By Liam Verster

Education Pilot Project

Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools part of new Financial Literacy pilot project

Oct 5, 2020 | 11:59 AM

Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools is one of the school divisions in Alberta to participate in a new financial literacy pilot program.

A partnership between the school division and Enriched Academy will bolster the Career and Life Management (CALM) course, to include a range of topics such as long-term budgeting, understanding credit, stock market information, and how to invest in properties and real estate.

The current CALM course, which is taught to Grade 10 students, involves resume writing, job interviews, and job skills.

Superintendent Karl Germann says the Provincial Government has made it clear that financial literacy is something that needs to be included in student’s education.

“Whether it’s understanding mortgages, how to invest, how to start a business, different components that would give kids sort of a leg up and a little bit of an advantage as they head out to the world of work,” says Germann. “We were finding that the students weren’t necessarily prepared on the financial side, and so anything in that area that would help kids, we feel, would be an excellent course to deliver in high school.”

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The CALM course is one needed in order to graduate, and by including this financial literacy module into that course, it will ensure that students leave high school with some knowledge that’s key to adult life.

Germann says when he was in high school they covered topics like how to file income taxes, how to do some simple accounting and what’s important when it comes to investing, adding that teaching those skills to kids early on will end up being beneficial in the long run.

The new financial literacy component is being added to the CALM course effective this year, and Germann says he hopes the pilot project is a success, and eventually expanded so that every grade has a course that teaches these important life skills.