Financial Literacy Camp – Financial Education
Balatonföldvár, July 10-19, 2017
“…we participated in classes as well. The subject was finance and basic economics. First, we thought that these classes are something difficult and boring and we just need to survive them. But then we took the first and interactive class. It was a pleasant disappointment, because the class was not difficult or boring at all. In fact, the opposite was true; we had a really great time by taking this class…”
Vivien Lakatos, Balatonföldvár, July, 2017
“I am so grateful for participating in the Summer Camp organized by the Foundation. I am also thankful for that this camp was not only about vacation and resting, but spending our time meaningfully. I mean that we had the opportunity to learn about finance and other subjects, and even lectures as well. I could study and understand a lot of new things during these classes which, I am sure, will be useful later in my life, and I can also learn a lot about Hungary’s many-sided economy.
Ádám Gyurkó, Sárosoroszi, August, 2017
The Transcarpathian students, who participated in the Summer Camp, came from deep poverty. They are talented in arts and sciences as well and had outstanding performance in various contests in Transcarpathia and in Hungary.
The goal of financial education, during the ten days long Summer Camp of the forty students from Transcarpathia, was to provide education in conscious money spending and saving.
The students used the Pénziránytű Foundation’s recently published textbook and workbook of “Missions in the World of Money” to learn financial and economical basic knowledge under the guidance of specialists. Every participant received this textbook and workbook as a gift from Pénziránytű Foundation for which we would like to express our deepest gratitude.
In the camp, the students had two forty-five minutes long sessions every day, and despite the fact that it was summer break, the students were very constructive and active in the learning process. The teachers organized carefully the study material to conduct cooperative and illustrative sessions based on the textbook; by doing this the classes were not stressful at all and provided new knowledge in improving the students’ financial competencies and expanding their financial and economical skills. Learning this material means a useful and practical knowledge for the students who can build on this knowledge in their everyday life which enables them to make grounded and responsible decisions. They can understand the economical processes and family budget as well, how they can increase their income. Furthermore, to understand how they can save money for their future and provide stable conditions for themselves and their families.
The teachers applied a wide range of methods; regarding the material, the classical learning methods (like explanation, lecture etc.) were applied in a limited form and rather collective learning methods (like discussion, debate etc.) and project learning methods (games, role games, simulations) were applied more often.
We hope that this period at Balaton equipped the students with useful knowledge which can be a good base for improving successfully their life and planning their future purposefully.
The expected goal was achieved successfully in the educational process for the students and for the teachers as well. By the way, the students had already learned basic financial knowledge, but this knowledge was presented from the aspects of economical geography. It is a part of the Ukrainian National Curriculum and it is taught by the Ukrainian methods. During this Summer Camp the students can learn this knowledge by new methods which is especially interesting and valuable, because these novelties were used thanks to the financial education.
And last but not least, it was really special for the teachers and students as well to go through this textbook and workbook for the first time; we hope many schools will get this textbook and every student and teacher will use it gladly and efficiently.
We made a tableau of the experiences at the end of the Summer Camp. The students learned new knowledge and it was so good to see that their way of thinking was shaped from the angle of financial skills. We are convinced that those students who participated in this education will start to consider their past and future decisions from this new knowledge. Furthermore, the students find the financial self-care more important than at the beginning of the camp.
Balatonföldvár, July, 2017