I met Jim Lally on the train this morning. When I taught at Musselburgh and used do play energetic 5-a-side football at Pinkie on Thursday afternoons he would regularly outrun me. And he's as sharp of mind as he is at dribbling.
He is Director of the Centre for Finance Education and had a great idea which, while having finance education at its core, would be a great way of involving more of our parents in the life of their school.
After the Fairpak affair where thousands lost their savings for Christmas our proposed project would be involve bringing the credit union philosophy into the school. In our scenario bothparents and students would save, and have the option to take out a loan on that basis.
Discovery Credit Union in Dundee have already been trialling this idea. One problem of Credit Unions is finding volunteers to take the money in and supervise kids. The solution: use cashless catering cards. It's a bit like the oneaccount: the money not used by kids in the canteen at the end of each week/month is put into the credit union. Parents can also use the cashless card to add money themselves to the union. Keeping it in the Credit Union means that those who cannot get bank accounts or loans can take out loans by virtue of the fact they were saving money. It would mean a solution for those kids who cannot afford to go on school trips, buy computers, afford broadband modems... It also means that the temptation to go to the loan sharks is removed.
It also provides another way to help bring together our off and online communities for a common higher purpose. What do you think? Is it a goer? Have you done it before in your school? Do you have some advice to share?
Recent Comments