Community Education

Education is the premise on which all budget advice is given in the community. The offering of advice using principles of education is formally acknowledged in the Federation's mission statement above and highlighted in its philosophy:

► Community education and advice is fundamental to the promotion of good family budgeting skills;
► Budgeting assistance aims to give or restore the client’s independence in money management;
► All forms of budgeting, including provision of total money management, must include an element for educating the client.

Although all forms of budget advice are in fact education by their very nature, the Federation has also developed some very specialist forms of education that are delivered direct to the community in more of a classroom/workshop environment.

There are currently three community education packages that are delivered by most Federation services. The first is a less structured form of community education that involves budget advisers going out and talking about budgeting to groups in the community. The second is a little more structured and called the Budgeting Education for Young Persons resource. This course aims to increase the financial literacy of school-aged children and can be structured to suit the age level and time limits as required by the school. The third is a fully structured course called Budgeting for Change that is delivered by Federation certificated Community Educators over 10 hours (usually five weeks) and can be recognised as prior learning for unit standards on the National Qualification Framework.

The three forms of education have been developed for the following groups:

Community Education

Church groups, parenting education programmes, prisoner education programmes, parenting groups, sports and craft clubs, etc.

Budgeting Education for Young Persons

Primary schools, intermediate schools, secondary schools, Scouts/Girl Guides, etc.

Budgeting for Change

Night classes, unions, factories, second-chance education, workplaces, polytechnics, employee assistance programmes, etc.

If you would like any more information on accessing budgeting education programmes in your community then you can contact the Federation's Training Manager or call your local service, which is listed under Budget Advice Services in the Telecom White Pages. If you are a regional or national group then the Federation national office may be able to assist in organising education programmes for you where required throughout the country. Again, please contact the Federation's Training Manager for more information:

*Click HERE to request further information through the electronic feedback form*

© 2007 New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services Inc.