The event by the Central Bank and the MIPP Millennium Institute, aimed at school teachers, provides the tools that will be an input to educating their students on the subject.
Financial education is becoming increasingly prominent with each day in the country’s classrooms, something that was evident in the large number of elementary and secondary school teachers who successfully completed the fourth version of the “City of Opportunities” course, organized by the Central Bank and the MIPP Millennium Institute, of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Chile.
The course, held between August 9 and November 30 of last year, seeks to deliver content related to micro and macroeconomics, the functioning of the financial market, personal finance and money management, and the role and functions of the Central Bank. In this aspect, it aims to ensure that this information reaches the students in the classrooms. The course is based on the curriculum benchmarks of the Ministry of Education, specifically the subjects of History, Geography, and Social Sciences (High School); Economics and Society, and Civic Education; and the PISA test (financial module).
This year’s updates and improvements include a new module on personal finances, which enabled the delivery of content associated with topics such as budgeting, savings, investment, debt, and insurance. Additionally, videoconferences were held for each module, enabling students to delve deeper in some economic and/or financial content, and assisting the participants with methodological terms. The videoconferences were given by professionals from the Central Bank of Chile, the University of Chile and MIPP with respect to technical topics, and by a specialist in methodology for this section.
In the 2021 version of the course, 222 teachers graduated, joining thus more than 1,100 education professionals who have already graduated in the previous years. Financial education was included as part of the curriculum of the Ministry of Education a few years ago, which has caused more and more teachers to be trained in the subject. At the ceremony, 5 teachers were recognized with awards for their outstanding and exceptional final projects, who, in their acceptance speeches, highlighted the importance of the course in enriching their knowledge in economic and financial matters, which results in a higher quality education and a positive impact for the students in their classrooms. They were:
“The City of Opportunities has been and will continue to be a great help for teachers and, consequently, the students in their classrooms,” says Andrea Canales, a researcher at the MIPP Millennium Institute and the person in charge of course management and content. “Economics is everywhere, but not knowing about it makes it difficult for us to understand and apply it to everyday situations. The idea behind the course is to precisely bring economics closer to people”.
During the graduation ceremony, there was the outstanding participation of the President of the Central Bank, Mr. Mario Marcel, and the Rector of the University of Chile, Mr. Ennio Vivaldi, who stressed that “endeavours like these are what make the university and its work to give its contribution to Chile significant (…) its social responsibility and the highest equal access to knowledge and the common good for all” he assured.
According to data provided by the international assessment test PISA, the levels of financial literacy in Chile are considerably low, with about 30% of students lacking the minimum required skills. These types of initiatives seek to reverse these poor results.
For additional details of the ceremony, visit the websites of the University of Chile and the Central Bank.
MIPP Chile 2024