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Financial Literacy in practice

Educational initiatives in Poland Moscow, April 4-5, 2011 The World Bank & Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation

Workshop on Financial Literacy and Financial Consumer Protection

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 The Financial Literacy Campaign is a broad action which allows to use various models of delivering financial knowledge

  In Poland there were many methods used, from simple and popular to very sophisticated ones, including electronic delivery tools:

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 This material presents several ways of disseminating financial knowledge in Poland through popular channels

 We always should have in mind: people (and financial consumers) don’t like [boring ☺] talking heads in any programs. They usually look either for something very practical and useful, or for entertainment

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A television program (single broadcast)

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 „Gold for the Bold – Poles & Money” was a 120 minutes long dynamic television show on Sunday evening in the TVN - most popular private television in Poland (February 2006). Viewers had opportunity to test their knowledge on money and personal finance issues.

 The program was based on a format used by the Dutch TV producers for such nationwide television shows.

 The test of financial knowledge was addressed to an average viewer and to make it more attractive, each question was illustrated by a film material from famous comedies or cabaret scenes. Just to offer more fun for viewers.

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 To organize the show a large film studio was rearranged to host a group of 100 players, media celebrities and organizers. There were four teams in the studio competing to get the financial prize. Each team was lead by two popular TVN celebrity stars.

 There were several fields of economics chosen as test areas, among them: money and monetary policy, personal finance (savings and investment).

 The test questions were programmed not solely to deliver knowledge, but also to offer entertainment and fun to viewers, and to attract people’s attention to important personal finance issues.

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 The test competition was not only in the studio but also online. The main prize was a car sponsored by the car company.

 Results of the show:

 Main television show – 8 Million viewers;  Press inserts to popular TV Program weekly, including a test form for

those willing to participate in the test – 800.000 copies;   10 educational articles in the main Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and

one of the most important weeklies Wprost,   The web site www.zloty.onet.pl visited by 250.000 people; 102.000

solved the test online at the same time when program was broadcast in TVN.

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…and more results:   Radio programs devoted to personal finance issues in the Polish

Radio Program 3 got on average additional 750.000 listeners.   A special set of materials was sent out to 2500 high schools. It

comprised a game-like scenario for a lesson on personal finance. Students were to solve a test in the classroom. In each class four teams were established to force the competition. Close to 53.000 students completed that test.

  In the promotion campaign in the TVN television altogether 227 advertising spots were broadcast with intensity 50% higher than in an average advertising campaign.

Effectiveness – Gold for the Bold brought an average increase of knowledge of 5,62 % (after watching). In a fortnight another test measured the indicator again - an average increase of knowledge was 2,96 %. Within younger population the increase of knowledge was up to 10,11%.

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A television edu-vertisement campaign

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 There was a 3,5 week educational TV campaign on personal finance education launched within Christmas and New Year’s Day period (2006/2007), in four channels of the TVN television.

 The reason was obvious - to focus on „unpopular” topics near Christmas time – savings and responsible financial attitudes, or reasonable spending.

 To get the viewers the ‘eduvertisements’ were prepared - short interviews with popular media celebrities prepared, explaining why (and how) they try to save in that particular time. Each interview was up to 90 seconds and viewers could easily discover that even famous celebrities have often similar problems to theirs.

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 The discussion was very practical. It concentrated on issues that are common for most of us – what is better – a credit card or money in the wallet, what are benefits of having a home budget, how to save and invest, what credit is best for buying a flat, etc.

 These six eduvertisements were broadcast 266 times on four TV channels of the TVN. People loved that form of education – an estimated number of people who watched at least 3 scenes was over 10,5 Million people.

Effectiveness: after watching episodes, the increase of knowledge among adults was 13,9% (and in a fortnight without watching again the program 11,8%); the increase of knowledge among young people was 18,6% (and two weeks later: 19,8%).

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An education campaign

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 Most complex FL program promoting savings  This action starts in September and ends up in December,

with the International Savings Day (October 31) as the culmination point for educational efforts (234 schools involved in the action in 2010)

 Multimedia competitions for students of secondary level schools (2008-2010) – over 800 educational movies and 250 e-learning presentations devoted to personal finance issues

  Internet site with significant educational resources on FL, several mass media programs supporting the SW

Evaluation: pre-test and post-test based on the materials from action teachers/students – 31% increase of financial knowledge

 

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A school program

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 The largest FL program in Polish schools with the aim to prepare young people (age of 17-19) to effective managing their personal finances

 15 lessons cycle or 3 one-day interclass workshops (the form of the program at school depends on local situation)

 The teachers were trained for this program in 4 one-day sessions. Total number of workshops – 504 in first 3 years

 Over 220.000 students participated in the program (2004-2010); 2.500 teachers were trained to organize lessons on personal finanse

 Positive results from evaluation: teachers better prepared to organize lessons on personal finance issues; average increase of knowledge of participants from 5 to 11%

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A school program (pilot)

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 There are 4 Billion users of mobile phones worldwide and probably over 1 Billion users of multimedia players (like iPods of Apple) – most of young people listen to the music or radio that way.

 A small educational experiment in 2009 was organized in 14 Warsaw schools where pupils (aged 13-15) were asked to prepare their own podcasts devoted to personal finance issues, mostly savings and investments

 We have reached a population of 1200 pupils in classrooms(lower middle school). In a small competition nearly 30 podcasts were presented. This form of FL program has a great potential too.

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Educational website and e-learning platform

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 The “roof” of educational efforts of the National Bank of Poland is NBPortal.pl – the Portal for Economic Education – probably the largest economic education resource worldwide

 Very broad approach: e-learning courses, online games, multimedia presentations, scenarios for lessons, articles, economic dictionary = large knowledge base

 NBPortal is quite popular – in the peak period (2006) there were over 100.000 learners in the e-learning courses and monthly nearly 100.000 internet users visiting portal

 Target groups of the FL campaign must have a website where they could find reliable information and knowledge presented from practical side

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Animation movies in the Internet

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  One of the most popular way of educating students in middle schools – animation movies, on average 8 minutes long, each telling a story about a single Economic Term. Altogether 36 cartoons, financed by the NBP, constitute the original and unique Multimedia Economic Glossary.

  2004-2007: over 25.000 students took part in educational projects based on this series.

  Many cartoons devoted to financial issues: credits, savings and investments, insurance, interest rates, retirement, electronic payments.

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Interactive educational software

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  A Lesson of Economics is an interactive multimedia software to assist teachers in lessons of economics and financial literacy. It was distributed to over 1000 schools

  Schools will have more and more technology in classrooms but problem is always in software in national language (other than English) – so teachers do look forward to educational resources they could use during a lesson

  We believe this software helps our students to understand difficult economic issues; now they understand better how to start a business activity. Our lessons are more practical and attractive(...)“ – wrote teachers from Lublin. „I have tested the software and I know that will be an important tool for me during lessons“ – said another one. „Very good idea to combine multimedia explaining economic terms and tests that check students‘ knowledge during a lesson“ – was another of nearly 50 e-mails received from teachers in February 2011.

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Board games

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  Pret-a-porter is a new Polish board game developed for families. It was an idea from the National Bank of Poland to launch a game, which could teach families how to manage money resources in the market

  Players are owners of world’s famous Fashion Houses and they compete with each other. The winner is a person with the largest amount of money on the account

  Although the game is about running a company, its value is in teaching effective methods of investment, planning and savings – this knowledge can be used by members of family in day-to-day life

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 Planning the FL campaign it is good to think about it as a kind of education system (edu-system). Main educational efforts (for schools or adults) must be supported by many second-plan initiatives that would strengthen the message of the campaign

 Remember – age of 12-13 – economic awareness appears  Good to address educational messages to both economic

awareness layers: deep (through training, formal education) and shallow (through mass media, edutainment)

 Multiply the message by using different channels and types of programs in the same time.

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The Coordination Office

journalists

media

schools

families

internet

teachers social networks

Photos: sxc.hu

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www.economiceducator.eu

+ Thank you

© 2011 Futuredu, Warsaw, Poland

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Marcin Polak Futuredu and Think! Institute

Poland

marcin.polak (at) futuredu.pl

www.EconomicEducator.eu