Case Study

From student to teacher

Ellie Ashbee

Head of Business Studies, Howard School

The Howard School in Gillingham in Kent is in its tenth year of delivering our A’ Level equivalent CeFS qualification school.  Offering a broad and balanced curriculum it is has been recognised as a Rights Respecting School (at Gold level) by UNICEF, the only secondary school in Kent or Medway to receive such an award. This recognises the work the school has done and continues to do in placing The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of their planning, policies, practice and ethos.  Head of Business Studies, Ellie Ashbee is a great ambassador of the importance of Financial Education, during a recent annual visit explained how she once studied our Financial Capability qualifications herself.

Learning Financial Capability is positively affecting our students

The course itself has had a significant impact on the students at The Howard School, it gives them the fundamental life skills around finance and day to day use of money in the real world. It has given our students the chance to research and investigate the way we use money and the different options available to them throughout their life cycle stages. 

Educating young people on personal finances is a needed life skill

I am extremely passionate about educating young people on financial studies, I feel this is a necessity for all students and this is something I am looking to try and accommodate across our school. Lack of financial education could really hinder our boys moving forward through their school life and lack of financial education could be damaging on a broader scale into their future. I love being able to offer the boys a chance to leave school with the knowledge they need at different stages of their lives; teaching them how to budget, what account is best for them, facts about pensions, shopping around for different interest rates and insurance policies - real life financial issues that I can help make easier for them and they won't fear when they encounter them in later life.

Studying one of your qualifications made a difference

I studied this qualification at school and the expectation was that all students needed this qualification and it would be beneficial to all, I feel that by studying this it gave me a clearer picture of how simple things that we take for granted now such as using an ATM, understanding the difference between current/savings accounts actually worked. It gave me that financial confidence that not everyone had when they left school.

Students need to gain these skills more than ever

I think as time has passed financial education has fallen into the background, there is not as much focus on financial education for the younger generation and I think this is evident in society as a whole. Finance has become a massive discussion point in the news and with this I feel that more students should be educated on finance so they have the facts to generate their own opinions and decisions.