On a grey Thursday morning in west London, a class of 10 year-olds are converting the cost of a café crème into sterling.
Next, they work out how much it would cost to take the class with five adults to Paris on a school trip, comparing various transport options and special offers.
Underneath a colourful punctuation pyramid and pictures of equilateral and scalene triangles, the children tap away on calculators, discussing the price of petrol and the benefit of a group discount.
The children, pupils at Yeading Junior School in Hayes, west London, are learning the basics of personal finance.
Currently, such lessons are rare in England, but this scene is likely to be much more common from September 2014.
Last week saw the publication of the new draft National Curriculum for England, which includes financial education in maths and “citizenship”. Personal finance is already taught in schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Following a public consultation, the final version of the new curriculum will be presented to schools this September and introduced in classrooms next year.
Citizenship education, which is proposed from Year 7, includes lessons in UK law and governance as well as teaching children how to manage their money.
Pupils will be taught about the uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, taxes, wages, debt and financial products and services.
Mathematics will include financial maths as part of lessons in problem solving and percentages.
Campaigners have fought a long battle for children to be taught the basic skills of how to manage their money. “Financial education is essential in equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to be able to manage their money well,” said Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg). “With financial mathematics included as a part of maths and financial capability included in citizenship education for the first time, the campaign has achieved both of its objectives.”
The campaign was led in Westminster by the 250-strong All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People, chaired by Justin Tomlinson MP.
Mr Tomlinson said: “I am delighted that financial education has finally been given the place it deserves as a compulsory part of the National Curriculum.
“Generations of young people will now gain the knowledge and skills they need to be able to manage their personal finances.”
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com and another vocal campaigner for financial education in schools, described the draft curriculum as the “first step” in ensuring that “every child has at least some basic financial education to help them navigate our complex consumer economy”.
A 2012 Panelbase survey conducted by pfeg and the National Children’s Bureau found that 43pc of seven to 16 year-olds worried about money, while nearly one in eight, 12pc, had borrowed money that they could not afford to repay.
A separate YouGov/pfeg survey last year found that 96pc of 18 and 19 year-olds with a credit card had never compared cards to check they were getting the best deal, while only 2pc knew what their card’s APR was.
At Yeading Junior School, pupils aged 5 to 11 have been learning about personal finance for the past three years. A school bank was established in 2011, with “yeados”, the bank currency, handed out for good behaviour and saved for extra playtime.
Head teacher Carole Jones said the lessons helped alleviate the anxiety many children feel about their families’ finances and their own financial future. “I think the children are very aware of what’s happening in the real world,” she said. “I think it’s better to arm and empower children rather than have them worry about it.”
As part of the National Curriculum, personal finance will be taught by teachers in schools, assisted by volunteers, banks and financial institutions if they choose to invite them.
Thousands of schools have already received lessons and materials from some of the largest banks, including Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest, who insist the programmes have no commercial element.
A Barclays spokesman said: “Barclays is proud to support financial education in schools, at the request of teachers who widely welcome our help. None of the education materials used by students feature any Barclays branding or reference to Barclays products, and they are independently verified as fit for use in schools.”
Mr Lewis said: “In the same way as you would not send GlaxoSmithKline to teach biology and chemistry, you should not send Barclays in to teach finance.
“But if a bank manager wants to come along and answer questions … and if they want to contribute money into good content that is vetted to ensure that it’s not overly commercial, then I’m happy with that.”
Ms Bleakley said: “I think it’s important that we have consistency of information for young people. We need it taught in schools, we need experts to come in, and we need parents to get involved. Learning about budgeting is a good time to introduce pocket money, for example. It’s about turning the learning in school into real-life habits.”