Our project does not try to re-invent the wheel.

Over the past years, financial literacy has been moved into the focus of state-run programmes in many countries. nationala and international public  authorities, as well as private institutions and organisations, have been and are developing an increasing number of programmes, initiatives promoting financial literacy and providing ways to improve financial education and literacy standards.

Since one of the aims of our project is to include existing training resources, we did not „re-invent the wheel“ but we identified and selected best practice examples for training materials, and exercises that are available in the countries of the partnership. This work was  based on the findings of the preceeding learning partnership and on the framework analysis.

A major part of the contributions comes from the European on-line consumer education site DOLCETA. This platform provides  27 country versions in 21 languages and has been financed by the European Commission. It offers information in hundreds of articles on a range of consumer issues and financial education. The materials are presented in a user friendly and accessible way.

DOLCETA  also supports teachers in primary and secondary schools and adult educators to improve their teaching, enrich theirs students’ learning and to save time. The Teachers’ Corner of DOLCETA provides lesson plans, fact sheets, resources, tools, quizzes and games that can be used in a range of different curriculum areas.

The Financial Services module of DOLCETA provides information and advice on six areas related to financial literacy. Each section contains explanatory notes, practical examples and tests to assess the learner’s understanding. Some internet links are also available in each session to provide further reference. The six sections are

·        Managing a family budget

o   Can you manage your budget?

o   Keeping on track with your budget

o   Calculating your financial capability

o   Financing your purchases

·        Running a bank account

o   Overview of current accounts

o   Opening and closing a current account

o   Opening a bank account

o   Closing a bank account

o   Opening a bank account in the EU

o   Running a current account

·        Means of payment

o   Cash payments

o   E-money

o   Cheques

o   Using cheques

o   Problems with cheques

o   Debit and credit cards

o   Payments and cash withdrawals

o   Other means of payment

·        Consumer credit

o   Getting a loan or credit

o   Where to get credit

o   How you can get credit

o   Types of credit

o   The cost of consumer credit

o   Consumer protection in the credit sector

o   Credit repayment

o   Repaying loans and credit

o   Payment protection insurance

o   Taking out credit in another EU country

o   Guarantee agreements

·        Mortgages

o   Mortgage offers

o   Before signing

o   Mortgage contracts

o   Mortgage repayments

o   Taking out a mortgage in another EU country

o   Mortgage protection

·        Savings & Investments

o   Deciding to save and invest

o   Introduction to savings and investments

o   Stock market investments

o   Socially responsible investments

o   Equity release schemes

o   Pooled investments

o   Life insurance policies

o   Tax on savings and investments

In order to support the DOLCETA’s objectives to enhance public access to information about such  issues and to increase the sustainability of that valuable resource that promotes distribution and also authorises its reproduction, the project consortium has decided to make use of this  valuable resource and to include, among materials from other sources, descriptions of explanatory notes, practical examples and tests with their respective links in the Toolbox, and to refer to these materials also in the Curricula.