Here's One For The Teachers
I looked at my bedside clock: 4:03 am.
It was Monday night (actually, Tuesday morning), and I hadn’t slept a wink.
Earlier in the week I’d launched the Barefoot Money Movement ‒ my free, independent, money school program.
I’d made my case that this country needs a financial revolution, and that it needs to start with our kids.
I pressed ‘Send’ on my column … and waited.
(I made a pact with myself that I wouldn’t check the results for 48 hours … a classic ego defence mechanism.)
Would anyone sign up to pilot my money-education-minus-the-bank-mascots school program?
A few hours later I rolled out of bed and nervously checked the stats on barefootmoneymovement.org.au
It turns out people did sign up.
By the thousands.
Teachers from every nook and cranny of this country have joined the Money Movement to ensure that their students learn the life changing lessons most of us didn’t.
Fair dinkum!
There were teachers from Melbourne. From the Cocos Islands. From America. From the UK. From Uganda. From … Russia?
Anyway, I’m absolutely blown away by the response from teachers.
So everything’s ready to go for my new program, right?
Wrong.
There's just one little problem … I’ve spent the past week talking to passionate, hard-working Aussie teachers. And the one thing I’ve heard over and over again is that it’s incredibly hard to teach kids this core life skill if you’ve never learnt it or lived it yourself.
Teachers have one of society’s most important jobs, yet they don’t get paid what they’re worth.
So, here’s my promise:
Teacher Professional Development
Next year, I’ll deliver some free online professional development for those teachers who join the Barefootmoneymovement.org.au
And I’m taking this Money Movement to the top. I caught up with Education Minister, Dan Tehan during the week ‒ who I have been pitching this idea to for a while ‒ and told him that the seeds of our grassroots movement are starting to sprout. And he’s on side, commenting that “Scott Pape’s campaign to teach young Australians the importance of managing money is highly commendable”.
Finally, a big thank-you to all the teachers and principals who’ve already signed up to the Barefoot Money Movement. And if you know of a teacher who could benefit from this, please do me a personal favour and forward this on to them.
Tread Your Own Path!
