Digital-age curriculum to improve school kids’ financial literacy
4 April 2022 – Montessori Australia (MA) is actively working towards filling the gap in financial literacy education, supported by Raiz Invest Limited (ASX:RZI), this Financial Literacy Month.
MA’s Director of Education Services Mark Powell said there was currently no comprehensive and engaging financial education in Australian schools, and young adults often struggled with banking, mortgage and other practical life decisions.
“Building confidence in finance and money management is a fundamental life skill. Our team is developing a new financial curriculum for the digital age, using a hands-on approach to learning, for which Montessori education is world-renowned,” Mr Powell said.
“Montessori adolescent students typically run micro businesses as part of their high school curriculum. We also offer a range of games and hands-on learning tools for younger students to learn to manage currency. However, Montessori education, until now, has not really addressed financial literacy in the wider sense, nor the new realities of digital currencies and investment.
“We look forward to building on the past and improving the future by providing an experiential curriculum that grounds Australian students in the important practical realities of managing all aspects of their future financial lives in this new and evolving digital financial age. Not only does it benefit each individual student in their financial journey, but helps to grow the wealth of the country, boosting Australia’s financial standing globally.”
Raiz Invest Limited Joint-CEO Brendan Malone said he was a passionate advocate of helping children improve their financial literacy from a young age, and hoped to see every Australian create their own diversified portfolio of investment with the right know-how.
“Education and understanding are key to gaining access into financial markets,” Mr Malone said.
“We believe Montessori Australia’s expertise in developing curriculum should be put to good use to improve financial education in schools, so we are delighted to sponsor their financial literacy project.
“Raiz’s success as a savings and investment platform in Australia and Southeast Asia is largely due to our efforts to educate and empower customers with financial knowledge, so they can confidently and easily engage with us online, and feel comfortable in taking charge of their financial decisions.”
Mr Malone added that work was underway to develop an app so school students could practise making investment decisions in a safe, simulated environment too.
Mr Powell said that MA would coordinate rolling out the new curriculum to schools with an emphasis on practical, hands-on applications that brought the skills that children and young people needed to be financially literate.
“We are seeking schools to take part in the pilot launch of the financial curriculum before making it available to schools across Australia,” he said.
“Our focus on concrete learning is how Montessori schools across the world have allowed young children to learn concepts that are typically not learned by children in traditional environments until much later on.”
Montessori education has produced some of the world’s most innovative thinkers, including Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, among others. Brin and Page have publicly attributed some of their outside-the-box thinking to their Montessori education.
ENDS
About Montessori Australia
Montessori Australia, the national body for Montessori in Australia, aims is to add value to a broad spectrum of services in the community, both private and public: early childhood, long day care services, schools, adult care and aged care.
We provide ‘whole of life’ support from birth to aged care, by maintaining communication with Montessori programs across the region and acting as a clearinghouse for Montessori information and communication, providing professional development workshops and conferences, publications, digital and online resources, quality assurance support, as well as engaging with government and industry groups.
Our vision is of a strong and unified Montessori community that is a transformational agent for a peaceful world.
Our mission is to build on the past and improve the future by strengthening the Montessori education system as a transformational instrument throughout Australasia and engaging the Montessori community to protect, develop and grow capacity as educators and caregivers.
Montessori Australia participates in several international projects, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, centred around transforming society for the higher good. Montessori Australia’s increasing local, national and international partnerships help to increase the Montessori community’s resources, knowledge base, network and service capacity.
About Raiz Invest
Raiz Invest Limited (ASX:RZI) is Australia’s largest, mobile-first financial services platform designed to boost investing and savings in and outside of superannuation, available via the Raiz app or its website. To gain greater insight to the Raiz business and our strategy, watch our short video by visiting https://raizinvest.com.au/investors/
Since launching in 2016, Raiz has achieved solid growth, amassing more than 2.5 million downloads, over 2,459,000 signups, with over 594,000 active monthly customers and over $1 billion in FUM as at 31 December 2021. Raiz was awarded Australia’s Investment Innovator of the Year at the 2017, 2018 and Investment Platform Innovator of the Year 2019 FinTech Business Awards, won the 2018 Australian FinTech Award for FinTech Innovation in Wealth Management (Robo-Advice) and won Best Fintech Superannuation Service/Platform at the 2020 FinTech Awards. Raiz Invest Super was also a finalist in the SuperRatings Best Innovation for 2020 at the Superannuation awards. Raiz was ranked #27th in Deloitte’s Fast 50 winners Report for 2020. The Raiz platform continues to grow with over 19 new products and features released since launch.
Raiz Invest Limited has offices in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as part of the growth and expansion strategy of the business throughout Southeast Asia. For more information: http://www.raizinvest.com.au/
Media Contacts:
Sabrina Rashid
Montessori Australia
0434 171 646
Graham White
For Raiz Invest
0404 840 533
