Vienna Stock Exchange puts limelight on financial knowledge – new teaching materials for schools

The Vienna Stock Exchange actively supports financial education, and at today’s GEWINN InfoDay event, we presented our financial education kit. The materials, which include basic information, tasks, posters, and educational videos, are designed for specific target groups and drafted to cover 50-minute teaching units for use in class without requiring any adaptation by teachers. The five modules support the acquisition of competence on the theme of investments. Austria still has a lot of potential for catching up with respect to financial education. The materials were developed in collaboration with the Initiative for Teaching Entrepreneurship (IFTE), which is the competence center for economic and business education of the college KPH Wien/Krems, and with graphic designers and video experts.

We are working towards the goal of enabling future generations to take better advantage of opportunities and to teach them how to recognize and avoid risks. When buying a car, for example, people inform themselves thoroughly. They reach decisions on the brand, model and color. However, people are not that keen about looking more closely into the rational side of such decisions such as how to finance the purchase. Dealing with money is important in all areas of life – when buying a car, making other investments or saving money. This is why we are working to include financial literacy in the curricula of schools and would like to see financial themes lose their reputation of being boring subjects. This is a call on politicians as well as on families. Financial content must be shifted into the limelight again so that we can achieve a basic level of financial education to help everyone profit from the opportunities on financial markets.  

Austrians would like to have financial education on the curricula at schools

The problem of inadequate financial education has also been recognized by the general population as revealed by the survey conducted this summer by ‘market’ on behalf of the Vienna Stock Exchange. A share of 77% of Austrians believes that schools do not provide enough financial education to enable people to reach personal decisions regarding retirement provisioning. In the age segment of 15-to-29-year-olds (still in education or just finished) 83% share this opinion. A similar percentage, specifically 84%, demands that Austrian schools teach more financial education. Financial education is something you need every day. Regardless of whether the subject is debt, interest, stocks, installment payments, insurance or the household budget. Education is the best investor protection. It is the foundation for being able to reach mature decisions regarding money and for setting aside a nest egg for retirement. Investors benefit from being able to reach informed decisions on investments and the domestic economy benefits as well!

Teaching materials to support teachers

The newly presented educational kit of the Vienna Stock Exchange is a contribution to promote financial literacy in Austria. As early as in 2004, the Vienna Stock Exchange started its program to support teachers and schools with extensive services.  Since we launched these activities, we have organized some 5,200 lectures that were attended by 88,000 pupils. For the year 2018, 165 lectures with 3,000 participating schools are planned. A further activity for the coming year is a program that offers training courses for teachers throughout Austria as an ideal way to prepare the teaching of the subject of “stock markets and the capital market” at school. Together with teachers, we have developed teaching materials on financial subjects. Our seminars present financial knowledge and teaching methods and we also go directly into the classrooms. Furthermore, our “Wiener Börse Akademie” offers numerous further education courses for private and professional investors. But this can only be part of the story - politicians must at the same time encourage a higher standing of financial knowledge at schools, at work and in leisure time.