In 2005, a National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework was agreed under the auspices of the then Ministerial Council on Education, Employment and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).

The Framework defines consumer and financial literacy as the ‘application of knowledge and understanding, skills and values in consumer and financial contexts and the related decisions that impact on self, others, the community and the environment’.

It comprises four dimensions:

• Knowledge and Understanding
• Competence
• Enterprise
• Responsibility

and supports the agreed national goals for school education.

Core areas of study covered are:

• understanding money
• consumer literacy
• personal finance
• money management.

These areas of study are not extra ‘subjects’ but are integrated within existing curriculum areas such as English, Mathematics, Science, ICT and the Humanities.