The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) presented new survey results on financial education in German schools today. According to the results, 81 percent of respondents found that besides consumer topics like nutrition and health, environmental protection and the Internet, financial education in particular is covered insufficiently in schools.
For this representative survey, forsa on behalf of the vzbv conducted computer-assisted telephone interviews with a total of 2,002 people aged 18 and above in private households in Germany between August and September 2023.
These are further details:
- The majority of consumers expected school curricula to teach young people more about consumers issues like nutrition and health (88 percent), money and insurance (85 percent), environmental protection and fair trade (82 percent), and how to use smart phones and the Internet (74 percent).
- For 81 percent of respondents, however, schools do not prepare their students appropriately for everyday life on questions of how to handle money and deal with insurances and related subjects. Among respondents aged between 18 and 34 year, even 90 percent shared this opinion.
Ramona Pop, vzbv Executive Director, noted: "Children and young people should be able to navigate their way through everyday consumer life in an informed way. A flood of advertising and a wide range of offers are major challenges, especially for younger people. In the current price crisis, financial education is particularly important. It is therefore not surprising that this topic in particular is neglected in school education. When it comes to consumer education, we can no longer rely on the commitment of individual teachers. Competencies for everyday topics are essential for children and young people to develop into informed and self-determined consumers. The ministries of education and consumer protection are now called upon to promote consumer education in schools."
Source: vzbv
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