Symposium: Financial Resilience throughout Life Breakout session Thursday 21st of April 2016 Providing high-quality financial education in school by Heleen Cousijn - Diversion Beurs van Berlage - Amsterdam

1. Insurance issues in the
senior secondary vocational
education
April 21st - 2016

2. 25-apr-16 / Diversion ©
Diversion and peer education
• Identifying and tackling social issues by developing creative concepts
• Discussing complicated or taboo topics in an accessible and innovative way
• National specialist in the field of peer education
• Deploying young role models to resolve social issues

3. 25-apr-16 / Diversion ©
Insurance issues
Senior secondary
vocational education
(age 16 to 21)
• National Institute for Family Finance
Information showed that 1 out of 5
students (18+) have no knowledge
about their own health insurance.
• 41% of students (18+) have not
contracted their own health
insurance.
• Diversion’s peer educators: lack of
knowledge leads to lack of interest
• Dutch Association of Insurancers
– Needs students to have basic
knowledge of insurance
principles
– As well as to be able to
independently asses risks and
consider various insurances

4. 25-apr-16 / Diversion ©
Peer education as a
tool in debt prevention
• Cooperation with National Institute for
Family Finance Information since 2013
• Early debt prevention through openly
sharing stories involving personal
finances
• Increasing consciousness, knowledge
and budget managing skills
• Addressing social-emotional issues
connected to money
• Encouraging over 10.000 youths in the
Netherlands over the past three years
to talk about poverty, debt, peer
pressure and risks.

5. 25-apr-16 / Diversion ©
MoneyWays and insurances
• Pilot in march of 2016, reaching
approximately 150 students
• Making it personal: using peer
educators’ stories in order to involve
students
• Bridging the gap between this
complicated matter and young
people’s perception
• Now: integrating the key elements
from this pilot into the regular
MoneyWays programme

6. 25-apr-16 / Diversion ©
What did we see in
the classroom?
• Initial lack of interest
• Very little knowledge and awareness.
With large differences amongst
students
• Learning from the peer educators as
well as from each other
• Increased understanding creates
enthusiasm
• Eagerness to share personal stories
involving insurance issues

7. 25-apr-16 / Diversion ©
Concluding
• Health insurance as a cause of debts
• Lack of understanding
• Need to make sure that the students realize
the importance and relevance of the subject,
by finding common grounds and viewing the
student as an equal partner in conversation.
• Facilitate the dialogue between youngsters
and ensure that different opinions and ideas
are voiced
• Make room for personal stories and use them
as a vehicle to place insurances in to the
students’ worlds.

8. 25-apr-16 / Diversion ©
Thank you!
Heleen Cousijn | Project Employee
hcousijn@diversion.nl