The Lord Mayor's Financial Literacy Campaig
The modern world is a complex one, particularly in respect of financial matters, and no less a person than the Minister of Justice (a Barrister, highly-educated at the best schools and university) has admitted “accountancy is not my strong point” in claiming twice as much Council Tax as he actually paid. What then can children in underprivileged schools be expected to know and how can they be expected to deal with the intricacies of banking, budgeting, consumer credit etc? If, when they leave school, they think of working in, or even setting up, a small business what can they know about business skills?
The Mayoral theme for the current year is his Financial Literacy Initiative (FLI) which seeks to open the eyes and minds of schoolchildren in schools near the City (Whitechapel, Hackney, Tower Hamlets et al) to some of the issues they will have to deal with as adults. The FLI is part of a wider programme of such projects in schools, and is intended to be supported by the entire Livery movement, not merely by the Financial Services Group of Livery Companies. The Lord Mayor hosted a Livery company event at the Mansion House on 18th June to try to enlist support; the Master and Assistants Davies and Dundas attended, the last-named given the privilege of a different coloured name badge (a notional halo !) for those who had already done a volunteer assignment in a school (of which more below)
On 20th May, Hew attended Our Lady’s Convent High School in Hackney, an all-girl voluntary-aided Roman Catholic secondary school. It is one of the higher-performing schools in the borough, with 71% of students achieving 5+ grades A* - C at GCSE. The population of the school reflects the racial diversity of the borough as a whole, with a significant majority from black and minority ethnic groups. The 120 students taking part were all from Year 9, aged 13-14. Hew was advised that “they are likely to be lively and challenging, but a lot of fun to work with” – this proved true on all counts!
The assignment lasted approximately 4½ hours including travel time from central London and was aimed at giving the young people an increased awareness of the wealth of jobs and opportunities that they might be interested in accessing, and what key skills were necessary in the exercise of those jobs. The other volunteers on the day (two no-shows) were 3 from the Army, two from a law firm and one civil servant. The 120 students circulated in groups of 6-8 around the 7 volunteers, each “hosting” a short (6-8 minutes) discussion session during which time the students had to try to find out as much as possible about the jobs/work that we did. The rule was that the students were to ask questions with answers broadly limited to yes/no i.e. with no hints to be given although I was careful (once they had sussed I was a lawyer) to try to give them some information about the law and its many manifestations. At the end of the 6-8 minutes, the team had to tell me what they thought I did. Unsurprisingly, no-one guessed “International Arbitrator” but some of the groups got as far as “Judge” which was remarkable given the very short time available. One student thought I was an animal rights activist ….. !! Almost all the groups guessed the Army Warrant Officer but I would have guessed him at 500m range in near-darkness; few guessed that the very slim young army lady was qualified to drive the largest trucks and all but the Challenger tank but the big, eye-opening message to the all-girl students was that “you too can be an army driver”.
We awarded each group 0/1/2/3 depending on how well they had done and there was a prize for the best performing group. The day closed with a participant satisfaction survey where the great majority of the students said that the day had been helpful or very helpful.
I went back to my office in a huge bubble of feelgood; the day was fun, rewarding and intensely satisfying. I do not claim to have changed lives but I have done something in that direction.
I will return to the same school for a different careers-related day on 1st July. Other members of the Company have already “signed up” and are booked into similar projects
You too can contribute; some of the projects need you for a full day, some a ½-day, some only a couple of hours. Some require some preparation but others none at all. Contact Kay Linnell in first instance at kay.linnell@bdo.co.uk.
Hew Dundas
Court Assistant