Promotion of FINancial LITeracy in primary and secondary Education through gamification and DIGItal storytelling

The increasing accessibility and complexity of financial services is accentuating individual responsibility on many crucial financial decisions. Starting from this consideration, the EU and other ...

DigiFinEDU mainly aims to increase primary and lower secondary education pupils’ (9-12 y.o) Financial Literacy (further FinLit) in order to help them become financially resilient adults. To reach this general objective, DigiFinEdu aimed: - To promote the implementation of financial education in primary and lower secondary education - To develop the understanding and predisposition of children (9-12 y.o.) towards money and basic financial concepts: The project aims to improve young children's financial knowledge, behaviour and attitude by providing them new didactical material and an engaging learning experience of gamification. - To improve the readiness and effectiveness of parents and teachers when explaining financial concepts to young children: All project results will include instructions, exercises, training material and content targeted to attain this goal, explaining to them how to transfer it to their pupils, as well. - To increase the inclusion of parents in children’s education process and encourage the mutually beneficial learning environment - To improve the understanding of financial education policies and strategies on a national and international scale and promote policy harmonization at EU level.

The increasing accessibility and complexity of financial services is accentuating individual responsibility on many crucial financial decisions. Starting from this consideration, the EU and other international organizations, like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO, engaged in a strong effort to promote the teaching of Financial Literacy across all educational levels. Nonetheless, cross-country reports are still showing inadequate financial competencies. Within this context, COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated pre-existing issues, causing more harm to the wide portion of the population which is not financially resilient. Unfortunately, it appears that also teachers' competencies are hampering the effectiveness of Financial Literacy education, as different studies show their low level of financial competencies and suggest the adoption of further training to enhance their financial knowledge (Harrison et al, 2019; De Moor and Verschetze, 2017). Finally, different researches clearly demonstrated the important role that parents play in determining not just the Financial Literacy of their children, but also their interests, behaviours and attitudes towards money.

DigiFinEDU foresaw the realization of three main results: 1. DigiFinEDU Methodological Material was based on 3 main reports made by partners. For a deeper understanding of the real situation regarding the integration of financial literacy in schools and among families of pupils aged between 9 to 12 years old. The next two important partners’ reports were made as desk research of national policies and strategies about Finance Literacy and also synthesis of national reports (transnational analysis). The combination of these three reports gave a broad overview on what activities according to policies and strategies should work in practice, but also what is the current situation in the schools and families regarding financial knowledge. This Methodological Material was delivered to a vast audience as an e-book on the project website. Main deliverables: - National reports on teachers and parents’ perception of Financial Literacy – National and Transnational Analyses reports - Methodological Material (e-book) 2. DigiFinEDU Didactical Material was dedicated to the creation of practical tools, methods, descriptions and instructions for teachers and parents to reform and upgrade their knowledge and competences to teach Finance Literacy. The descriptions of the activities was included in a comprehensive lesson plan accompanied with test and assessment tools to effectively assess the knowledge and skills obtained by the pupils. This result covered the testing phase of the material created engaging pupils and their parents in learning financial literacy. At the end of the testing phase, a report was developed documenting its effectiveness in fostering financial literacy and skills. Main deliverables: - Didactical Material and lesson plans - Instructions for teachers and parents - Testing evaluation reports DigiFinEDU Visual Novel was implemented as a storytelling based online educational game with financial topics scenarios. Teachers and parents had an innovative and engaging digital tool suitable for children, that provided them substantial help in understanding basic and more complex financial topics and their implications. Also the Visual Novel was tested in partner and associated partners schools, to verify its efficacy, which was documented in a final report comprising the results of this piloting activity. Main deliverables: - Visual Novel - Internal and External evaluation reports Successful implementation of project activities is expected to have a positive impact on schools and associated partners directly involved, in the respective local, regional and national education systems of partners and at the European level. Project’s outcomes can be divided into short-term and long-term outcomes. Short-term outcomes include: - Increased knowledge and awareness about financial literacy formal and non-formal teaching practices of teachers and parents; - Increased awareness of financial literacy national and EU policies by teachers and policy makers; - Enhanced financial competencies of pupils aged between 9 to 12 y.o.; - Adoption of a comprehensive teaching practice in partner and associated partner schools, involving formal learning, community-based teaching practices and blended learning. Long-term outcomes are: - Dissemination of financial literacy educational material at early educational stages at local, regional, national and EU level; - Support to the harmonization process of EU educational policies regarding financial literacy; - Promotion of blended digital practices in schools at local, regional and EU level.