This presentation focus on financial and economic education programs developed in Poland 2002-2009 and focus on various issues important from a point of view of organizer of Financial Literacy action or policy-maker.

1. +
Financial
Education
in Poland
Design, organization and delivery
channels. Overview and cases.
Marcin Polak, Think Point Poland
Former Head of Economic Education
of the Polish Central Bank (2002-2007)

2. + 2
We are not born knowing how to manage money - we
must learn it. And that education is a critical foundation
upon which many other life skills are built.
Knowing how to budget, save and use credit wisely are
the financial equivalents of driving at the speed limit,
using a seatbelt, and stopping at red lights. They both
dramatically increase the chance that you will reach your
destination safely.
David Michelman, VISA Inc.

3. + 3
!! According to the European Commission reports (2008)
the problem of financial exclusion in Europe is visible:
!! 20% of adults in EU-15 and 47% in 10 EU new member states do not have a bank
account (unbanked) [Poland – 56%];
!! in addition 8% in EU-15 and 6% in new member states have only a deposit
account with no payment card or cheque book (marginally banked); [PL-2%]
!! 40% of EU-15 adults and 73% of those in new member states had no access to
revolving credit (credit card or overdraft); [PL-73%]
!! 30% of EU-15 adults and 54% of those in new member states did not have any
savings products [PL-60%].
!! Financial exclusion refers to a process whereby people encounter
difficulties accessing and/or using financial services and products
in the mainstream market that are appropriate to their needs and
enable them to lead a normal social life in the society.

4. + Financial consumers too often do mistakes in this 2
globalized world, where hundreds of new financial
instruments are available for small investors.
In many cases they are simply financially unaware –
they don’t know basic products in the financial market.
They take wrong decisions, or they follow advisors, not
being able to assess, if the offer is good for them.

5. + 13
!! No National Financial Education Strategy and no will on the
public administration side to do that;
!! Some public institutions developing financial education
programs (the central bank, the stock exchange, the financial
supervision authority);
!! Several private companies from the financial sector involved
in nationwide or local FE programs.
!! No mandatory financial education program at schools (no
learning framework). No FE programs for adults.
!! Quite many FE initiatives in the non-profit sector/schools.

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!! For
last seven years, running several programs a year, I
have used at least 15 models of delivering financial
knowledge to various target groups – from simple to very
sophisticated ones, including electronic delivery tools.

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!! This
is not enough, I feel we must develop again and again
new methods. Why? Because the (social) education
process in 21st Century requires more innovations.
!! Web2.0 (blogs, wikis, social networking, etc.), podcasts,
m-learning and e-learning do influence the development
of collaborative and informal learning environment
worldwide.
!! A newworld of learning is appearing, and a new learner
wants new approaches (products). To find effective way
of educating financial consumers, we need to introduce
new channels of communication and learning.

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!! Being 21st Century educators, we must think not only about
the quality of the teaching/learning process but about proper
communication channels to deliver personal finance
knowledge too.
!! This is a new dimension of effectiveness. If we want to be
effective, we must develop new tools for education – like
blogs, m-learning courses, podcasts, vodcasts, e-books,
audiobooks, and various mass media forms apart of
traditional tools (textbooks, leaflets, informational websites).

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!! Just look around – a new world of learning offers great
opportunities to deliver financial education to people - only
mentioning some tools in the Internet: YouTube, iTunes,
Scribd, Slideshare, Digg, Facebook, Digital TV and other.
!! Development of communication technologies and broader
and faster Internet offers channels of delivery that have never
been used by educators in the past. We face digital student
and we need to adapt to his/her needs.

10. + Yet
we can disseminate financial knowledge...
we can learn personal finance…
W-W-W
Whatever, Wherever, Whenever
Yes, We Can!

11. + 10
!! Do you have any survey results? The reason for an action.
!! Direct or indirect financial education (training vs. edutainment)
!! Formal or informal education (training vs. playing; learning at/out of school)
!! Economic psychology involved (different layers of economic awareness)
!! Target groups (direct beneficiaries or intermediaries, e.g. journalists)
!! Tools/Effectiveness (standard or interactive)
!! Channels (traditional or new media)
!! Range (how broad; what is your budget?)
!! Time factor (single shots does not work; repeating)

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!! The Wallet Education Concept. “Translate the financial
knowledge for ordinary people”
!! All economics must be shown in action. While explaining
economics focus on the money issues - in that light a wallet is
the link between a person and a particular economic
mechanism.
!! Think how to enlarge an action or combine it with other
projects. You are able to plan and launch successful actions
of nationwide range.
!! Do not afraid of innovations. Think big.

13. + 12
Lifelong learning
!! According to various surveys informal education is 80-90% of
all learning processes today.
!! Lifelong learning requires most of learning activities to be done
informally throughout the whole life. This especially applies to personal
finance education – we need “FE lifelong learning framework”
!! Modern digital devices, mass media, Internet and social networking etc.
are yet natural learning environment for many people – this must be
considered while planning any educational activities for FE.
!! Surveys in many countries confirm that people want to learn economics
and finance from the Internet, mass media, and so called new media.

14. + 14
!! In this presentation I will present several ways of
disseminating financial knowledge in Poland through
popular channels.
!! One remark must be stated:
people (and financial consumers)
don’t like [boring !] talking heads
in any programs. They usually
look either for something very
practical and useful, or for
entertainment.

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16. + 16
"!„Gold for the Bold – Poles & Money” was a 120 minutes
long dynamic television show on Sunday evening in the
TVN - most popular private television in Poland (February
2006). Viewers had opportunity to test their knowledge on
money and personal finance issues.
"!The program was based on a format used by the Dutch TV
producers for such nationwide television shows.
"!The test of financial knowledge was addressed to an
average viewer and to make it more attractive, each
question was illustrated by a film material from famous
comedies or cabaret scenes. Just to offer more fun for
viewers.

17. + 17
"!To organize the show a large film studio was rearranged to
host a group of 100 players, media celebrities and
organizers. There were four teams in the studio
competing to get the financial prize. Each team was lead by
two popular TVN celebrity stars.
"!There were several fields of economics chosen as test
areas, among them: money and monetary policy, personal
finance (savings and investment).
"!The test questions were programmed not solely to deliver
knowledge, but also to offer entertainment and fun to
viewers, and to attract people’s attention to important
personal finance issues.

18. + 18
"!The test competition was not only in the studio but also
online. The main prize was a car sponsored by the car
company.
"!Results of the show:
#! Main television show – 8 Million viewers;
#! Press inserts to popular TV Program weekly, including a test form for
those willing to participate in the test – 800.000 copies;
#! 10 educational articles in the main Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and
one of the most important weeklies Wprost,
#! The web site www.zloty.onet.pl visited by 250.000 people; 102.000
solved the test online at the same time when program was
broadcast in TVN.

19. + 19
…and more results:
#! Radio programs devoted to personal finance issues in the Polish
Radio Program 3 got on average additional 750.000 listeners.
#! A special set of materials was sent out to 2500 high schools. It
comprised a game-like scenario for a lesson on personal finance.
Students were to solve a test in the classroom. In each class four
teams were established to force the competition. Close to 53.000
students completed that test.
#! In the promotion campaign in the TVN television altogether 227
advertising spots were broadcast with intensity 50% higher than in
an average advertising campaign.
Effectiveness – Gold for the Bold brought an average increase of
knowledge of 5,62 % (after watching). In a fortnight another test
measured the indicator again - an average increase of knowledge was
2,96 %. Within younger population the increase of knowledge was up to
10,11%.

20. + 9

21. + 21
"!There was a 3,5 week educational TV campaign on
personal finance education launched within Christmas
and New Year’s Day period (2006/2007), in four channels of
the TVN television.
"!The reason was obvious - to focus on „unpopular” topics
near Christmas time – savings and responsible financial
attitudes, or reasonable spending.
"!To get the viewers the ‘eduvertisements’ were prepared -
short interviews with popular media celebrities
prepared, explaining why (and how) they try to save in that
particular time. Each interview was up to 90 seconds and
viewers could easily discover that even famous celebrities
have often similar problems to theirs.

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"!The discussion was very practical. It concentrated on
issues that are common for most of us – what is better
– a credit card or money in the wallet, what are benefits
of having a home budget, how to save and invest, what
credit is best for buying a flat, etc.
"!These six eduvertisements were broadcast 266 times on
four TV channels of the TVN. People loved that form of
education – an estimated number of people who watched
at least 3 scenes was over 10,5 Million people.
Effectiveness: after watching episodes, the increase of knowledge
among adults was 13,9% (and in a fortnight without watching again
the program 11,8%); the increase of knowledge among young
people was 18,6% (and two weeks later: 19,8%).

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"!A form of viral marketing to promote economic and
financial education issues in the Internet. 60 short films
were produced, presenting an economic context in
everyday situation.
"!Indirect education. People should start thinking about what
they have seen. Increasing people’s awareness of issues
that have significant influence on their lives.
"!The portal was popular – it was visited by over 4,5 Million
Internet users within 6 months. Each film was viewed on
average by 120.000 users.
Effectiveness: after watching episodes, the increase of knowledge
among adults was 17,5% (and in a fortnight without watching again the
program 21,8%); the increase of knowledge among young people was
15,3% (and two weeks later: 17,4%).

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!! One of the most popular way of educating students in
middle schools – animation movies, on average 8 minutes
long, each telling a story about a single Economic Term.
Altogether 36 cartoons, financed by the NBP, constitute
the original and unique Multimedia Economic Glossary.
!! Since 2004 over 25.000 students took part in educational
projects based on this series.
!! Many cartoons devoted to financial issues: credits, savings
and investments, insurance, interest rates, retirement,
electronic payments.

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!! Due to the impact on the economic knowledge of
society, several groups of professionals should be
beneficiaries of the economic and financial education
training programs.
!! Economic and financial journalists are among most
important intermediaries in educating the society (maybe
more important than teachers?)
!! In 2005-2006 a group of 174 journalists was trained in
Poland to be better prepared to explain the economic
and personal finance issues to general public. Now a
similar project is being implemented in Kazakhstan.

30. + 29
"!New methods of learning implicate the way the knowledge
and skills are delivered to learners.
"!As financial knowledge is one of the major life skills,
informal, indirect or edutainment methods seem to be
good ways of delivering that knowledge to large audience. It
must be an attractive form of learning, and must use
multi-channel communication, so people will be able to
learn from different channels.
"! As we live in the Age of Information, journalists /media
must not be excluded from the financial education
programs. In many cases they can multiplicate the results of
educational program, disseminating knowledge to millions.

31. + 30
"!Leadership (Decision Maker)
Mr. Leszek Balcerowicz
The Governor of the
National Bank of Poland (2002-2007)
Economist, Deputy Prime Minister,
author of economic reforms that
transformed Polish economy
into the market economy

32. + 30
"!To develop a nationwide system of financial education
ACTION FROM THE TOP (financial resources)
(Government, Central Bank, Financial Supervision, Consumer Protection Agency)
effective financial education is somewhere here!
= CREATE PARTNERSHIPS
GRASSROOT ACTION (projects, contents)
(non governmental organizations, schools, universities, companies)

33. + 31
"!Repeating (single shots does not work)
Ebbinghaus curve – how we forget in the
learning process (= 1/2 of the material in
first 2 hours)
memory
But if we repeat, the message is still
remembered.
days

34. + 32
"!Financial literacy is a life skill – people should be educated
from pre-school organizations to retirement. Financial
education is a lifelong learning.
Implementing just financial education at schools is not enough –
as clearly US case shows. What is the effectiveness of
education if on average a US college student has a debt of
25.000 USD?
Adults are important target group – their behavior is much more
important for the economy. Call for nationwide education to
increase financial awareness and capability of adults.

35. + 33
"!Tell me and I will forget it. Show me and I will forget it.
Engage me and I will remember it. Confucius
Apply means of communication, tools and methods that not only
are appropriate for a specific target group. Mix this methods
and tools in a single action, support interactivity, motivate
your target group to engage in the action, repeat, evaluate,
modify, combine, expand... Think in long time perspective.
This is a key issue for the effectiveness of the FE programs.

36. + 16
Thank you
Marcin Polak
Think Point Ltd.
Consumer Education & Communications
Marcin.j.polak@gmail.com
Aleje Niepodleglosci 186
00-608 Warsaw, Poland
www.thinkpoint.pl
© 2009 All Rights Reserved Think Point, Warszawa, Poland
Autor: Marcin Polak; zdj!cia z serwisu http://www.sxc.hu