the bottom, because the base“Thus, primary school teachers became their “target audience”.
Years passed and in 2020 they presented to the ICO Foundation, together with the UAB, the course project, born from the collaboration of their respective faculties of Economics and Education Sciences. “We needed funding,” explained Bosch. And in 2022 the agreement was signed thanks to which the first edition took place in the summer of 2023 and the second during the latter, each time. online.
In the meantime, LOMLOE has come into force, which includes financial education in schools as part of the subject of mathematics. That is why the aim of the aforementioned course is “to learn how to bring it into the classroom”, given that this is a gap in the university training of teachers.
“We are in a context where Teachers are held responsible for many things“and the management of financial education is one more,” lamented Massip. Hence the need for this course (which he coordinates) intended for those who teach the youngest.
A foundation to build
“The idea is that they first have a base” and then It is easier for them to convey it in classsaid the academic director of the course. According to the latest survey on financial skills by the Bank of Spain, around 30% of citizens (and not just teachers) between the ages of 18 and 54 do not know what inflation is, and the same thing happens to around 20% of people between the ages of 55 and 80.
“There is no no subject or training leading to teacher training in economic and financial fields“, criticized Sara Melgarejo, a teacher who took the course in its first edition, in September 2023 during the official presentation of the course. Therefore, she considered it “useful” to have done it because, she said, it helps on a professional level “but it also makes you grow” on a personal level.
As an example, the UB professor pointed out that in the course they insist “a lot on what the TIN and the TAE are”, something that the teachers (in this case the students) “highly appreciated”.
The course of the ICO Foundation and the two universities of Barcelona goes beyond the primary financial education curriculum, as it covers concepts such as credit, guarantee, loan, reduction, purple wash and pension plans, among others. “Not all concepts in this course will be transferred directly to children”” Bosch noted. This is where it is up to each teacher to play their role in the classroom.
“It is not necessary for students to know what a NIF, an APR, a mortgage is… but teachers must know” to be able to teach finances, said Juan Manuel Garrán, of the Education Inspectorate Corps, in his interview with this newspaper who took the course at UB, UAB and the ICO Foundation last year.
This is not a “banking matter”
Bosch assured that the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) “had to fight hard to introduce financial education” into school curricula. Why? “We have an imaginary of financial education that makes us vulnerable”» declared Mariona Massip.
Until “a few years ago,” the description of financial education “referred to consumers and not to citizens,” said the UAB professor. This explains why educational institutions are reluctant about it (and even continue to be so in some cases). “It looks like something coming from banks,” which are trying to sell their products and “eat the coconut”he reasoned.
Additionally, Massip admitted that there was a debate when creating the course for teachers about whether or not to include the bench space with the three others that he finally approaches: home, shop and school. With these last three, teachers can do a direct translation in their classes to explain money to boys and girls.
For example: economy and resource management, which are fundamental concepts in everyone’s daily life, can be illustrated by the school budget to be able to go on an excursion, or by the traditional fable of the grasshopper and the ant.
On the other hand, banking can be more delicate. But finally UAB, UB and the ICO Foundation decided to include it in the course because it is essential to know how and why entities exist, the role they play, to understand the world we live in.
In this sense, Massip invited us to reflect on the role of money in society and admitted that “it is a challenge to pose it critically”, but he maintained: “We are not observers of the world, we are participants inside”.
“We have tried to ensure that in all content [del curso para maestros] There would be room for all children, there would be no discrimination. (…) Our colleagues from Education helped us a lot. They made us think about things we hadn’t even thought about,” acknowledged the academic director and professor of the Faculty of Economics and Business of the UB.
For the moment, it is the primary school teachers themselves who must register, if they wish, for the course which should be repeated in the summer of 2025. A course which “was expensive” to carry out, assured Bosch, but it has “a symbolic price” to leave public institutions.
However, the path of Manuela Bosch, Mariona Massip, Yolanda Blasco and others behind this MOOC to strengthen financial education in schools does not end there. For the recently launched course, “a series of pilot centers” have been chosen throughout Spain, Garrán said. elEconomista.es. These are schools at least in Andalusia, Aragon, Catalonia, Galicia and Valencia in which this small training will be provided to all their teachers. new challenge which they face, according to the UAB professor, “with great enthusiasm.”
