Future Finance - Personal Financial Competency and Prisoner Re-settlement

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Co-authored paper with Salim Jiwa and software development in association with Real Time Media, researcher contribution 50%.

Paper presented at International Simulation and Gaming Association conference, St Petersburg, Russia, 3 –7 July 2006 and published in the conference proceedings.

Future Finance is interactive software developed on behalf of the National Offenders Management Service and has been funded by the Home Office through a development budget of £45,000.

The Reducing Re-offending by Ex Prisoners Report (2002) identified that 48% of prisoners have a history of financial debt. The Home Office brief was to develop ideas contained within the report, Action on Debt (2004), to increase financial competency amongst prisoners before re-settlement in the community. The Social Inclusion Unit (2002) included among its findings the lack of suitably designed learning provision for prisoners with negative experiences of formal education”.

The user group characteristics of the prison community with respect to financial literacy and skills and learning delivery provides strong support for the paradigm of experiential learning, its theoretical perspectives and its practical interpretation through the alternative instruction medium of simulation gaming. By contextualising the inter-relatedness of personal finance, Future Finances raises awareness and teaches skills in the costs of day-to-day living, the need for careful budgeting and the importance of balancing leisure, work and other commitments. Users learn that decisions have an effect on each other and that financial competency is an element in the furthering of personal goals. The user group characteristics informed the design conceptualisation of Future Finances. It is currently being evaluated within the prison sector.