Financial education scheme of learning for 5-11

Scheme of learning: Financial education

This scheme of learning covers a financial education learning sequence for students aged 5-11.  

“These resources are a great way to introduce financial literacy and planning to children, from a young age. They make each topic accessible and fun, with a wide range of resources that can be picked up and taught by teachers across all the age ranges.  The schemes of learning offer a streamlined way of teaching financial literacy in schools, whilst keeping it relevant and interesting to children.” - Head of Younger Years, London

Through this series of resources, students will explore key topics such as:  

• Budgeting and needs and wants
• Bank accounts and key terms
• Decision making to become smart consumers
• Fraud, scams and sensible spending

As they do, they will develop core transferable skills including problem-solving and teamwork.   
The sequence of resources increases in depth and complexity over time to build on prior learning. For that reason, we recommend teaching them in this sequence. However, you may wish to incorporate further materials to deepen learning or add local context by visiting our lessons pages or other sources.  

To create a coherent curriculum approach to these topics we recommend working with colleagues to embed our financial education schemes of learning across other year groups.

You can also download a poster version of the Schemes of learning for 5-11 to print and display in your school.

Christina Queen from a Primary school in Glasgow has found that topics like budgeting are great to get pupils engaged.  

“These topics like budgeting are part of the Curriculum for Excellence. I’ve used LifeSkills' resources for them for a couple of years now and the kids just love it. It’s something they’ve never done before, something totally new to them, but it’s something they’re going to use, it’s real life skills, so they find it interesting.”

We also have schemes of learning available covering employability skills for different age groups. You can access them all on the Schemes of learning home page.