Hon Hekia Parata

Minister of Education
10 July 2014 Media Statement
NZ students financially savvy

Many New Zealand students are among the most financially literate, and score higher than the OECD on average, Education Minister Hekia Parata says.

The results of the New Zealand Financial Literacy Report are based on findings from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, which assessed the financial literacy of 15 year-olds at that time.

New Zealand was one of 18 countries to take part.

The results show:

• One in five New Zealand students showed advanced skills in financial literacy compared with one in ten students among OECD countries.

• Nine out of ten New Zealand students reported they had a bank account, and those students achieved a much higher score on average than their peers who did not.

• Students who are good at financial literacy are also likely to be good at reading and mathematics, further highlighting the relationship between literacy and numeracy and learning in other parts of the curriculum.

“It is great to see so many Kiwi children are financially literate. The more financially literate our young people are, the better placed they are to make decisions that enhance their wellbeing,” Ms Parata says.

Despite these positive results, the report also reaffirms that there are areas where further improvement is needed to raise achievement for all students.

“The report shows that students from low socio-economic backgrounds scored lower than students from high socio-economic backgrounds. Māori and Pasifika students also scored lower than the New Zealand average,” Ms Parata says.

“Since 2012, a lot of work has been done to build financial literacy for all our students, including a suite of new online financial capability resources that can be used across all areas of the curriculum from Years 1 – 13 to build financial literacy that were released in April this year.

“We are also using information collected from across our schools and communities, such as National Standards, to identify, target and support with extra resources, the students who need it most,” Ms Parata says.

For more information on the New Zealand Financial Literacy Report results, visit: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/2543/pisa-2012/148116

Ends

Notes for Editors

The report, which coincides with the OECD international release of financial literacy results, looks at New Zealand achievement in an international context, the relationship between financial literacy and student background such as gender, ethnicity, immigrant status, language spoken at home, and economic, social and cultural status, as well as students’ own experience with money.

The relevance of financial capability is acknowledged in the New Zealand Curriculum where it is included as a theme that schools can use for cross-curricular teaching and learning programmes.

The Ministry has a range of resources available at http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-resources/Financial-capability

© Scoop Media