SEARCH IS ON TO FIND BRITAIN’S BEST MONEY TEACHER: INTERACTIVE INVESTOR LAUNCHES PERSONAL FINANCE TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2022

• Win money for your school by helping us identify Britain’s best personal finance teachers
• £25,000 prize pot to be shared amongst winning schools
• £50 vouchers for the first 250 teachers who enter
• To nominate a teacher, email teacher@ii.co.uk
• Teachers can also nominate themselves: email teacher@ii.co.uk with lesson plan and supporting statement

 

With a cost-of-living crisis hitting many hard, the importance of good money management skills has been brought into sharp focus. 

 

Debt management, and in particular ‘buy now, pay later’, has become a key classroom talking point for Britain’s top teachers over the past year, interactive investor reports.

 

The investment platform, Britain’s second largest for private investors, is hearing real concern from teachers around ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) products, whose glossy advertising is very tempting – and perhaps even more so during tough times.

 

The time has come to recognise a new crop of inspirational teachers, as interactive investor launches the Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards 2022, one of the most prestigious awards recognising creative money education.

 

Interactive investor is calling for help to find Britain’s best money teachers: topics might include budgeting, investment, cash savings, interest rates, credit, and much more, from reception right the way up to sixth form.

 

The main prize pot is £25,000, shared out amongst the winning teachers’ schools. The first 250 teachers who submit an entry will receive a £50 Amazon voucher.

 

How to enter

To nominate a teacher, parents, carers, or pupils should email teacher@ii.co.uk with the teacher’s name along with the name and address of the school, by Monday 25th July 2022. We will then approach the teacher and ask them to submit their lesson plan and brief supporting statement.

 

Teachers can also nominate themselves, by emailing teacher@ii.co.uk with a lesson plan and supporting statement by Monday 8th August 2022.

 

Richard Wilson, Chief Executive, interactive investor says: “In a world that defies prediction, and young people are seemingly confronted with life lessons earlier and earlier, the one investment that has infinite returns is education, and a constant within is the need for good money lessons. We owe so much to our teachers and it’s hugely important to find ways to recognise and celebrate their contribution.

 

“We have been blown away by the dedication and creativity of the UK’s best personal finance teachers. Entering the award is a brilliant chance to showcase these skills, and for teachers to not only be recognised by their peers, but also the local community, and – as we have seen – sometimes even local and national media.

 

“So, whether you are a teacher yourself, or would like to nominate one, please spread the word. It’s time we demonstrate how our teachers are getting children engaged about personal finance. And ultimately, winning the award is a tremendous accolade for teachers, and a prize for schools which can make a huge difference.”

 

Debt dominates

 

Nicola Butler, a maths and Finance teacher at Ysgol Eirias, a state secondary school in Colwyn Bay, Wales, was one of last year’s winners. She used the medium of hair extensions (on credit – they can cost upwards of £400), to engage teens about interest rates and the real cost of borrowing. Nicola says: “It is easy to see how the rise in this ‘BNPL’ culture could drive impulse purchases and put people in debt and severe financial difficulties. Indeed, my concern is not just how young people, once they turn 18, might start using these services, but also how they can impact parents and families.

“When you look at the world from this perspective, you see not just why we teach personal finance, but also why we are so passionate about it and its wider relevance.”

 

Buy now, pay later is also something that troubles Danny Topping, a teacher at Blackpool Sixth Form College and winner of ii’s ‘Ambassador’ award 2021: “In a county like Lancashire, where there are areas of real poverty even in working families [buy now, pay later] can turn a hard situation into a terrible one.”

 

Likewise, Nick Redfern, a teacher from Powers Hall Academy in Essex and last year’s primary school winner, says: “The environment of the schools that I teach in… I felt that it was only right that pupils got the opportunity, particularly to look at the pitfalls and perils of debt and how debt accumulates and how you can find yourself in a debt spiral before you know it.”

 

Levelling up

interactive investor, the UK’s second largest DIY investment platform, believes it is paramount that our younger generations are learning about money early, to help build a healthy relationship with their finances which will see them through to adulthood.

In December 2021, together with the judges of the interactive investor Personal Finance Teacher of the Year awards 2021, ii published an open letter to the Department of Education, asking for a series of crucial measures to help address the impact of a clear lack of financial capability in the UK. With the levelling-up agenda a long-term commitment, ii continues to call on the government to give personal finance lessons the priority they deserve.

 

Personal finance is still a relatively small part of curriculums across the UK, but the skills taught are vital. Through this award, ii is on the lookout for teachers who are designing lessons with imagination and skill.