To get the best value from resources going in to financial education and information, it is important to identify what's working well.

Many initiatives are underway to improve financial literacy although their impact is not yet clear. 

There is some indication that financial education increases financial literacy and/or improves financial behaviour, however there are also other external factors which may have an influence but are difficult to measure. 

The National Strategy for Financial Literacy recognises the need for a standard evaluation framework that providers of financial education can adopt and adapt in order to evaluate the effectiveness of their programmes. 

The New Zealand Network for Financial Literacy will provide a forum to share experiences and best practice. 

Work is underway on developing an international framework for the evaluation of financial education programme, under the auspices of an OECD expert sub-group chaired by New Zealand’s Retirement Commissioner.

Independent researcher Alison O’Connell has proposed a five-tiered framework for evaluation. Read her paper "Evaluating the effectiveness of financial education programmes" (2007)

Economics Professor Dr Annamaria Lusardi is undertaking further work on evaluation,  and spoke about this issue at Financial Literacy 09.

• Other research on this topic is listed in our Research Library.