Conference Program

In Italy, the strategic importance of economic and financial education has been widely recognised at the political and institutional levels and has gradually established and consolidated itself over the past few decades. Financial education needs to be improved at school level and included in all university curricula, as well as within the lifelong learning perspective, to efficiently contribute to inclusion, equity, and democratic participation. Indeed, despite numerous interventions and training projects, including recent ones, which have led to improvements and expansion in financial literacy awareness, Italy continues to rank inadequately in European and international rankings.

Regarding schools, it should be noted that, from a legislative perspective, Legislative Decree No. 237 of December 23, 2016, later converted into Law No. 15 of February 17, 2017, clarified that financial education refers to the process through which individuals improve their understanding of financial instruments and products and develop the necessary skills. Subsequently, Law No. 21 of March 5, 2024, included financial education within civic education in schools. However, despite legislative recognition of the need to institutionalize financial, insurance, and social security education in school curricula, there is still a lack of adequate, systematic, coordinated, and consistent proposals on a scientific-cultural and pedagogical-didactic levels (Refrigeri, 2020, 2021).

The three-yearly OECD PISA survey on the skills of fifteen-year-olds in various literacy areas and, since 2012, also on Financial Literacy (FL), now in its fourth survey cycle, shows, in the latest report for 2022 (OECD, 2023) conducted in Italy in collaboration with the Bank of Italy and INVALSI, that fifteen-year-old students achieved an average score below the OECD average, not significantly differing from the results obtained in the two immediately preceding surveys.

Regarding the condition of adults, according to the most recent national (Lamboglia, Marinucci, Stacchini, and Vassallo, 2023) and international OECD (OECD/INFE, 2023) surveys, Italy unfortunately ranks among the last advanced countries in terms of basic financial skills.

The Bank of Italy also supports financial education through publications for adults (Banca d'Italia, 2023). As part of the Financial Education in Schools program, launched in agreement with the Ministry of Education, the Bank of Italy has created the series "I quaderni didattici della Banca d'Italia" (The Bank of Italy's Educational Notebooks), which includes the volumes "Tutti per uno economia per tutti!" (Bank of Italy, 2023a, 2023b, 2023c, 2023d, 2023e, 2023f, 2023g) as the reference material for the Financial Education in Schools program. These volumes are therefore aimed at students and teachers of all levels in schools. However, there is a lack of widespread similar tools in universities, particularly for those students who do not pursue undergraduate, graduate, or post graduate degrees, etc., that include economics and finance in their curricula. I would hope that the interest and involvement, including that of the Bank of Italy, could broaden its scope to include all university students. This would be an important first step. A further literacy campaign should be implemented on a large scale, targeting the entire adult population, of all ages, genders, and socio-cultural conditions.