The inclusion of financial education in English schools is not a new concept. Initially, financial education was delivered in secondary schools of England and Wales through the cross -curricular theme of ‘economic and industrial education until in 2008 it was included in the subject of personal, social, health and economic education (PSHEe) – a non- statutory component of the national curriculum. Despite being well – funded and acknowledged as part of the national curriculum, its delivery has been patchy and irregular in schools and, thus, from September 2014, through a major revision of the national curriculum, personal finance education was made statutory through its inclusion in the subject of citizenship education and mathematics. The aim of this research is to understand whether making financial education part of the statutory curriculum has made any difference to its delivery in secondary schools. This study investigates the relationship between policy documents, institutional interpretation and classroom practice. Taking the premise that the outcome of a policy depends not only on the technicality and practicality of policy implementation process but, most importantly, on people’s understanding and interpretation of it, the conceptual framework is ‘sensitized’ by two major theoretic influences: street level bureaucracy theory (Lipsky 1980) and theory of educational transmission (Bernstein1977). The constraints and incentives that shape teaching and school management staff’s interpretation of curriculum reform were investigated through multiple case studies of state-maintained secondary schools following the 2014 curriculum reform. Data is currently being analyzed and will be presented at the conference.

Bernstein, B. (1977) Class, Codes and Control: Volume 3 towards a theory of educational transmission. Great Britain: Redwood Burn Ltd Lipsky, M. (1980) Street level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public service, Newt park: Russell Sage Foundation