My Experience of 'Useful Maths'

When I reflect on when I was in high school completing mathematics before the Australian Curriculum was established, I was always frustrated that we would be learning statistics and calculus which I knew I was not going to use in my future profession (physiotherapy). My friends and I always said how we wanted to learn ‘useful mathematics’, which we thought meant to be able to save money to buy a house and complete taxes for when we work. I felt we had very little financial based mathematics in class and consequently, I believe I still have quite low financial literacy.

My husband talks about investing money, stocks and shares, but I barely know how to get involved in this and how to control it. When I bought my house I needed large amounts of help from my parents, the banks and friends who had been through the process before. I feel I never had access/knew how to access programs to increase financial literacy and always thought it was something important that should be used at school.

Financial literacy is important for students to know and understand as it is a contemporary application of mathematics which is used in everyday circumstances. Considering any person who has a job has a superannuation account which workplaces or themselves pay into, and that may students who attend tertiary education will have loans or HECS debts, it is therefore essential students and people in general understand these concepts (Frijns, Gilbert, & Tourani-Rad, 2014). The issue is the research shows at a high school level, student performance in this area is weak, particularly by females and students who have not fully or successfully integrated (Erner, Goedde-Menke & Oberste, 2016). It appears there is more financial literacy education within the Australian Curriculum compared to when I went through high school as it can be incorporated through Humanities and Social Sciences in the topics of Business and Economics, as well as linking to traditional mathematics classes (Australian Curriculum, 2022). I think this is beneficial as a basic financial literacy component as it has been found that with more financial experience corelates with more financial knowledge, however which comes first it still not well understood. This means people might learn from financial mistakes to improve their literacy, or alternatively could have formal/informal research and training to increase their knowledge to prevent making mistakes (Frijns, Gilbert, & Tourani-Rad, 2014). This is why research believe financial programs can work well in increasing someone’s knowledge so they have the ability to make better financial decisions about savings, loans, financial capacity related to borrowing etc.

I think for these reasons it is important that there is a financial literacy component within the Australia Curriculum, as the current financial market is very complex and changes, so the more people can understand from a younger age, the more experience and confidence they will have to make decisions that benefit themselves.

This blog will further delve into these concepts and look at how these can meet learning needs of high school students.

 

References:

Australian Curriculum. (2022). Economics and Business + Mathematics: Content Descriptions year 7. ACARA. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/economics-and-business-7-10_mathematics/year-7?view=quick&detailed-content-descriptions=0&hide-ccp=0&hide-gc=0&side-by-side=1&strands-start-index=0&subjects-start-index=0

Erner, C., Goedde-Menke, M., & Oberste, M. (2016). Financial literacy of high school students: Evidence from Germany. Research in Economic Education, 47(2), 95-105.

Frijns, B., Gilbert, A., & Tourani-Rad, A. (2014). Learning by Doing: the role of financial experience in financial literacy. Journal of Public Policy, 34(1), 123-154.