Financial literacy education in the time of COVID-19
Text: Anna Cabajová, SCCI Žilina
Photo credit: JA Slovakia
Earlier this year, COVID-19 has changed many of our plans. The government has ordered various measures to prevent the spread of the disease. One of them was school closures and the transfer of education to the online environment. The schools didn't have enough space to educate financial literacy, as this topic is cross-cutting and needs a unique approach. Teachers worked very hard to master the primary curriculum in a new situation challenged with unequal educational conditions in families.
Webinars instead of classroom teaching
However, financial literacy training was supported by other educational institutions that already had extensive experience with webinars, which they took advantage of in this challenging situation. For example, Junior Achievement Slovakia has conducted ten webinars and provided eight educational activities, two quizzes and three online textbooks for teachers, parents and the general public during the lockdown. The transition into the online environment did not surprise them due to their learning-by-doing education within which they have been providing online textbooks, exams and activities for over 15 years in the national educational organisation in the field of entrepreneurship, work-life skills and financial literacy.
"More than Money", effective program
“The increased pressure of students and teachers working from home during the lockdown was well-handled thanks to our online textbooks. We have expanded the number of online activities, enriched them and made many of them publicly available for free. Although the schools were closed, the number of students, teachers and schools involved in our educational programmes and projects has increased this school year. Despite the school closures, we have also completed education in one of our educational programs at primary and secondary schools called "More than Money", which provides schools with an effective way of improving financial literacy following the National Standard of the Financial Literacy. The exam results of students enrolled in this program in 2019/2020 showed that their financial literacy had increased by 61% after completing the program,” stated Eva Vargová, CEO of JA Slovakia.