Teacher survey on financial and economic education in schools

Fortunately, there has been a lot of talk about financial education in Germany recently, including financial education in schools. However, there is hardly any mention of those who are supposed to teach financial and economic knowledge to students, namely economics teachers. The Association of German Banks took this as an opportunity to conduct two studies to ask teachers about their opinions, the problems they face, and their hopes for the future – using qualitative group discussions and a quantitative survey. The results are in, and they are quite interesting.

Teachers are very passionate about their subjects

92% of the economics teachers surveyed would like to see more financial and economic knowledge taught in schools. And 78% are in favour of introducing a new, separate school subject called “Economics and Finance” in all federal states.

According to the teachers, greater emphasis should be placed in schools on “handling money” (98%), retirement planning options (76%), and “investment opportunities” (62%).

Even in the group discussions that preceded the survey, which were carried out as part of a qualitative study, many of the participating teachers emphasised the importance of economic education and advocated for better integration of the subject in schools.

Teachers' support for more financial and economic education in the classroom and for a separate school subject corresponds with results from our youth studies, carried out on a regular basis, which also measure strong support for better financial education among young people, especially school students.

Teachers see room for improvement in training and curricula

The vast majority of teachers (9 out of 10) who teach financial and economic subjects rate their subject knowledge as high (57%) or very high (33%). However, only just under 6 out of 10 said that their education prepared them well (28%) or very well (29%) to teach these subjects. For younger teachers, those up to the age of 44, a mere 4 out of 10 respondents feel this way. 

Many teachers also see room for improvement in the available curricula and framework guidelines. Only half of teachers (52%) consider them a good foundation for teaching financial education subjects. 

88% of teachers research these subjects themselves in order to teach them to their students.

Having to use, in part, their own time to develop specialist knowledge and teaching content takes time and energy. In the focus group discussions held during the qualitative study, it became clear that while teachers certainly appreciate the personal freedom they have in selecting and designing relevant and up-to-date teaching content, they also find it burdensome.

Teachers want more teaching time and better teaching materials 

The majority of teachers surveyed complained that too few teaching hours within the curriculum are allocated to economic and financial topics. 56% cite this as the biggest challenge they face in their teaching, followed by “students' lack of concentration” (52%) and “inadequate teaching materials” (50%).

When asked specifically about teaching materials, almost two-thirds (64%) of teachers complained that there are no suitable textbooks for teaching economics and finance, and more than half (53%) also said there was an overall lack of good teaching materials.

Teachers defined good teaching materials as being understandable (65%), realistic (62%), accurate (58%), up-to-date (53%), and clear (41%).

Most teachers are open to external support from private providers

92% of the teachers surveyed believe that it is good (53%) or very good (39%) to host outside voices from companies, associations, or similar institutions in the classroom.

77% invite such speakers “occasionally” (67%) or “often” (10%) to take part in their lessons – the vast majority of them (89%) have “good” (65%) or “very good” (24%) experiences doing so.

Excursions to companies, associations, or similar institutions are also valued by 92% of the teachers surveyed, while participation in external competitions such as banking or stock market games is rated positively by 82% of those surveyed. 60% of the teachers surveyed have already participated in such competitions with their students.

The Association of German banks believes strongly that in order to strengthen financial and economic education in schools in a sustainable and comprehensive manner, we must

• increase the amount of teaching time spent on financial and economic education in schools,
• introduce a new subject “Economic and Financial Education” to schools in all federal states,
• better integrate financial education into teacher training courses and trainee teacher programs,
• revise curricula and teaching materials to adapt them to teaching requirements,
• strengthen cooperation between public and private actors and develop a common understanding   of financial and economic education as a social mission.