Nova Scotia Students Learn Importance of Financial Literacy

As 118,000 Nova Scotia students head back to class this fall, one of the important life skills they are learning is financial literacy.

Grade 10 students at Citadel High in Halifax will have a guest lecture with Jane Rooney, financial literacy leader, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, today, Sept. 12.

In addition, Nova Scotia students have many other opportunities to develop financial literacy such as:

• Grade 2 students asking questions about how to decide to purchase an item
• Grade 7 students analyzing the role that money plays in meeting basic needs for families
• Grade 9 students preparing budgets, setting personal financial goals and researching mortgages
• Grade 10 students studying financial mathematics, including currency exchange, calculating gross and net pay, and commissions
• senior high students pursuing additional work in financial mathematics.

Nova Scotia students are at the Canadian average in financial literacy and, at the same time, Canadian students are outperforming students internationally.

“I want to congratulate Nova Scotia students for their fantastic results in the financial literacy portion of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA),” said Ms. Rooney. “Financial literacy is a critical life skill for all Canadians, but especially for our young people. It can set them up for success as they learn how to manage money and debt wisely.”

Based on the result of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s latest PISA financial literacy assessment, Canada is one of the world’s top-performing countries in terms of financial literacy. Canada ranked second, tied with Belgium, out of 15 other countries.

“I’m proud of the strong international performance of our students in financial literacy,” said Zach Churchill, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Education. “I thank our teachers for their ongoing success in encouraging discussions around financial literacy in many school grades.”