Challenging Neutrality and Individualism in Financial Literacy Curriculum: Some Reflections on the Mathematics Curriculum in Ontario, Canada

• In Event: Problematizing the Relationship(s) Between Financial Literacy and Mathematics in Multiple Educational Spaces

Abstract

While the importance of understanding financial concepts is recognized in the literature, traditional programs have limited success in developing such knowledge and skills. These programs are typically centered around the factual knowledge of financial products and services (Hütten, Maman, Rosenhek & Thiemann, 2018). In this project, our approach to financial literacy draws on critical financial literacy. From this perspective, we consider the financial dimension of everyday situations in relation to other systems such as the environment, the economy, cultural values and beliefs, politics and ethics (Author 1, 2020). This perspective aims to shift the focus of financial education from individual responsibilities toward questioning the role of money and finance in society. In doing so, it underscores the importance of exploring what interests are being served through deregulation of financial products and services (Arthur, 2012).
According to the Ontario Ministry of Education (2022), financial literacy is a goal of public education. As of 2021, it is a dedicated topic of study in the mathematics curriculum for grades 1 to 9, alongside traditional topics such as algebra and geometry (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020, 2021). This focus contrasts with past curriculum which only used money and financial situations occasionally as examples for mathematical concepts.
One of the first publications hinting at a new goal in education was the report published in 2010 which summarized the findings of a working group tasked to explore topics to conceptualize financial literacy (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010). The ministry followed its release with the development of a small collection of resources, identifying topics and opportunities to teach financial literacy across disciplines from grades 4 to 12 (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016a, 2016b, 2012). Recognizing the increasing complexity of economic and financial matters, they have assured that financial literacy will continue to be addressed across disciplines as curriculum is renewed and created.
In this paper, we examine both the treatment of financial literacy in the grade 9 mathematics curriculum and propose alternative, critical financial literacy expectations. Both aim to develop students’ abilities to make informed financial decisions. To do so, the provincial curriculum directs students to identify a financial situation and its connections to mathematics; identify situations involving appreciation and depreciation; compare different interest rates and borrowing time; and to create balanced budgets. From a critical view, we suggest that making informed financial decisions require students to consider socioeconomic, sociocultural and sociopolitical constraints; consider why certain products appreciate or depreciate depending on personal, systemic and global contexts; understand how power, exerted at the personal, systemic or global level, influences the factors that determine the cost of loans; and understand that complex contextual factors limit how budgets may be changed, and the importance of critiquing personal and societal-level budgets, including their structure.
In this presentation, we discuss the process of reframing traditional curriculum expectations for financial literacy in mathematics. This includes an examination of past and present publications noting how discourses emerge, recede, evolve and intertwine. We also share activities designed for critical financial literacy.

Authors

• Alexandre Cavalcante, University of Toronto

• Molade Osibodu, York University

• Stella Kim, York University