Teaching Financial Literacy in Early Childhood Classrooms

The importance of financial literacy has gained attention worldwide in the last few years. The National Financial Educators Council (2013) defines financial literacy “as possessing the skills and knowledge on financial matters to confidently take effective action that best fulfills an individual’s personal, family and global community goals.” Financial literacy is an essential 21st century global skill for everyone to have. This is a practical article that investigates the importance of financial literacy education in early childhood classrooms, with vignettes from various early childhood classrooms where teachers are teaching financial literacy concepts. The present paper will also bring to light the importance of being purposive and intentional in teaching financial literacy concepts in early childhood classrooms. The authors bring to light the importance of training the teachers to teach these concepts. They argue that when teachers are confident about the content, they not only feel good about teaching it, but they are also able to provide depth in their teaching as well. In addition, the authors also provide guidelines grounded in research on how to successfully be intentional and purposive in teaching financial literacy concepts in early childhood classrooms. Finally, this article presents a compilation of appropriate resources and strategies teachers can use to teach this important concept in their classroom and partner with the parents to continue teaching these concepts at home as well.