New Quality Seal for Schools is Coming

"School should prepare well for life," said Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) at a press event in a Vienna school. Financial and economic education are particularly important so that young people can lead an independent and economically self-sufficient life later on. Projects for the "Ready4Finance" certificate can be submitted until January 23.

New Quality Seal to Motivate More Schools

The new certificate along with a plaque is intended to encourage even more schools to permanently anchor economic, financial, and consumer education - as provided for in the new curricula - as "cross-cutting themes" in everyday school life. How they do this is up to the schools and can range from theory to practice firms or the sale of self-developed products. The National Bank supports "Ready4Finance" with workshops at schools, learning materials for classes, and teacher training and further education.

Wiederkehr and State Secretary for Finance Barbara Eibinger-Miedl (ÖVP) hope for a ripple effect towards more financial education. Certificates are an "underrated motivational factor," said Wiederkehr. Even beyond the certificate, he wants to anchor financial education more strongly in school curricula in the future and also adapt teacher training accordingly, referring to his recently presented initiative for a "Plan Z" in the education sector. This fall, a separate school subject "Economy, Innovation, and Sustainability" was introduced at 50 economic secondary schools.

Family Background Also Crucial in Financial Knowledge

Eibinger-Miedl emphasized the great interest of young people in financial education. Since they come into contact with financial products in the digital space at an increasingly early age, it is all the more important to highlight opportunities and risks early on. The family home is essential for learning how individual financial decisions, from the first apartment to retirement planning, have an impact. However, through school, one can counteract the fact that girls continue to have less confidence in financial matters than boys. This is also a key topic in the new financial education strategy of the federal government, which is currently being worked on.

In international comparison, Austria is generally well-positioned in terms of the financial competence of young people. In the 2022 PISA study, Austrian 15-year-olds performed above average in the "Financial Literacy" test section. However, 17 percent have particularly low knowledge (average of the 20 OECD participating countries and regions: 18) and can only make simple decisions about their daily expenses. The performance gap of socio-economically disadvantaged young people as well as students with a migration background or different native language is significantly larger overall than in the comparison countries.

In middle schools, there is a great awareness of supporting this target group, said Matthias Reisinger, board member of the Foundation for Economic Education. Currently, among the 60 secondary level I schools supported by the foundation, two-thirds are middle schools. The goal of good financial and economic education is for young people to not experience the economy as something abstract and to learn everyday skills they need to make responsible decisions and participate in society.

(APA/Red)

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