ClickAJob News

A leading financial education charity is calling on the government to drop personal finance from the maths curriculum.

ifs School of Finance claims combining maths and personal finance education is a "fundamentally flawed approach to raising levels of financial capability".

The body – formed by a royal charter – is also urging the government to cease referring to the new functional maths GCSE (to be introduced in September 2010) as enabling students to master the basics in personal finance.

Rod McKee, head of financial capability at the ifs School of Finance, said: "Financial capability is first and foremost about behaviour, not numeracy.

"Numeracy is simply an aspect. Financial capability is about how to manage personal finances. This involves understanding how to prioritise, knowing what products do and comparing them, making choices and being able to undertake key financial decisions that affect everybody's daily lives."

He added people learn in context but the incorporation of little pieces of personal finance in maths was being used to get across maths concepts, not financial capability.

"The learning simply doesn't transfer," Mr McKee said.

He added personal finance part of the functional maths GCSE was limited "to a couple of hours of recognising notes and coins and simple calculations using money - clearly insufficient to make any noticeable impact".

ifs School of Finance also points to a recent Ofsted study questioning the the value of mixing personal finance and maths.

The report stated: "There were shortcomings in developing personal finance education through mathematics lessons. The focus was mainly on using personal finance education as a context for applying mathematical skills, rather than on developing students' financial skills and understanding.... the numerical skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and calculating percentages are often practised and applied in a financial context.

"Financial capability, however, is about more than numerical competence. It is also about developing an understanding of financial services and key ideas, the skills to apply this understanding to managing money, and acquiring particular attitudes towards personal finance."

ifs School of Finance is now calling for personal finance to be a standalone qualification in the school curriculum.