Financial literacy among public school teachers : a mixed methods study

Abstract

Teachers are considered role models in the society. Aside from their quest and dedication to provide quality education, they are seen as best influencers in all aspects especially in handling finances. This research documented the status of financial literacy among public school teachers in elementary level. A convergent mixed methods design was used in which qualitative and quantitative data are collected in parallel, analyzed separately and then merge. The participants for the quantitative study were the 400 public elementary school teachers in the Region XI and 17 participants for the qualitative part. Descriptive statistics showed that the level of financial literacy among these teachers is high and significant difference was noted when respondents are analyzed by age and length of service, while sex and place of assignment are not significant. Qualitative data showed that the following themes emerged: general knowledge in personal finance, knowledge in savings and borrowing, knowledge in retirement planning, personal financial management practices, knowledge in insurance, knowledge in investment, exposure to monetary issues, personal finance opinion, financial management challenges, insufficiency of income. Qualitative data corroborated with quantitative data in the status of financial literacy of public school teachers merging (confirmation), however, merging (expansion) was noted for the theme insufficiency of income, and merging (discordance) when analyzed by sex. Based on the findings, project WISE was developed. Keywords: financial literacy, public school teachers, mixed methods, Philippines