The rapid dissemination of electronic money and the frequency of handling money in our daily lives is increasing, while financial crimes are simultaneously increasing and more people are becoming victims of such crimes. Given such circumstances, we at Mizuho are supporting financial education in schools along with Tokyo Gakugei University. It is vital for the sound growth of children who will create our future society to learn about the basic financial system from an early stage of school education.
A1 Financial education aims to foster life skills through the subject of money.
In the narrow sense, financial education "is the promotion of correct knowledge and understanding of personal money management and the financial system." In the broad sense, it means "nurturing attitudes that enable young people to understand the various movements of money and finance, think deeply about their own lives and society through this process, and refine their own lifestyles and sense of values so that they learn how to act independently in creating a richer livelihood and a better society" (The Central Council for Financial Services Information 2007).
To "refine their own lifestyles and sense of values" includes a broad range of elements from morality such as the importance of "trust" in our social life and the nurturing of a work ethic and an occupational perspective to the appropriate use of financial services and protecting ourselves from multiple debts and financial crimes.
The diverse educational values of financial education are categorized as follows.
Financial education thus addresses the issue of money in diverse ways. In our increasingly diversified and complicated economic and social environments, we could refer to financial education as education to foster a person's capability for living.
A2 We position it as part of the sustainable CSR activities that make the most of the management resources of our core business.
The daily handling of money is increasingly electronic and involves fewer actual cash exchanges, exemplified by the use of cash cards for bank accounts, credit cards, Internet banking, Internet shopping, IC tickets and electronic money. People are using such cashless transaction systems at young ages, which is posing previously unforeseen problems related to the functions and value of money. At home and school, the adverse effect on children's sense of money use and morality is a concern. Therefore, we need to teach children the importance of money through financial educations in the schools. (Note)
In ordinary life, the handling of money is becoming easier and more frequent, whereas financial crimes such as the use of nonexistent accounts and fraudulent transactions are on the rise. Many people young and old are acquiring too much consumer debt or becoming victims of financial crimes.
Based on such reality, in the "Channel to Discovery" Plan that was formulated in Apr 2005, Mizuho advocated support for financial education to provide children with basic knowledge of and raise their interest in finance that is deeply rooted in social life as a priority CSR activity.
Mizuho, with its broad range of specialty money-related knowledge, offers comprehensive financial services such as banking, securities, trust businesses and asset management to various customers including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large-scale companies. Mizuho's "support for financial education" is a pillar of our CSR activities. This is something we can do for society using our management resources.
Note: Need for the financial education at schools
In 2000, the Financial Council mentioned the need for the financial education of consumers in the finance field. In 2002, we requested that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology further promote financial education in the schools. The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan designated 2005, when full deposit guarantee was removed, as "Year 1 of Financial Education" and began to promote financial education. In 2007, the Central Council for Financial Services Information issued the "Financial Education Program-Class to Nurture the Capability of Living in Society" and presented a teaching plan for financial education in elementary, middle and high schools.
A3 We believe that in order to raise the quality of financial education, it is essential to work with a partner who has ample experience and knowledge of education.
At Mizuho, under the recognition that it is vital for the sound growth of children who will create our future society to learn the basics of our financial system from an early stage of school education, we have engaged in related activities such as accepting students for work experience and teaching classes in schools. However, it is difficult for elementary and middle school students who do not yet understand social and economic systems to understand lectures by bank clerks. We set out to resolve this problem.
We therefore believed it was necessary to tie up with a partner with enough experience and knowledge to make progress in enhancing the reach and quality of financial education and explore concrete methods for developing financial education suitable for schools. In fiscal 2006, we launched a joint industry-academia research project with Tokyo Gakugei University, one of Japan's leading teacher training centers in the area of elementary and middle school education.
A4 The project pursues a wide range of activities designed to develop synergies between Mizuho and the teaching professionals of Tokyo Gakugei University.
In the joint research project, we are harnessing the knowledge, experience, know-how, and human and systematic networks of Mizuho and Tokyo Gakugei University-professionals in education-to develop the tools and methods for teaching various aspects of financial education (refer to A1).
The main initiatives are the development of textbooks and teaching tools from which young students can learn the role of finance easily, the development of guidelines for teachers, training and public lectures to feed back the results of our joint research to as many teachers as possible, and the development of programs for the Faculty of Education. Based on the know-how derived from these activities, we are also holding practical lessons in elementary and middle schools.
In November of 2008, we developed texts for use in special needs schools to support independent efforts to help children with disabilities become self-reliant and participate in society.
Therefore, this joint research project will pursue not only synergies in the educational activities of Mizuho and Tokyo Gakugei University but also synergies in activities related to R&D and practice.
Textbook
"Working with Money"
Textbook for special education schools
"Life and Money"
A5 We shall focus on more practical activities.
As a result of the joint research project that covered three years until 2008—the basic research period—we obtained results on the development of and research on teaching tools and activities for the practical solution of issues. Since fiscal 2009, now in the practical research period, we have started a new phase.
Specifically, we will reinforce public relations and dissemination activities by developing and improving educational tools that are easy to use at educational sites, improving the quality of classroom teaching and offering open lectures. Because elementary and middle school teachers' specialty subjects are varied and some teachers are uncomfortable teaching about financial matters, we are considering the development of new educational tools such as easy-to-use supplementary reading materials. We distribute tools and continually engage in training for teachers and educational board and public relations activities, explaining the need for financial education step by step to teachers to disseminate financial education.
Furthermore, we have set up a financial class at the teaching certificate renewal lectures that started in 2008, among other activities.
Akihiko Hashimura
Head of CSR Promotion Office
Corporate Communications
Mizuho Financial Group
Instead of focusing on investment or teaching how to make money, Mizuho's financial education focuses on imparting the right kind of knowledge about money. This includes basic rules, such as the fact that if you borrow money, you have to repay it, and if you don't, you won't be able to borrow any more. Looking ahead, we shall persist with our financial education for the foreseeable future because this is a CSR activity that we can do for the simple reason that we are a financial institution.
Katsumi Osawa
Representative of the Financial Education
Joint Research Project Professor
Tokyo Gakugei University
One of the important features of this project is the fact that the results of our research in elementary, junior and senior high schools, as well as special needs and other schools affiliated with Tokyo Gakugei University, can also be used in practical research. We shall continue to develop teaching programs that stimulate the desire to learn in young students and match the needs of the classroom.
