Education Business

Many schools are now looking for the optimum way to deliver PSHE. Are you looking for suitable provision for your students?

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT has developed innovative qualifications in Personal Finance for schools and colleges which will lead towards the PSHE requirements:

“Money: how to manage personal finance, employability, enterprise and making career decisions.”

Suitable for anyone from age 14 onwards there are qualification options at Level 1 on the Qualifications Credit Framework (QCF) and Level 2 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). At Level 2 they are mapped to the PSHE and Mathematics curriculum, with schools performance points:

Award = 23,
Certificate and Diploma = 46.
Funding provision for the qualifications is available via the Learning and Skills Council in England for eligible schools.
Many schools that already work with the Institute recognise the importance of personal finance provision and provide the BCS Personal Finance qualifications to their students.  
Doncaster North City Learning is a BCS Approved Centre working very closely with schools in Doncaster, agrees that in today’s world, students need to be fully aware of financial matters, especially when faced with making choices that may lead to long term financial commitments. The Centre found that the Personal Finance qualification is a tailored solution for meeting this need.  

The benefits of delivering the qualification within the curriculum are:

Readily integrated into PSHE.
Delivered via on-line training and testing software – proven to be popular with many students.
Enhanced students’ life skills and self esteem.
Flexible delivery either as an intensive course or over an academic year.
Achievement improves motivation across other subjects.
Tangible knowledge that students take with them on leaving secondary education.

The qualification options
To achieve the BCS Level 1 Award in Personal Finance the candidate must pass three mandatory units. Topics include managing money day to day, controlling your money, choosing financial products and getting help.

There are three ways for a candidate to achieve Level 2 certification. On passing the four mandatory units, the candidate will achieve the BCS Level 2 Award in Personal Finance.  By passing two further optional units the candidate can receive the BCS Level 2 Certificate in Personal Finance.

The candidate can achieve the BCS Level 2 Diploma in Personal Finance by passing all four mandatory units and four optional units.

Benefits for young people
BCS Personal Finance is not only suitable for schools, other organisations find that their staff benefit from it.

The Royal Artillery Centre for Personal Development (RA CPD) supports the personal development of soldiers in all the Royal Artillery regiments, based throughout England, Northern Ireland and Germany, by providing each one with its own Learning Centre.  

RA CPD ran a pilot of the BCS Level 1 Qualification in Personal Finance in two of its Learning Centres. The Centre tutors enjoyed supporting the learners, and seeing their attitudes to the way they manage their money develop.

Some young Gunners, who have achieved the Level 1 qualification, welcomed the boost to their knowledge and confidence about money. They had recently joined the Army and had to manage their own finances by themselves for the first time.

The tutors found that the course is very suited to young people to educate them about personal finance issues. Many of them feel pressured to keep up with their peers, spending on a variety of high cost items and so get into debt. 

The overall view of all those involved in the course has been very positive.  The learners were fully engaged and commented that the course had helped raise awareness of their day to day financial issues, especially the challenge of having enough to buy food at the end of the month.

The learners said:

“I learnt a lot from the course and now feel more able to manage my money and I know where to go if I need help”.

“The course was educational and I learnt a lot of new information.  I understand more about financial products and will definitely look at different deals before I make any decisions in the future.

The RA CPD tutors have really enjoyed piloting Personal Finance and they are rolling it out to all their Learning Centres as part of their portfolio of qualifications.
 
For more information
Visit our website where you can find information about the units, funding and Learning Aims references, and the syllabus and sample papers. We also provide resources such as the Teacher’s Handbook and how to become a centre with the application pack and price list.

www.bcs.org/personalfinance

Please contact Client Support if you have any questions:
telephone 01793 417530
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