Every child to get finance course

A total of 13% of schools in Scotland, or 352, responded to the survey

Ministers have pledged that every child in Scotland will be taught basic finance skills, after a report found that current provision was "patchy".

A survey of about 350 schools north of the border revealed that delivery of financial education was inconsistent.

The report said it was often taught through special events rather than regular lessons and formed part of other subjects like maths.

The education secretary said experts would plan how to improve provision.

The group will include representatives from the financial services industry, who will make recommendations on issues like the required teaching resources early next year.

If that goes to plan, the lessons are then expected to be introduced in the next school year.

We need to make sure that no child misses out

Fiona Hyslop
Education Secretary

The Scottish government-commissioned report stated: "Financial education is not a subject or curricular area and has low status and priority for many schools, particularly local authority secondary schools."

It said special schools placed more importance on the delivery of financial education than other schools because it helps teach life skills for independent living.

But the research also found that the teaching in primary schools was usually more coherent and planned than in secondaries.

In total, 13% of Scotland's 2,708 schools responded to the survey.

'Economic uncertainty'

But it found that less than half of those questioned integrated financial education into a range of lessons across the curriculum.

Following the report, Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said every child in Scotland would be taught basic financial skills.

She said: "Ensuring our young people have a strong understanding of financial and money management skills is critical - particularly at this time of credit crunch economic uncertainty and change.

"That's why we are now moving to ensure the new curriculum gives every pupil the personal finance skills they need to prosper.

"We need to make sure that no child misses out and every school in Scotland offers the high quality financial education our young people need."