The Impact of Secondary Education on the Level of Financial Literacy: The Case of Slovakia

Abstract

Financial literacy, specifically its measurement and education in this field, is a very current topic. The main aim of this research was to find out whether secondary school education had a positive impact on the level of student’s financial literacy and to identify other important factors that affected its level. All 363 first-year bachelor's students of the Faculty of Operations and Economic of Transport and Communications (FPEDAS), University of Zilina, Slovakia, took part in the research. The research consisted of two parts – a questionnaire and a test. The questionnaire focused on demographic, educational, and socio-economic factors influencing students' financial literacy. The test included items aimed at finding out whether students could correctly define selected concepts of the financial area, whether they understood these concepts, and were able to analyze them. The most important finding of the research was that the number of lessons dedicated to mathematics and financial literacy in secondary school did not have a statistically significant impact on the level of student’s financial literacy. On the contrary, the level of financial literacy was correlated with the overall performance of the student at the secondary school and the type of secondary school the student attended. The research also aimed to verify the hypothesis that the student's study program affected the level of his or her financial literacy. It turns out that increasing the number of mathematics or financial literacy lessons is not sufficient to improve financial literacy levels, but more important is teacher education, the content and form of the education and the effectiveness of the teaching process. Keywords: financial literacy, secondary education, bachelor study program, tobit regression model

Determinants of Financial Literacy: Analysis of the Impact of Family and Socioeconomic Variables on Undergraduate Students in the Slovak Republic

“…Rationale: Previous research shows that the overall level of education in Slovakia is higher in larger cities (Böhm et al 2021). Therefore, the same type of relation is expected in the case of financial literacy level.…”

“…The secondary education factors have a statistically significant impact on financial literacy level. Rationale: Previous research indicated a relationship between education in secondary school and the level of financial literacy of first-year undergraduate students (Böhm et al 2021).…”

“…These results were worse than the results of the previous analysis conducted in 2007. Similarly, the research of financial literacy at the University of Žilina (Böhm et al 2021) in 2020, which examined the impact of secondary education on the level of financial literacy, showed that the success rate of firstyear undergraduate students was just 56%, even though students of economics were also included in the study. One explanation for poor financial literacy may be the insufficient connection of theoretical knowledge with practical requirements, which is an essential part of the educational process (Štofková et al 2016).…”

Research on influences of education and financial literacy on commercial insurance purchase in China

“…Karakurum-Ozdemir et al (2019) found that individuals who cannot read or write in the official language of their country of residence have lower financial literacy scores. In addition to the number of lessons dedicated to mathematics and financial literacy, the overall academic performance of the student and the type of secondary school have a statistically significant impact on the level of student’s financial literacy (Böhm et al , 2021).…”