More than 40 counsellors and headteachers from secondary schools met today at the headquarters of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) to analyse the positive impact on students of incorporating financial education into school programmes in the classroom.
The meeting focused on the results of “Your finances, your future”, a financial education programme run by the AEB Foundation and the Junior Achievement Foundation that has already benefited 35,800 students aged 13 to 15 since it was launched six years ago.
Thanks to this programme, students not only acquire financial knowledge and healthy consumption habits; they also develop highly useful non-cognitive skills for navigating life, such as delaying gratification and perseverance, according to the impact study carried out by University of Murcia professor Ildefonso Méndez.
“When we explain to young people the importance of saving, we are explaining the importance of postponing what they feel like doing now and we encourage similar skills in other areas of their lives, such as planning their study before an exam or doing their homework,” he stressed.
AEB President José María Roldán stated that the banking sector’s commitment to financial education is firm and long-term: “We have already involved many banks and schools in this project, but the more partners the better, because financial education is essential to develop informed, critical citizens with the personal resources to make day-to-day decisions.”
The Managing Director of Junior Achievement Spain Foundation, Blanca Narváez, highlighted the involvement in the educational programme of more than 2,700 employee volunteers from 20 banks who, over these six years, have devoted their free time to training young people at schools across the country.
“Financial education helps young people develop both knowledge and key competencies and skills to face the financial challenges they will undoubtedly encounter throughout their lives, improving their personal and professional opportunities,” she said.
