The SN4SD ( Suvremena nastava za suvremeno društvo – Contemporary teaching for contemporary society) project was launched with the desire and goal of modernizing the secondary school curricula of the Maritime School and the Commercial School Split as an expression of the desire to follow modern trends in education, with the goal of increasing the level of target literacy as a basis for more successful lifelong learning.

Within the project, the curriculum “Financial Management and Financial Environment” was developed, which was conducted as an elective subject last school year.

The importance of educating young people in the field of finance

The education system in the Republic of Croatia does not include financial education. PISA 2012 survey shows that our high school students are not able to make the right financial decision and do not think about the financial future.

The goal of the course is to acquaint students with the dynamic world of finance, financial environment, and the principles of good financial management in different circumstances, the impact of the financial environment on personal finance and opportunities for savings, investment and personal finance management.

Through a series of practical tasks, students will increase their financial, mathematical, digital and information literacy and will be able to effectively plan their personal finances, but also recognize all the threats and opportunities that await them once they enter the world of work.

Financial literacy is defined as the combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors needed to make financial decisions. Therefore, it is not necessary to emphasize the importance of such education for the individual and society benefit.

Within the subject “Financial Management and Financial Environment”, we emphasized:

• Financial literacy and earnings are not correlated
• Financial literacy is the decision-making process regarding the use of personal finance
• Life situations and financial environment change during life, so financial education is lifelong learning

How we organized the classes

Participants in the teaching of this elective course were 2nd grade high school students with a four-year profession of commercialist. As we were in the online environment for most of the known reasons for the COVID19 virus pandemic, we organized teaching within the learning management system (LMS Moodle).

The course was organized through several topics for which there was a time limit. The achievement of outcomes was monitored through assigned activities.

Course Content

1. Money

• How did it come about and what is money?
• Currencies

2. Methods of payment

• Online payment
• How to protect yourself when shopping online and what your consumer rights are
• Difference between debit, credit and prepaid cards and how to use them responsibly
• Padding paymant order

3. Financial institutions and financial products

• Banks
• How to overcome the world of credits?

4. Financial Behavior

• Personal finance planning

5. Budget

• Compile your own budget
• Payroll accounting

6. Savings and investment

• Principles of saving and investment
• Long-term savings and care for the future

7. Consumer protection

• We are all consumers
• Consumerism
• Unethical advertising

You can watch the whole course here.

Pristup kao gost (Access as a guest)

Lozinka (Password) : SN4SD

Student satisfaction with the way they work and the achieved outcomes

At the end of the course, we asked students to express their satisfaction with the way of work and personal progress in the field of financial literacy. Here are just a few answers to the questions:

• I am satisfied with the organization of the course and the topics offered – (78.7%)
• I am satisfied with the communication with the teacher on the course – (92%)
• I often used communication with classmates within the course – (56%)
• This way of working (LMS course) allows me to better manage my own time – (82%)
• I think that my knowledge of finances is better (compared to the time before the course) – (89.2%)
• What topics do you find most useful (order of student responses)

1. Pay online
2. Consumer protection
3. Loans and interest
4. Financial behavior
5. Budget

Conclusion

As a conclusion and confirmation that the financial education of students is necessary, I bring some answers of students to the question: WHY DO YOU THINK THAT FINANCIAL EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

• I will be less afraid that I will not be able to pay the bills.
• I’ll know where my money goes.
• It’s not terrible math! It can also save money!
• If I can’t do it alone, I know what to ask

About the author

Vanja Perković graduated from the University of Electrical Engineering in Split.  She has been working in education for twenty-five years and holds trainings and courses on the use of ICT to various user profiles. She worked on editing and publishing literature that follows the contents of courses on the use of various IT devices, tools and applications. Applying modern teaching methods in her work, she actively promotes the development of digital competencies among teachers and students.

Tags: Education, Students, teachers