Entries are open for the Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards

Investment service ‘interactive investor’ (ii) is looking for Britain’s best money teachers for its Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards 2023. Awards are open to teachers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

The awards recognise creative money education, with a prize of £25,000 shared among the winning teachers’ schools across the UK. 

Covering both primary and secondary schools, past winners have come from a diverse range of schools, including special educational needs schools.  

This is something ii is keen to point out, given young people with SEND are more at risk from escalating online financial scams, according to Young Enterprise. 

This year, interactive investor is also supporting entries for a new category to honour the most inspirational support teacher/teaching assistant who has gone above and beyond to support pupils to become more confident in money management skills, perhaps to cement maths concepts. 

The challenge of encouraging confidence in mathematics was highlighted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement that pupils in England should study maths up to the age of 18 to better equip them for the modern workplace. 

Interactive investor believes that real-world money skills to help the next generation build financial resilience could be more appealing to young people.  

With a continuing cost-of-living crisis affecting so many families, learning to manage money and handle a budget is a vitally important skill young people will need. 

Richard Wilson, chief executive of interactive investor said: “In a world of buy now pay later, increasingly sophisticated scams, and where young people are more aware of cryptocurrency than any other investment, good money skills are essential. 

“Young people are navigating a far more complex set of financial rules than their parents and grandparents ever did, but while the provision of money lessons in schools remains patchy, there is some fantastic work being done. Please help us find the best money teachers of 2023. 

“We want to recognise the amazing, but all too often uncelebrated, contributions that our teachers and support staff make to help young people go out into the world with an understanding of how to manage their money.” 

How to enter 

To nominate a teacher or teaching assistant, parents, carers, or pupils should email teacher@ii.co.uk with the teacher’s name along with the name and address of the school, by 11 September 2023.  

Interactive investor will then approach the teacher and ask them to submit their lesson plan and brief supporting statement by 29 September 2023. 

Topics might include budgeting, investment, cash savings, interest rates, credit, and much more, from reception right the way up to sixth form. 

Teachers can also nominate themselves by emailing teacher@ii.co.uk with a lesson plan and supporting statement by 29 September 2023.