KBC contributes to financial literacy among young people
Get-a-Teacher brings financial knowledge into the classroom
Tuesday, May 9, 2017 — Financial literacy is among the final attainment criteria for Belgian secondary pupils and is also one of the focus areas of KBC’s sustainability policy.
For this reason, KBC has developed initiatives to further enhance financial knowledge, especially among young people. ‘Get-a-Teacher’ gives schools the opportunity to ‘order’ a teacher from KBC. He or she is a KBC employee who has been screened and selected for this role.
The initiative is a free, no-obligation offer for both KBC and non-KBC clients, and is separated from KBC Bank’s commercial communication: the teaching materials do not feature KBC logos, and KBC products and services are not referred to, let alone promoted.
The idea has been developed for the Dutch-speaking part of the country.
KBC has been approached increasingly frequently in recent years by secondary schools and colleges with the request for lessons on banking matters. KBC has therefore been working hard to further refine its current efforts.
Daniel Falque, CEO of KBC's Belgium Business Unit: ‘KBC wants to fulfil its role in society and to commit itself to the financial literacy of young people. Get-a-Teacher enables KBC to bring its in-house financial expertise into the classroom. The initiative has proved even more successful than we expected. We’ve had interest not only from schools, but also from hospitals, charities and other organisations. So much so, in fact, that the calendar for this academic year is already pretty full. That’s a clear sign that the modules are meeting a real need. KBC hopes this sustainable initiative will help it achieve a positive impact on society.’
Get-a-teacher in practice
The teaching modules for Get-a-Teacher have been developed in collaboration with Skillville[1] – an organisation that helps pupils in Flanders to achieve their final attainment criteria and to develop key skills (including financial education).
The offering is aimed in the first instance at secondary schools (ASO, TSO, BSO and KSO – General, Technical, Vocational and Arts Secondary Education, respectively).
As of academic year 2017–18, there will also be an offering for colleges and universities, most of which will be custom produced.
Three teaching modules have been compiled for secondary schools, each tailored to the target group’s particular attainment criteria and screened according to the pedagogical approach.
- Module A, for second-grade ASO, TSO and BSO, which explains banking operations in the area of payments, lending, insurance, saving and investment (the basics), with a particular focus on practical payment methods, borrowing and debt.
- Module B, for third-grade ASO, TSO and BSO, which explains banking operations in the area of payments, lending and business, while also paying attention to insurance, saving and investment.
- Module C, for pupils taking economics and commercial education strands, which includes general information about different business matters and a case study, 'Starting your own business'.
Depending on the nature and level of the class, the two-hour lessons cover a variety of topics relating to payment methods, saving and investment, borrowing, insurance and related themes. The students are taught an understanding of personal financial situations in particular and the financial world in general. The interactive lessons focus firmly on the young people’s own world. The teachers – a limited group of about 20 individuals at this point – are mostly young and enthusiastic KBC employees with a teaching qualification. They are highly motivated and want to teach youngsters to look critically at financial information. The teachers have been specially selected with this in mind.
The proposal and the approach have been tested since March at several schools in Leuven, Kontich and Diest. More than 200 lessons are currently scheduled at a variety of schools across Flanders.
You can find more information at https://www.kbc.be/particulieren/nl/campagne/get-a-teacher.html
[1] SKILLVILLE is an online multimedia tool that helps pupils achieve their final attainment criteria/key skills.
