Sixty children become homeless every day in Scotland, while nearly one in five – a total of 179,000 – live in fuel poverty, more than enough to fill Hampden Park stadium three times over.
Shelter Scotland has issued the resource to help young people returning after the summer holidays to learn about money management and finding and keeping a home.
In a study by the charity, 40 per cent of young people said they were increasingly worried about debt, and are most likely to be worried about losing their home.
Further research has found that 75 per cent of youngsters do not understand the meaning of the words debt, redundancy and recession. Meanwhile, 93 per cent of teachers and parents think personal finance should be taught in schools.
The free classroom kit for S3 to S6 pupils uses budgeting scenarios and games to tackle the idea of financial capability and responsible money management.
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “Our hope is that the toolkit will play an important role in schools across Scotland and equip future generations with life and money management skills, enabling them to find and keep a home that is affordable and secure.”
The curriculum-linked toolkit is available to download for free and a similar resource for P1 to P7 pupils is also available. Visit
www.shelter.org.uk/teachers