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Shaping the future: Financial education for everyone - New project starts now!
The Leuphana University of Lüneburg is involved in the development of socially inclusive financial education to strengthen financial literacy.
Shaping the future: Financial education for everyone - New project starts now!
The OECD has called for the development of national financial education strategies, a topic that is already anchored in the coalition agreement of the previous federal government. Leuphana University is part of a collaborative project that is working on a comprehensive financial education program together with the universities of Bielefeld, Cologne, Münster and the Schwäbisch Gmünd University of Education. Prof. Dr. Harald Hantke points out that this program should be accompanied by extensive empirical research to ensure its effectiveness and to reach the target groups effectively.
The project called “SoFi” (Socially Inclusive Financial Education) aims to develop quality-assured teaching-learning arrangements for socially inclusive financial education. The offerings are intended to be used in particular in social science subjects such as politics, economics and social studies as well as in mathematics and full-time career orientation schools. The priority target group are learners with little exposure to financial education. The project is funded with 1.5 million euros from the former Federal Ministry of Education and Research, with Leuphana receiving around 275,000 euros.
The financial education status in Germany
On May 13, 2024, the OECD published a comprehensive inventory of financial education in Germany. The analysis shows that financial literacy is good by international comparison. However, there are significant gaps in certain subject areas and population groups. Although many topics relevant to financial well-being are covered, they do not reach certain target groups sufficiently. Financial education initiatives are often not based on empirical findings and their impact is rarely evaluated, as the OECD emphasizes.
The analysis identifies five central topic areas in which there is a need for action:
- Langfristiges Sparen und Altersvorsorge
- Beteiligung am Kapitalmarkt
- Verantwortungsvolle Nutzung von Krediten
- Sichere Nutzung digitaler Finanzdienstleistungen
- Sustainable Finance
Initiatives to strengthen financial education
The “Financial Education” initiative, which was launched in March 2023 by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, aims to develop a national financial education strategy. This is scheduled to be published in autumn 2024. The OECD has already developed a proposal for this strategy, which was officially presented on September 24, 2024. The proposal emphasizes the need to raise awareness of financial education and develop targeted educational materials.
The measures are part of a broader initiative driven by the ministries of education and finance. Overall, the national strategy should be aimed at strengthening the financial resilience of the population and promoting participation in the financial markets. The strategy is particularly aimed at the disadvantaged groups identified in the OECD report, including women, people with low incomes and lower levels of education, and young people.