Empowering Whanganui and Manawatu young people to make positve Financial choices
When it comes to money matters, just 14 percent of secondary school students say they learn a lot from school, and half say they learn little or nothing.
Life Education Trust NZ has set out to change these statistics by providing rangatahi with the knowledge and skills to make positive financial choices through theatre-in-education initiative, SMART$.
Through a live theatre performance with interactive workshop elements, students follow three young characters and their relatable experiences as they navigate the financial decisions likely to impact young people. SMART$ focuses on saving vs deferred payment schemes, credit cards and KiwiSaver. The programme is supported by Booster and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Launched last year, the SMART$ financial literacy programme was trialled with 4,500 year ten students. Now on a nationwide tour, this year over 10,000 year ten students will take part.
This week, SMART$ is visiting Whanganui and Manawatu secondary schools, where more than 500 year ten students will participate across Whanganui Girls’, Whanganui High, Nga Tawa Diocesan, Manawatu and Waiopehi Colleges.
“After taking part in SMART$ last year, students showed increased understanding across all the key learning points and schools gave great feedback about the value of SMART$,” says John O’Connell, Life Education Trust Chief Executive.
“Financial security is essential to an individual’s wellbeing, and financial capability as a core life skill continues to be undervalued. SMART$ takes a whole year group approach, supporting all students, not only those that choose to take financial subjects.”
“Beating intergenerational poverty is about giving young people knowledge and skills to make positive choices.”
“Theatre-in-education is a great medium for engaging a wide range of learning styles, and SMART$ uses this style to engage students in a safe place to discuss the potential impacts of different decisions.”
Deon van Deventer, Head of Department for PE and Health at Rathkeale College said of their session on, “I was impressed with the theatre-in-education SMART$ performance and the introduction to important concepts like credit cards, KiwiSaver and the pitfalls of deferred payment schemes, which provided valuable learning for our students. I liked the way role play was used to get the message across, it made it simple and clear for students.”
In SMART$ 2020 feedback, 84% of teachers thought the key learning points in the SMART$ performance provided them with a springboard for further discussion.
Life Education has partnered with Banqer to provide continued learning after SMART$ sessions using the Banqer High platform, providing students with an online simulation to explore the concepts presented. Schools that take part in SMART$ receive a free three week trial of Banqer High along with three lesson plans to follow through with their students.
Life Education Trust is best known for its Healthy Harold primary and Intermediate school programme, which has been an exciting part of the school year for tamariki around the country for over 33 years. Life Education have had programmes in secondary schools since 2019, when they introduced the SMASHED theatre-in-education programme, educating year nine of the impacts of drinking alcohol and peer pressure.
The Ministry of Education’s NMSSA report identified up to 86% of schools use Life Education to support the teaching of the health curriculum.
The nationwide tour will visit secondary schools during terms two and three.
River City Press 10/6/21