More Financial Knowledge: KSV1870 and Teach For Austria Continue Cooperation

In order to reduce the risk of young people falling into debt, KSV1870 and the non-profit organization are extending their partnership for another two years.

KSV1870 and Teach For Austria have been cooperating since 2019 to make practical financial knowledge a fixed part of school education at an early stage. Now the collaboration is being extended. The heart of the cooperation, which is scheduled to run until the end of 2023, is the training of the teachers trained by Teach For Austria, the Fellows, on money issues. The content conveyed there should be passed on to children and young people in order to strengthen their general financial education, also known as financial literacy.

The last two years in particular have shown how important it is to be solid in economic matters. “As KSV1870, we experience first-hand how quickly people of all ages can experience financial turbulence. Both at work and in private life, it is crucial to make economic decisions based on a sound knowledge base. It is therefore important to us to actively promote financial education among children and young people,” explains Mag. Hannes Frech, CFO of KSV1870 Holding AG.

Transparency in times of online trading

KSV1870 is convinced that financial literacy creates transparency, which is particularly necessary in times of increasingly intensive online trading so that consumers do not lose track of their own finances. Children and young people are also confronted with offers and purchase recommendations almost around the clock. As a rule, a few clicks are enough to shop online in the subway or from the couch. “In connection with the ever-increasing variety of products, there is also an increasing risk of quickly getting into a financial quandary. In order not to fall into the debt trap, the financial 1×1 must be mastered at a young age,” says Frech. Being able to deal with topics such as financial data and your own creditworthiness at an early stage.

Equal opportunities must not be a question of money

In no other EU country does educational success depend so much on the socio-economic status and educational level of the parents as it does in Austria. This is confirmed by the European Commission’s Education and Training Monitor 2017. With Vision 2050, Teach For Austria is committed to ensuring that every child has the chance of a good life – no matter how much money or education their parents have. It is particularly important to teach the children how to handle their own finances responsibly at an early age. “Nobody should leave school in Austria without being able to handle money. We have to ensure that children from low-income families also get a solid basic knowledge of finances so that they have the chance of a self-determined and good life as adults,” says Severin Broucek,

Special fellow program as a knowledge base

In order to achieve this equal opportunity, Tech For Austria relies on the specially developed fellow program. The organization brings committed university graduates from a wide range of disciplines to challenging kindergartens, secondary schools or polytechnic schools as full-time teachers or educators. KSV1870 is also involved in this course: experts from the fields of business information, debt collection and insolvency pass on their knowledge to the fellows. This gives them practical information, which they in turn pass on to the young people. Almost 300 Teach For Austria fellows and alumni at secondary schools, polytechnic schools and kindergartens are currently reaching more than 24,000 socio-economically disadvantaged children.