The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has developed a new financial literacy outreach program, saveSMART InvestRight, which teaches practical money management for adults. The BCSC is launching saveSMART to mark November as Financial Literacy Month.
“saveSMART is a new 90 minute workshop developed by the BCSC for adult audiences around the province to complement the work we have been doing in B.C. high schools and with our InvestRight seminars for pre-retirees and seniors,” said Patricia Bowles, Director Communications & Education.
Almost 10 years ago, the BCSC introduced The City, its financial life skills resource for B.C. teachers, along with its supporting teacher training program. The City was developed for B.C. educators who teach Grade 10 students the Planning 10: Finances course which is mandatory in B.C. high schools.
The resource is used in all 60 of B.C.’s school districts and has been delivered to more than 2,000 teachers since it was introduced in 2004. The BCSC’s teacher training workshops will continue to be held throughout the education system with all of B.C. universities’ Faculties of Education, with school boards and with individual high schools.
In 2007, the BCSC partnered with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada to provide its teacher resource to all Canadians in English and French in the form of an interactive web-based learning tool. The City is now widely used in all provinces and territories.
“Teaching financial life skills and raising awareness about their importance is a priority for the BCSC,” concluded Bowles.