Developing the skills to lead sustainable independent lives
Many of the most important choices we make in life involve money. We all have a lifelong relationship with finance that has an impact upon our education, our career and where we live. The problem for many young people today is that when they leave education they lack the skills to build independent, sustainable lives of their own.
Keep the Cash! is a lively one-day simulation designed to give students the experience of what it will be like when they have to manage their own financial affairs and make their own decisions as adults. It is a highly effective and engaging experience that works because it focuses on students and their aspirations.
It has been delivered in schools across the UK and the Republic of Ireland and wherever we go we receive the same positive response from students and teachers alike. That’s because the fundamental principles are universal – every young adult has aspirations but must find a way to fund those by entering the world of work.
At the same time, they must avoid getting into financial trouble by living sustainably, an issue made much tougher by the economic situation which is reducing job opportunities and cutting back on publicly-funded support, whether that’s education, training or welfare.
UK qualifications body Edexcel has described Keep the Cash! as
“inspirational, aspirational, future-proof and a no-brainer”.
What Keep the Cash! delivers
Keep the Cash! puts employment at the heart of creating a financially sustainable lifestyle. It’s relevance to the lives young people lead means that they become completely engaged and don’t consciously think about the maths skills they are applying. You’ll see what we mean when you watch them solving interest calculations with enthusiasm!
During the rigorous and stimulating session, students compete in teams and:
- Evaluate their personal aspirations and demonstrate the ability to build a sustainable lifestyle which they can fund
- Set up a house, working as a team to agree on important communal decisions, including what they can afford to buy and managing their bills
- Negotiate with banks to manage their finances using different sources of credit
- Prepare their personal CVs and undergo job interviews
- Use functional mathematics in a range of tasks including forecasting cash flow and calculating interest payments
Anyone who goes through Keep the Cash! gains a clear and practical understanding of how the financial system works (from the perspective of the ordinary tax-paying citizen), how to manage personal cash flow and what that means in practice, how to avoid the pitfalls of debt and what concepts like credit and interest actually mean and the impact they have on one’s life.
Anyone who goes through Keep the Cash! gains a clear and practical understanding of how the financial system works (from the perspective of the ordinary tax-paying citizen), how to manage personal cash flow and what that means in practice, how to avoid the pitfalls of debt and what concepts like credit and interest actually mean and the impact they have on one’s life.
“Keep the Cash! is the best thing I’ve seen for improving functional maths skills, collaborative working, communication skills and teaching pupils to analyse and evaluate situations and reflect effectively on their findings.”
John Lee, Regional Adviser for Mathematics, Department for Education
For more information, call now on 0151 227 5249