Case study: Financial capability in primary schools

Money Mentors

Using older pupils to mentor younger ones has been employed by schools in a range of contexts for different purposes. But schools in Slough were the first to pioneer a peer mentoring approachesto support the teaching of personal finance education. Local authority advisers and pfeg consultants worked together to devise a training programme using a specially designed resource box.

What is money mentoring?

Older pupils are trained as money mentors to work with a small group of younger pupils, mentees, using the games and activities from a Money Mentors Resource Box. The idea is that the money mentors should support the financial capability learning of the mentees without reinforcing misconceptions.

Training mentors

A training programme was devised to support the money mentors at various ages.

The aim was to give the children a shared basis for talking about money with children younger than themselves.

The mentors were given the opportunity to explore the box for themselves before being guided through two of the activities. They were taught to ‘Name it, Show it, Play it’. They learnt how they might differentiate by using the STEP approach which involves considering how they might change the Space, Task, Equipment or People to make the task more appropriate for the mentees. The day ended with the mentors exploring the resource box and becoming experts on one of the activities. Then in groups they mentored each other on their specialist activity.

The Key Stage 1 box

A Key Stage 1 box was designed so that Year 2 money mentors can work with Year 1 and Reception pupils as their mentees. The box is based around practising money skills with coins. No notes or credit/debit cards are included. The box contains:

  1. A mock up of a simple ATM, but using fruit instead of money - a fruit tuck shop ‘machine’. The mentor stands behind the shop board to provide the ‘machine’ element of the activity. The mentee selects the piece of fruit they wish to buy and then inserts coins into the slot to make the purchase. The activity can be differentiated as there are different price lists. The most simple list has just 1p, 2p and 5p as the prices whereas the more challenging list goes up to 20p and requires the mentee to work out different combinations of coins as well as the possibility of receiving and checking change.
  2. Money collector’s game - a circuit type board game where players have to accumulate specified coins.
  3. Money bingo - mentors act as caller for this game which encourages coin recognition.
  4. Money magnet fishing - mentees use magnetic fishing rods to ‘fish’ for money. Mentors will set them a challenge at the outset of the game, e.g. to gather the most money in a time limit or to get one of each coin for example.
  5. Money snap - mentees have to match picture and word cards.
  6. Money crossword and wordsearch - simple money terms are defined and reinforced.
  7. Spot the difference - mentees have to find the difference between two coin images. One of the coins has imperfections.

The Key Stage 2 box

A Key Stage 2 box was developed for Year 5 money mentors to use with Year 2 or 3 children. Pretend coins, notes, credit and debit cards were all included in the box.

  1. The mentors were given intensive training in the use of the ATM machine – The Nest Egg Bank ATM machine - a mock up of an ATM machine provides the basis for this activity. The mentor stands behind the board and supports the mentee as they go through the process of withdrawing money from the ATM. At the simplest level the mentee withdraws an amount of money using a debit card. If the mentee is more able, then the mentor will explain the differences between credit and debit cards before taking them through the process. Throughout this process, emphasis is placed on being aware of ensuring a secure transaction.
  2. Money collector game - a circuit type board game where players have to accumulate specified coins and notes. As the players go round the board they will be faced with money dilemmas which they have to solve before they move on.
  3. Money magnet fishing - mentees use magnetic fishing rods to ‘fish’ for money. Mentors will set them a challenge at the outset of the game, e.g. to gather the most money in a time limit or to get one of each coin.
  4. Money snap - mentees have to match picture and word cards.
  5. Money crossword and wordsearch - money terms are defined and reinforced.
  6. Spot the difference - mentees have to find the difference between two coin images.
  7. Needs and wants - picture cards have to be sorted by mentees into two separate piles depending on whether they consider them to be a need or a want.
  8. Hopscotch - coin mats are placed in hopscotch format on floor or table and mentees have to use the spinner to match coin values to work their way up the hopscotch mat.
  9. World of money - mentees have to match the currency and flag to the country on the world map.

Evaluating the project

Teachers and trainers have been impressed by the way mentors tune in quickly to the abilities of their mentees and differentiate accordingly. The mentors relished their responsibility and in follow up, provided an abundance of suggestions for new activities. The children, working with mentees, gave feedback on how a box could be further improved.

Work has continuedto develop resources to meet the needs of pupils with learning difficulties. The schools in Slough are continuing to use the money mentor boxes. Teachers can put together games and other suitable activities to use in this way.

PSHE Co-ordinator: ‘The money mentors help the mentees to realise it’s much more than about maths and help then to see the impact of money on the whole of life.’

Infant teacher: ‘The Money Mentors resource box is a real winner with the staff. They all want their classes to use it.’