Why is pedagogy so important?

May 08, 2025

In the financial education space, we often see materials solely focused on imparting simple facts and information. There is little regard for how financial education should be taught, which is just as important as what is taught. High-quality materials should help teachers utilize research-based instruction, or pedagogy, to engage students with financial education content and help them build understanding.

So why is pedagogy important? Research consistently shows that effective pedagogy has a significant impact on student learning, ultimately improving student outcomes. And isn’t improving outcomes for students the ultimate goal for financial education?

Effective pedagogy utilizes deliberate methods to impact how content is taught. For example, in financial education:

• Routines help organize classroom behavior and provide a consistent instructional structure, allowing teachers to focus on the important work of implementing a lesson and responding to students’ needs. Instructional routines repeat throughout a course, reducing teachers’ and learners' cognitive loads. In financial education, it’s important to utilize specific routines like scenarios, simulations, role plays, and discourse to allow students to approach content from different perspectives.
• Teaching strategies enhance students' learning experiences and, as a result, maximize their understanding. How students are grouped for instruction is one example. Offering flexible grouping options in a financial education classroom provides students opportunities to discuss content with others and connect new learning to their own lives. This strategy prompts students to be aware of changes in their own thinking due to the consideration of others’ perspectives.
• Fostering a positive classroom environment plays a key role in students’ sense of security and ease, encouraging them to willingly engage in new financial education learning. One example is the creation of classroom norms. It is crucial that students have a voice in generating norms in order to have a vested interest in the environment, resulting in equal participation, respecting differences, and trust.
• Tools are intended to enhance student understanding of content. In a financial education classroom, tools can range from student workbooks for recording new information to reflection pages that enable students to apply content knowledge to their own lives.

Embracing new pedagogical practices can be challenging, but it can be done successfully with the right resources and support. Utilizing a high-quality, research-based curriculum designed by pedagogical experts can make all the difference.