Nominations open for personal finance teacher of the year awards 2020

ii sponsors this year’s Moneywise Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards, with a prize pot of £24,000.

•  For the chance to win cash for your school email editor@moneywise.co.uk to nominate a teacher 
• Teachers can nominate themselves by emailing editor@moneywise.co.uk 
• £50 vouchers up for grabs for the first 250 teachers who enter
• A £24,000 prize pot for winning schools

Personal finance education in schools can be hit and miss in the UK, so it’s no wonder that 82% of students said they want more of it, according to the London Institute of Banking and Finance Young Persons’ Money Index. It also found that 69% of students worry about money.

But there are plenty of exceptions out there, with some schools doing truly innovative work to help students learn vital money management skills.

interactive investor proudly sponsors this year’s Moneywise Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards, which have now opened for nominations and entries. 

The prize pot is £24,000, and last year there were prizes for primary and secondary schools, and a separate ‘judges award.’

For the chance to win cash for your school email editor@moneywise.co.uk to nominate a teacher. 

Teachers can nominate themselves by emailing editor@moneywise.co.uk.

Rachel Rickard Straus, Editor of Moneywise, says: “I wonder how different the nation’s finances might be if we had all been taught about money at school. Many of us wish we had learned more about budgeting, reading a payslip or developing a healthy relationship with money so we were ready when it counted. 

“We know that there are teachers up and down the country transforming the futures of their students, whether through designated personal finance lessons or money lessons slipped into other classes or school activities. Please help us find, reward and celebrate them.”

Richard Wilson, Chief Executive, interactive investor, says: “These awards recognise innovative, relevant and fun personal finance lessons which can set students up for a healthier financial future. We’d like to see as many entries as possible. Last year the entries were so inspiring that we doubled the prize pot for winning schools to £24,000 – and we’re honouring that again this year. 

“Last year’s winners included a teacher who shared her wedding bar tab in a personal finance lesson, and another who enabled students to create a ‘micro society’ from scratch – including taxes and civil servants. One primary school developed their own currency for students. We look forward to seeing this year’s entries – please spread the word. It’s a great accolade for those teachers who are setting the bar, with some meaningful cash prizes for schools.” 

Personal finance was made part of the national curriculum in England in 2014, but it jostles for space with many other topics in the ‘citizenship’ programme in key stages 3 and 4. It is also not compulsory in academies, private schools or faith schools. 

In primary schools, financial education is relegated to maths lessons, where it forms a small part of measurement and problem-solving. In November 2016, the Money Advice Service found just four in 10 young people in the UK have received financial education at school.

How to enter

To nominate a primary or secondary school teacher please email editor@moneywise.co.uk with the teacher’s name along with the name and address of the school, by Thursday 9 April 2020. Teachers will then be contacted and asked to submit at least one lesson plan and supporting statement.

Teachers can also nominate themselves by sending at least one lesson plan to editor@moneywise.co.uk alongside a supporting statement. The first 250 teachers who submit an entry will receive a £50 Amazon voucher.

The awards will be presented at Moneywise’s flagship Customer Service Awards on 3 June 2020.