Financial literacy education in Cameroon : teachers’ beliefs and perspectives

Abstract

There has been a growing awareness of the importance of financial literacy in recent years, and any governments have become concerned with the levels of financial literacy of their citizens. Many have also recognized that financial literacy is especially important among the young, as this group faces increasingly more responsibility in making financial decisions. Nevertheless, there is less attention paid to financial literacy education at the primary or elementary level, especially in countries of the global south, despite the potential benefits it can offer.

The main aim to explore teachers’ beliefs on financial literacy education in the primary school setting in Cameroon. Previous research on financial literacy education is mostly quantitative, focusing on students’, teachers’ or parents’ level of financial literacy and how it affects consumer behaviour. Only a few qualitative studies that look at how financial literacy can be taught effectively or how students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders perceive financial literacy education could be found, though teachers’ beliefs have been studied a lot with regards to other subjects such as mathematics, ICT and languages.

Previous researches also show that teachers’ perceptions and beliefs in one-way or the other influence how they teach and/or behave towards certain subject matter such as financial literacy. My research is qualitative research and I collected from six primary school teachers who teach subjects that involve financial concepts. I used semi-structured interviews for data collection. The research questions that this study addressed were; a) what are teachers’ beliefs about financial literacy education in Cameroonian primary schools? b) To what extent do educators attempt to implement financial literacy pedagogical strategies that are also culturally relevant to the learners they work with?

The results derived from the analysis indicated that primary school teachers are well aware of the importance of financial literacy education for the youths. In schools, financial literacy is taught through three broader subjects, Mathematics, Home economics and general knowledge. Teachers’ beliefs fell under procedural, epistemic and normative beliefs, and were categorized under macro, meso and micro beliefs. Most of the teachers could not practically teach financial literacy due to limited resources and training. Most of the teaching, therefore was theoretical, through problem solving exercises, family guest speakers and sometimes role play. All the same, the teachers were able to connect the lessons to the learners’ culture and immediate environment.