Teaching children how to handle their money in adult life is to become part of the school curriculum in Northern Ireland, it was revealed today.
Ensuring young people have the financial understanding to cope with the challenges of everyday life is to be done through a new element of maths lessons.
Announcing the move Patricia Roe of the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment said it was being introduced because financial capability was an essential life skill.
"Without the ability to make sound financial decisions, today's young people are unlikely to have the skills to cope with the financial strains of everyday life and work situations.
"Therefore we are delighted that the Department of Education has decided to take on board our advice and incorporate this as a statutory component of the Northern Ireland Curriculum from September 2007."
Aspects which would be covered would include shopping and owning a mobile phone, she said.
Alastair Mathews, director of policy at Personal Finance Education Group said the teaching resources to be used were originally developed in England and Scotland to meet the needs of maths teachers who wanted to include some financial material in their teaching.
"They help bring mathematics alive and show young people how important financial understanding is in real life. They have now been adapted to the Northern Ireland context and should prove very helpful in teaching finance within mathematics and personal and social education," he said.
PA