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evaluation

Secondary Money Twist

Evidence type: Evaluation i

Description of the programme

MyBnk delivers financial education programmes to secondary school-aged young people through the Money Twist (MT) and Sporty Money Twist (SMT) programmes. The Money Twist programme is delivered to Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 pupils in secondary schools, while the Sporty Money Twist is being delivered to a range of groups of young people outside of a school context mainly, though not exclusively, within the National Citizens Service. In total, across MT 447 distinct programmes were delivered across 86 schools, reaching 16,860 pupils aged 11-16. For SMT a further 85 programmes were delivered reaching 3,501 young people aged 14-18.

The study

The evaluations comprised:

Money Twist:

  • Quantitative pre-and post-delivery surveys of pupils at school settings;
  • A follow-up survey 3-6 months post-delivery;
  • Qualitative case study research (observations and focus groups at five schools);
  • Surveys and interviews with teachers;
  • Interviews with stakeholders;
  • A control survey of pupils in schools not involved in the programme.

Sporty Money Twist:

  • A quantitative post-delivery survey of participants in sport settings;
  • A follow-up survey 3-6 month post-delivery;
  • Qualitative case study research (observations and focus groups);
  • Surveys and interviews with trainers and staff from organisations where delivery took place.

Outcomes:

The evaluation aimed to assess the increases in pupils’ understanding of:

  • The role of money in society;
  • Financial choices and decision making;
  • Financial concepts for the future.

Key findings

Overall, The MyBnk intervention had a positive impact for all three outcomes

Outcome 1 - Increased understanding of the role in society:

There was an average improvement of:

  • 14 percentage points in relation to confidence in learning and talking about money;
  • 24 percentage points in financial knowledge;
  • 26% in relation to the understanding and principles of the role of money in society.

Outcome 2 – Better understanding of financial choices and decision making:

  • 44% of pupils who would not have delayed financial gratification prior to MyBnk training now would;
  • 31% of pupils who would not have made a spending plan (and stuck to it) now would;
  • Pupils showed a ten percentage point improvement in relation to understanding of personal money habits.

Outcome 3 - Improved understanding of financial concepts for the future:

  • Pupils demonstrated an average 27 percentage point improvement in understanding financial services;
  • Pupils showed a 19 percentage point increase in understanding financial products and terminology.

Control group scores on these measures were largely similar to the pre-delivery MyBnk scores. This indicates that MyBnk pupils have similar levels of understanding to the control group before the intervention, but generally have higher levels after training. All the improvements recorded above were statistically significant.

  • Teachers, pupils and trainers felt that the pace and varied delivery style worked well in gaining and retaining pupil focus during the sessions;
  • There was support for the teaching techniques such as quizzes, challenges and other interactive methods in supporting pupil understanding of new financial concepts.
  • Pupils and teachers both felt that the expert nature of the MyBnk trainer brought ‘added value’ to the programme.

Points to consider

Methodological strengths and limitations:

  • The sample size was enough for a robust evaluation to demonstrate statistically significant results.
  • The authors acknowledge that because the timeframes for the data collection differed, it is debatable how much can be read into comparisons with the control group.

Relevance:

  • This report is relevant to all stakeholders and policymakers with an interest in financial education interventions among children and young people.

Generalisability/ transferability:

  • Some of the findings could potentially be generalised to the wider population as being indicative of ‘what works’ among this target group.

Key info

Programme delivered by
MyBnk
Year of publication
2018
Country/Countries
England
Contact information

www.substance.net, info@substance.net