Abstract
Financial literacy or competency refers to the ability to understand and apply financial knowledge, skills, and attitudes to make informed decisions and promote personal financial well-being. Despite growing global interest in financial education, empirical studies focusing on upper primary students remain limited. Moreover, recent studies have shown that Hong Kong youths’ financial literacy levels are unsatisfactory and financial education in local schools remains fragmented and insufficiently integrated into the formal curriculum. To address these gaps, the present study aims to develop upper primary students’ financial capabilities by providing three types of financial education curriculum models for Hong Kong upper primary students.
A cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) is being conducted with Hong Kong students in Primary 4 to 6. Participants in the intervention groups received structured financial education programs delivered in comprehensive or condensed version over one or three year(s). Schools were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (a) T1 – a three-year comprehensive version of the curriculum; (b) T2 – a one-year condensed version of the curriculum T1; (c) T3 – an alternative one-year condensed curriculum developed currently existing in the market; and (d) Control group – no treatment or intervention. Main outcomes are increases in students’ financial competence, attitudes, behaviors, and economic preferences.
In addition to evaluating the impact of the different curriculum models, the study also plans to examine the heterogeneity of treatment effects by students’ socioeconomic backgrounds.
This study is expected to contribute to the existing literature on financial literacy education, particularly for the underexplored upper primary age group. The findings are also expected to offer practical insights for future policy development and curriculum implementation in Hong Kong.