A Family Learning Model to Promote Financial Literacy Erasmus Project

Project Title

A Family Learning Model to Promote Financial Literacy

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Romas and/or other minorities; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Although the economic crisis in Europe has abated and family life is returning to normal in most Member States there are some considerable negative legacies of the economic downturn that still impact the lives of many families. As this new era of growth and prosperity begins to gather pace there are many families for whom the debt legacy of last 10 years remains a profound and ongoing issue. Debt consolidation and restructuring, negative equity mortgages, personal insolvency, vulture funds are terms that have become all too familiar for many adults throughout Europe and have been accompanied by repossessions of goods and property and evictions. While these are the visible signs of the stress that many families still find themselves under there has also been a rise in family break-ups, stress related illnesses, even suicides. For many adults, the lack of appropriate financial literacy is at the centre of these ongoing problems. In truth, there is no easy way out of the current situation for many families and hard choices will have to be made to try and mitigate the impact of financial difficulties moving forward. If there are any lessons to be learned from the recent events in Europe it must surely be acknowledged that financial literacy is a key literacy for all Europeans if we are to achieve the inclusive and equitable society that is one of the core EU objectives.

Families can’t issue bonds or get support from the European Central Bank. When families are caught up in dire financial circumstances there are a limited number of options available to them to help overcome their problems. While financial institutions around Europe are committed to working with families in debt to plan a way out of the current distressful situations and while there are now a whole host of organisations that have been established to offer advice and support to individuals in financial difficulty the adult family members who have in most cases initiated the current debt burden are still refusing to engage with the financial institutions and support agencies. These problems won’t go away and one of the main factors hindering possible resolutions of family debt is the lack of key financial literacy skills that currently pertain in most low skilled communities where debt burdens remain high. For many individuals the support agencies that have been established come with a stigma, stress and embarrassment. additionally, many of the effected adults don’t have the self-confidence to contact their financial institution and begin the process of restructuring or reconciling their indebtedness. For many building financial literacy in a non-threatening environment can be the first step on the road to recovery. Adult and community education settings are the perfect vehicle to begin the literacy raising process through a family learning approach.

Effective family learning requires that different sub-sets of the family are considered in the design of any proposed learning materials. For this PIGGY BANK project, it is the intention of partners to create financial literacy resources for 4 different sub-sets namely:
(1) children between the ages of 6 and 12 – these resources will comprise a monthly themed comic strip that introduces the concepts of financial literacy. The comic strips will be cartoon like and the narrative for the comic strips will be carefully written
to build a basic understanding of how to manage money, how to budget effectively, how to recognise financial pitfalls, etc. The full collection of comic strips will comprise 12 monthly editions each one dealing with a different financial literacy theme;
(2) teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 – these resources will comprise a series of 12 Online Educational Escape Room challenge-based learning resources that will present escape room scenarios themed around effective financial management;
(3) youth between the ages of 19 to 25 – these resources will comprise a series of 12 WebQuest challenge based educational resources that encourage learners to develop financial management plans in different positive and negative financial situations;
(4) parents and guardians – these resources will comprise an induction training programme that introduces the main issues related to financial literacy through a series of workshop based, group learning exercises. The induction training will also support parents and guardians to manage the family learning model developed.

Project Website

http://piggybankproject.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 225749,1 Eur

Project Coordinator

REINTEGRA, z.s. & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• AEVA – ASSOCIACAO PARA A EDUCACAO E VALORIZACAO DA REGIAO DE AVEIRO
• Callidus ustanova za obrazovanje odraslih
• CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY LTD-CARDET
• ASOCIACION CULTURAL Y MEDIOAMBIENTAL PERMACULTURA CANTABRIA
• FUTURE IN PERSPECTIVE LIMITED