Children are set to be taught how mortgages work and how to budget as part of a modernisation drive to the national curriculum in English schools.

The move comes as the Government launched the final report of its curriculum and assessment review, stating that it wants to "revitalise" the curriculum but keep a "firm foundation" in basics like English, maths and reading.

Although financial education was made compulsory in the citizenship curriculum in 2014 for 11 to 16-year-olds, only 33% of children are able to recall learning about money in school and finding it useful.

As part of the reforms, the Government will introduce new areas of financial education to the syllabus, including core financial concepts such as budgeting, debt, interest, mortgages and pensions. This will also cover how mathematical concepts can be applied to real-world scenarios.

Research found that children are increasingly making financial transactions themselves, with 71% of seven to 17-year-olds making online purchases. This also revealed that 67% have made these purchases without adult supervision.

Furthermore, 48% of parent respondents said that too little time is being spent on financial management in schools, with finance and budgeting skills being the areas cited for greater focus in the review’s polling.

Chief executive at SPF Private Clients, Mark Harris, said that financial literacy is a life skill that can make all the difference.

He added: "Teaching children these valuable lessons in the classroom will ensure that nobody slips through the net. However, they need to be taught properly in order to have a real impact so we would suggest going a step further – rather than teachers adding mortgages to their workload, we would encourage the government to invite mortgage brokers into the classroom.

"Being at the coalface with real-life experience, brokers can better explain how the mortgage market works, how to borrow sensibly and seek independent advice, the importance of having a strong credit file and not overstretching yourself. This will ensure the next generation are much more clued up than their parents."

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