Financial Literacy in the Classroom

SAF, with the support of Genworth Canada, is partnering with high school teachers to offer students the opportunity to build confidence and competence in making financial decisions as they prepare for a healthy financial future. We offer supports and resources that can be used inside or outside the classroom to enhance students’ knowledge of important financial topics in the areas of banking, investments, credit, income management and budgeting, economics, accounting, home ownership, post-secondary education financing and ethics and fraud awareness.

Students and teachers looking for a challenge can use our resources to prepare for the Financial Literacy Competition (FLC), a comprehensive and challenging competition experience that takes place twice per year in May and December. See further details below.

Competition Date: May (date will be released in February) and December (date will be released in September)

Delivery: In class, online using the Mobius platform by Maplesoft

Eligibility: Open to ALL grade 9, 10 and 11 students (current or previous enrollment in a business course is highly recommended). NOTE: students cannot register directly for the competition. All registrations must be done with the support of a teacher.

Reward and recognition: Each participating school will receive a ranked listing of their individual student participants and an overall school ranking. Schools must have a minimum of 10 participants to be eligible for a school ranking. All participants will receive a Certificate of Achievement. The top scoring students will be recognized with awards and prizes and will be invited to participate in an experiential learning opportunity at which time the awards and prizes will be presented. Students are eligible for awards and prizes on their first attempt of the FLC only.

Review the complete description of contest rules, terms and conditions.

Interested in finding out more? Visit http://uwsaf.mapleserver.com/uwsaf/ to start exploring our resources.

Questions about Financial Literacy in the Classroom and the Financial Literacy Competition can be directed to saf-flc@uwaterloo.ca.

Background

In response to the 2010 Ministry of Education Working Group on Financial Literacy report that identified the importance of financial literacy education in supporting the success of all students, the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) has established the Financial Literacy Competition to assist in educating and promoting financial responsibility.

This is an exciting opportunity for secondary school teachers to engage their students to test and challenge their knowledge in personal finance and wealth management, as well as generating interest in furthering their studies in the areas of accounting, finance, and business. The FLC:

provides an incentive for secondary school students to learn more about personal and business finance
assists secondary schools in delivering and integrating financial literacy education into the Ontario curriculum
fosters the interest of secondary school students in the disciplines of finance, accounting, and business
creates a talented pool of secondary school students who will be confident in their financial security and well-being in dealing with an increasingly complex world of finance

About the FLC

Financial Literacy in the Classroom and the Financial Literacy Competition (FLC) have been developed in collaboration with Business Studies teachers within the Waterloo Region and Waterloo Catholic District school boards. We offer resources for students and teachers looking to explore financial literacy topics within the classroom or on their own as well as resources for those looking to challenge themselves by participating in the FLC. The FLC is offered to Grade 9, 10 and 11 students enrolled in high schools across Canada.

Content of contest

The competition questions cover a wide variety of financial literacy topics in the following areas:

Income Management & Budgeting
Banking
Investing
Credit
Economics
Accounting
Home ownership
Post-secondary education financing
Financial ethics & safety

Whether you’re teaching an introductory business course or covering financial literacy topics in other courses, our resources are available to enhance and support learning both inside and outside the classroom. Don’t have a related course? Consider starting an FLC club to provide students with a challenging extra-curricular activity to develop and test their financial know-how.

Preparing for the FLC

To supplement your classroom learning and, if desired, provide additional preparation for competition success, we offer two types of resources:

Our open resources consist of:

Introductory quizzes covering most of the topic areas noted above. Our quizzes offer instant feedback with the “How did I do” function so that your students can check their progress or you can take the learning of that particular topic a bit further.
2 self-guided activities designed to get students engaged in planning their financial futures.

When students have mastered our open resources, teachers can register their class or club for the FLC to gain access to additional competition preparation resources.

Start exploring our open resources by visiting http://uwsaf.mapleserver.com/uwsaf/. Although we welcome and encourage student participation in our competition, our open resources are available to explore with no obligation to register for our competition.

May 2018 Financial Literacy Competition Winners

Congratulations to the student winners!

Yilin Ren, Markham District High School (81%) – recipient of a $2,500 tuition certificate for the School of Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program, at the University of Waterloo.
Teacher: Christina Lovell
Dylan Shi – Earl of March Secondary School (80.6%) - recipient of a $1,500 tuition certificate for the School of Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program, at the University of Waterloo.
Teacher: Graham Kappel
Hashir Moeen – Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School (80%) recipient of a $1,000 tuition certificate for the School of Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program, at the University of Waterloo.
Teacher: Carmen Bennett

And congratulations to the top performing schools!

Top performing schools were determined based on the average score of all participants. Schools must have a minimum of 10 participants to be eligible for this recognition. Participants are students who complete 70 of 75 questions during the allotted competition time.

London Central Secondary School
Teachers: Kyle Blackwell, Saskia Schuck, Alicia Cheshire
Newmarket High School
Teacher: Joan Richardson
Earl of March Secondary School
Teacher: Graham Kappel

Click here to see results from all previous years