Professional Development: Overcoming Barriers in Personal Finance Education
This webinar addresses a variety of barriers faced by teachers who are asked or choose to teach financial literacy in the classroom.
Personal finance mandates are making it more common for districts to assign teachers who’ve never touched the subject to start incorporating personal finance in their curriculum. And though this is great from a parent and student perspective, it may be difficult for a teacher, particularly one who needs to get certified on the subject.
We’ve met with dozens of teachers at conferences that have been freshly assigned the topic—some required to build an entire curriculum from the ground up. So as we extend our deepest respect and gratitude to those teachers, we’d also like to demonstrate a hands-on approach to helping them out!
Our first and latest professional development webinar is designed for just that: to help teachers all over the US find adaptive ways to teach personal finance in their classroom as well as equip new personal finance or finance-focused teachers with the know-how to make a difference in the world of personal finance education.
To start, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you know the personal finance requirements for your state or district?
- Do you know how to engage your students in the topic of financial literacy?
- Do you know what makes a quality classroom resource and/or are you confident on how to find one?
No matter the answer to each of these questions, we hope that our newest professional development webinar can shed some light on those topics. Watch the video below and sign up to be added to any future updates for our PD webinar series.
Once you’ve watched the video, click this link to fill out this survey and receive your p.d. certificate.
This webinar addresses a variety of barriers faced by teachers who are asked or choose to teach financial literacy in the classroom. These are outlined briefly below, but check out our webinar for a more in-depth look at the following obstacles:
Obstacle 1: Resource Limitations
Financial literacy education isn't uniformly mandated across the US and in states where it is mandated, there can be a lack of set standards. This leaves teachers wondering what to teach and when, or where to turn for guidance when putting together a curriculum.
Even without statewide standards, there are national guidelines available. The Council for Economic Education (CEE) and the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy (Jump$tart) have created benchmarks for educators called National Standards for Teaching Personal Finance and Economics.
The best solution is to use online curriculum that’s already aligned to national and state standards, and learn how to vet online resources by cost, privacy, and standards alignment, as discussed in the webinar video above.
Obstacle 2: Teacher Preparedness and Training
Because not all states require certification or training for those asked to teach personal finance education, teacher preparedness can be uneven. A lack of mandatory training has left some teachers feeling both overwhelmed and unprepared to teach the subject matter. Our professional development webinars are meant to not only help teachers who need training credit in their districts, but to also merge the gap between teachers who receive training and those who do not.
In the meantime, consider leaning on a trusted curriculum, similar to the one Banzai offers—making the curriculum the expert while you seek out PD, like this webinar and others Banzai will offer in the future.
Obstacle 3: Engaging with Students
Finally, a barrier in the classroom: children of all ages struggle to focus on the subject material. This not only stems from their ever-developing minds, but also from the realities of the digital age. Rather than shy away from technology, embrace it—use it in your classroom as a way to keep students focused and engaged. Develop a gamified curriculum and make financial literacy relevant to the student. This could look like:
- Introducing online games.
- Sharing personal stories: open up about your own hardships, success, and failures.
- Incorporating a more hands-on way of learning.
Whether you are a new personal finance teacher or an experienced educator looking for fresh ideas, our webinar addresses common obstacles such as resource limitations, teacher preparedness, and student engagement. By leveraging national standards, adopting trusted curricula, and embracing technology, you can overcome these challenges and inspire your students to develop long-lasting, positive financial habits.