Financial literacy, usually used interchangeably by scholars as financial capability, is the ability to evaluate all the possible financial choices and make informed judgement according to personal circumstances in the short-term or in the long-run. Although financial education is a new field of education, by 2015, a total of 59 countries had launched or prepare to launch national strategies for financial education. In 2018, China issued the national financial education curriculum standards for the first time to guide the development of financial education curriculum from kindergartens to universities. The research question is how to interpret financial literacy and financial education in the context of China. However, due to the limited time of development in the field of financial education, there is a lack of theory that can be used to analyse the national curriculum of financial education. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish a conceptual framework of financial education based on the current theoretical development of the field and to apply it to the analysis of the Chinese financial education curriculum. The author argues that the current experience of financial education of other countries is of limited help to the establishment of financial education in China due to the differences in national conditions.
In order to understand the practices of financial education curricula underpinning different national conditions, this research reviews the cases of several countries in their development of financial education. Firstly, before improving financial literacy became an international trend, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia had established national and regional surveys of financial literacy prior to introducing financial literacy into national curricula. This was the origin of the development of the formal definition of the term financial literacy. Secondly, after the involvement of international educational organizations in the field of financial education, more countries then established national financial education programmes. The case studies of the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Japan show how countries have moved on to building or improving their national curricula for financial education in the context of globalization.
Therefore, this research further draws the differences between financial education in China and other countries through comparative analysis. The results show that the understanding of financial literacy in Chinese context is different from that of other countries. With the differences in the theoretical basis and national conditions, the educational objectives of financial education in China are also different from that of other countries. The author suggests that the new characteristics founded in Chinese financial education can be incorporated into the current financial education framework. Meanwhile, 'preparing for the future' can be one of the goals of Chinese financial education. Further research is needed to analyse the effectiveness of Chinese financial education. In addition, more theoretical studies are needed in the field of financial education to promote consensus on the concept of financial literacy
