As Commissioner McGuinness puts it – 'we need to talk about money, from a young age'.

On 27 September 2023, the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the Financial Competence Framework for Children and Youth in the EU. The framework sets out in detail the various skills, knowledge, and behavior that 6-18 year olds need at different stages of their school education in order to take well-informed financial decisions in their life.

The framework

The framework was developed through close collaboration between DG FISMA and the OECD, as well as with input from Member States. The framework aims to build a common understanding of financial literacy skills for children and young people at different ages and across different stages of their formal education. This should facilitate the coordination, design, and evaluation of policies and concrete measures taken by national policymakers and stakeholders, for instance education practitioners. It will facilitate the sharing of best practices and make financial literacy measures more effective across the EU.

The framework contains 238 skills covering three age groups (6-10, 11-15, and 16-18) and four areas (money and transactions, planning and managing finances, risk and reward, and financial landscape). There are also specific skills covering digital finance, sustainable finance, entrepreneurship, and citizenship. For instance, under 'savings' the skill to develop for the youngest age group is "Knows the benefits of starting to save and having saving goals from a young age." This serves as a building block for the savings skills in the older age groups. Savings skills in the older age group include "Prioritizes saving for a goal over discretionary spending" or "Identifies realistic and specific saving goal(s) and draws up a plan to achieve them."

The framework itself will not be used to teach children and young people about financial literacy. Instead, it will be a tool for those preparing financial literacy lessons, curricula, and programs. For example, it could be used to:

• support the development, implementation, and revision of national financial literacy strategies, which often include young people in their primary target audience.
   
• support the integration of financial literacy into school curricula and vocational training.
   
• support the development of specific financial literacy programs and learning materials for children and young people to be implemented in schools and elsewhere.

The success of the framework will now depend on the willingness of stakeholders and EU Member States to use it, thereby helping to increase the effectiveness of financial literacy policies and initiatives.

The launch event

The framework was launched at an event held in Brussels on 2 October. The event kicked off with keynote speeches by Commissioner Mairead McGuinness and OECD Deputy Secretary General Yoshiki Takeuchi. This was followed by a very interesting and unique exchange between Commissioner McGuinness, Mr. Takeuchi, and three students from the European Schools. The students gave very insightful answers and put some tough questions to the Commissioner and Deputy Secretary General. They all agreed that financial literacy is an important topic that isn’t being taught enough in schools right now. However, they felt that adding yet another class to the curricula would not be the best way forward (who wants more homework?). Instead, they thought it would be better to integrate it into existing classes such as economics and life skills.

This exchange was followed by a panel discussion on the framework and why it is an important tool for improving financial literacy, how schools, NGOs, and academia can use the framework, and what the Commission and the OECD can do to continue improving financial literacy in the EU. The event clearly demonstrated that there is a lot of interest in this subject – but also a lot to be done in order to increase the levels of financial literacy in the EU.

Read more on financial literacy

Financial competence framework for Children and Youth in the EU