The Young Persons’ Money Index report says that the “picture is stark” at GCSE level as well.
While financial education is now statutory within the curriculum, a majority of GCSE students are also not getting any form of formal financial education, the figures show.
The research involved more than 2,000 students aged between 15 and 18 in full-time education.
The figures were compiled in spring 2015 and show that just 28 per cent of 17 to 18-year-olds receive formal financial education before they leave school.
There is also concern at a decline in financial education at GCSE level. In 2014, 47 per cent of GCSE students said they didn’t receive formal financial education. In the latest report, this has now risen to 59 per cent of GCSE students.
The report states: “At every age the number of students receiving no formal financial education remains alarmingly high. Indeed that so many 17 to 18-year-olds are being left financially unprepared as they go to university or join the world of work is cause for concern and could store up potential problems later on in their lives.”
Formal financial education was introduced into the national curriculum in September 2014 and personal finance is supposed to be included within citizenship lessons. However, the study found that only 18 per cent of those who received any financial education at GCSE level got this via citizenship lessons.
Economics classes were the most common reported method used to deliver financial education at GCSE level (37 per cent), followed by maths lessons (36 per cent), and PSHE (27 per cent).
The report, which has been published by ifs University College, warns that because of these gaps, teenagers are becoming increasingly reliant on informal sources including advice from parents (80 per cent), the news and media (43 per cent), and social media (18 per cent).
Alison Pask, vice-principal at ifs University College, said: “It is the height of irresponsibility to send so many young people off from full-time education without even a basic grasp of personal money management. Informal financial education, be it from social media, the news or other influences, is no substitute for age-appropriate, structured and consistent education, delivered by trained teachers.”
ifs University College is a London-based university college for financial education. To download the Young Persons’ Money Index, visit http://bit.ly/1OfnpID