Source: The Canadian Press

Canadians are calling for more financial education in the school system, according to findings from the Task Force on Financial Literacy to be released Wednesday.

Many Canadians say they lack the skills, knowledge and confidence in financial matters and want personal finance classes to be a permanent part of school curricula, suggests the findings of the report entitled “What We Heard: A Summary of Public Consultations” obtained by the Canadian Press.

“Participants felt that basic financial skills are increasingly important for all Canadians, given the availability of, and need for, credit at an increasingly young age, the increasing complexity of financial products, and the potentially severe long-term consequences of financial missteps,” the report said.

“Participants expressed a wide consensus on the need for financial literacy in the school system, as well as general agreement on the necessary content of financial literacy curricula.”

Financial literacy emerged as a key issue in the wake of the global economic crisis.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the task force in the 2009 budget, arguing that increasing consumer knowledge will contribute to a more stable financial system.

The $5-million task force was charged with developing Canada’s first national strategy to improve financial awareness.

It embarked on a series of nationwide public consultations in February to ask Canadians for feedback to help develop the strategy.

Personal debt levels have risen in the past decade, while saving rates have dropped from a post-war high in the 1980s, as people have borrowed more to support their lifestyles and credit has become easier to obtain.

The role of schools in a national financial literacy strategy dominated the public consultation process, though the task force also examined issues including trends contributing to low financial literacy and specific attitudes toward borrowing and investing.

Canadians want children to learn about borrowing, budgeting, credit cards and cellphone bills, as well as more complex matters such as the concept of compound interest payments from elementary school through to high school.

However, there was little consensus on whether there should be a stand-alone financial literacy course or if it should be integrated into the curricula of other subject areas.

Education is overseen by the provinces and territories, which complicates how far Ottawa can go in overseeing any implementation process. But some participants suggested that the federal government lead or support a national effort to introduce financial education by identifying core, age-appropriate financial literacy topics.

Many provinces have already introduced financial literacy in classrooms on a loose school-by-school basis and largely conducted by volunteers.

The task force’s final recommendation will incorporate work that is already being done by a number of organizations, and will highlight the need for greater co-ordination and collaboration between those organizations.

Among the other findings, Canadians want tools to help with budgeting, saving and debt repayment.

The findings also suggest a need for clear and simple financial documents from the private and public sectors and mechanisms to address the growing sophistication of financial fraud.

Participants in the discussions that wrapped up in May included representatives from academia, consumer groups, credit-counselling firms, educators, financial service providers, and individuals.

The consultation findings will be presented to Flaherty on Wednesday and the task force, headed by Donald Stewart — the chief executive of Sun Life Financial (TSX:SLF) — will submit a final recommendations to the minister in December.