Below is the Seconding speech by Erin Jarvis, YSI National Tresurer, on the School leavers Toolkit Motion which Successfully passed at SNP Conference. Check against Delivery.
Conference,
Life is full of challenges. While Scotland has a strong education system, not all Scottish school leavers are fully equipped for adulthood - this is especially true when it comes to personal financial education.
Credit cards, overdrafts and interest rates, managing a bank account, paying rent and budgeting for necessities, are just a few examples of what you need to know when you leave school and are beginning the journey into adulthood.
Conference, evidence shows that 8 million people in the UK don’t have any savings in the bank - meaning they have no money for a rainy day, no money to buy houses like our parents and grandparents did before us, no money to invest in our futures.
What is even more concerning is that two fifths of young people are unable to tell the difference between being overdrawn and being in credit when they read their bank statement.
Scotland can change this.
By using this toolkit to improve financial literacy rates, we can make sure all Scottish school leavers are equipped with right knowledge to make managing financial products and key essentials such as a savings account, straightforward and accessible.
The school leavers toolkit pioneered in New Zealand demonstrates what Scotland could achieve via this resolution.
Right now, New Zealand has a national financial literacy strategy. If we introduced this in Scotland, it would compliment the aims of the curriculum for excellence to ensure all Scottish pupils are financially literate when they leave secondary school.
Scotland’s curriculum at its heart seeks to ensure that all school leavers are active citizens. The ultimate act of citizenship in a democracy is, as Robyn has said, exercising your right to vote.
I’m proud we have a voting age of 16 thanks to this SNP Scottish Government, and our curriculum should utilise this fact so that all young people are able to play their full part in our democracy.
Friends, the defining vision of our Scottish Government is to make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. To achieve this we have made progress , however, challenges remain. Through learning from other countries Scotland can secure the future of our young people even further.
This toolkit allows the next generation to build a future based on already sound foundations, one where everyone gets a fair chance, an equal start.
Foundations that say you’re never defined by where you start but where you’re going with no limit on your potential, as a truly active, confident and empowered citizen of a forward-looking and prosperous country.
Conference,
Please support the motion!
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