Two years ago, on October 2, 2017, the Bank of Spain and the CNMV signed a new partnership agreement to further develop financial education at the state level during the years 2018-2021. This third plan had similar objectives.

This year we have created the Beyond Finance Network (Basque Network of Education in Ethical and Alternative Finance) and we believe it is essential to share our position on this third state plan.

These plans have created the brand “Finance for All” and every first Monday of October they have chosen to celebrate the “Financial Education Day”. To celebrate this day, a digital communication strategy has been developed with the aim of reaching as many citizens as possible. Beyond the Financial network members are concerned about the financial education they will promote in schools, which have included it in the educational curriculum.

PISA (Programme for International Student Assestment – International Student Assessment Programme) is a project of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The objective of PISA is to evaluate the training of students at the end of compulsory education. The results of PISA in 2012 and 2015 showed that the Spanish State did not reach the average of the countries that participated in the research. In response to this concern, efforts to incorporate financial education into schools were intensified.

The Financial Education School Program involves more than 500 schools, with financial institutions performing most of the actions related to financial education. In our view, the consequences of the financial crises we have experienced and the increasing inequality demonstrate the negative effects that financial globalization can have. They also highlight the serious consequences that banks can have on the economy and well-being of people.

The Code of Good Practice for Financial Education Initiatives, presented in 2016, refers to impartiality as the first applicable principle. We do not believe that this is being respected, because banks give students materials and training, as this limits the teaching model.

We defend equity, social justice and human rights, and that is why we believe it is necessary to have a critical attitude towards this financial model and to the entities that make up it. We believe it is important that we highlight what economic model we want and where finance should take place in that model. In order for financial education to participate in the educational project, it is essential to encourage the financial system and banks to increase their content on human, social and environmental impacts. And that is that we have to adapt individual and collective responsibilities to create a more just and supportive society.

The education system must equip students with skills, critical character and maturity to enter an environment where finance is increasingly important. In this new teaching, the financial system and the economic system are differentiated, although finances are instruments of the economy. The economy, being a social science linked to people and the environment, must be understood from a holistic and critical perspective: finance cannot be understood in isolation, without understanding its role in the economic system and its influence.

Therefore, we must denounce that the sole objective of the Financial Education Plan is to train students in financial services for participation in the system. It does not question this system or the social impact of financial actions. It values the hegemonic approach of the economic system as valid and presents finance as tools to manage and secure our actions, in the name of freedom. In this way, it makes totally invisible the influence of financial decisions on collective well-being.

We need new content and discussions in classrooms to increase youth engagement on issues such as building fairer economic and social structures, combating inequality, protecting the environment, empowering women, democratic governance or guaranteeing human rights.

That is why the members of the More Financial Network want to call for the promotion of financial education that takes on these ethical principles. We want the ability of finance to transform the world into the real economy to be strengthened.

Irati Cifuentes, Joseba Larriba, Liher González, Ritxi Usategi Uriarte, Sebastian Gutteridge (members of
the Beyond the Financial network).