Deloitte sponsored Irish Funds – the representative body for the investment management industry in Ireland – to support the roll out of a programme which will see Transition Year students from around the country receive financial literacy training. Deloitte provided finance professionals to facilitate the programme in five of the 18 schools involved across the country.
Deloitte Project Lead, Alan Cuddihy, sets the scene for this initiative by explaining that Irish Funds launched a pilot program in the 2022-23 school year around financial literacy education, and it proved to be a hit with students and teachers alike.
“When Irish Funds sought a sponsor to help roll out the program on a wider scale the following year, it made absolute sense that Deloitte should be involved. First of all, it tied in neatly with work that’s being going on in the background around a national financial literacy program that will involve more than just Transition Year students. As a society we need to increase our levels of financial literacy.
“It also resonated strongly with our corporate social responsibility remit, and allowed us to utilise our industry expertise to educate participants on the programme.”
The programme involved a hands-on approach from us, and we provided five finance professionals acting as facilitators to drive the initiative in a number of the participating schools. These professionals also attended end-of-programme presentations to their schools and individual participants, and we also attended the presentations at all of the schools where other industry participants were facilitating the programme.
Rachel Basquel, one of the Deloitte facilitators, described her experience: “I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with Irish Funds on the Financial Literacy programme. It has been a long time since I was in secondary school and the energy the young adults brought to each session was great. The students were really eager to learn about the funds industry and were particularly surprised to realise how large the funds industry is in Ireland.
“They loved investing in the stock market but weren’t as happy when they realised the money (and the returns) were a simulation as part of the programme! From a personal point of view, I loved going out to the schools, telling them a bit about my background, and hopefully providing them with an insight into the careers available to them when they finish school.”
This year was very much a “test and learn” phase. A key achievement is that both Irish Funds and Deloitte have a robust model in place that can be rolled out to more transition year students around the country.
As the topic of financial literacy grows in importance in the future, Deloitte is well-placed to play our part in providing financial education to the communities in which we operate.
