New research has discovered that the need to be taught financial issues such as house insurance and managing a range of monetary contracts has gained "overwhelming public support", with 94% asking for economic education to be put on the curriculum in schools. This is according to the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), which published the third survey of its kind since 2004.
The survey concluded that public attitudes have remained consistent since the last survey in 2008, when no fewer than 96% of respondents said people should take more responsibility for their financial planning. It effectively demonstrated a change in public responses to questions on both responsibility and the national curriculum when compared to the same survey in pre-recession 2004, when just 85% said more self-control was required with regards to financial planning; only 75% wanted financial education to form part of the curriculum.
Daniel Pedley, public affairs manager at the CII, said the survey showed a large public belief that "people should take more responsibility for their own financial planning".
He continued: "While the public appears to feel that individuals should take more responsibility for their own financial planning, the public also seems to feel inadequately equipped to do so - 78% say that people’s knowledge of financial matters in the UK is generally poor. One possible way to improve financial education is to incorporate financial education into the national curriculum."