Philadelphia, PA – Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS) and PwC today announced the convening of the PwC-KWHS Seminar for High School Educators on Business and Financial Responsibility. The all-expenses-paid financial literacy conference for 150 educators will be held Sept. 28-30 on the Philadelphia campus of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
“Our goal in creating this conference is to promote financial literacy, entrepreneurship and leadership among high school students, and to provide educators with lessons and skills for their classrooms,” said Mukul Pandya, executive director and editor-in-chief of Knowledge@Wharton. “We are thrilled to work with PwC to bring this training seminar to life.”
While 13 states mandate personal-finance coursework as a graduation requirement, 35 percent of teens don’t know how to write a check and fewer than one-in-five teachers feels prepared to teach financial literacy, according to studies from Charles Schwab and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The seminar will help fill a major education gap by providing a professional-development opportunity for teachers, principals and superintendents to deepen their subject-matter knowledge of several topics. They include stocks and investing, marketing/branding, leadership and entrepreneurship, negotiation, sustainability and career planning. The seminar also will equip attendees with financial literacy curricula to use in their classrooms. Participants will receive a certificate of completion from Knowledge@Wharton.
“As a leading professional services firm, we have a vested responsibility and commitment to helping bolster the financial competency of today’s youth,” said Shannon Schuyler, PwC’s corporate responsibility leader. “These skill sets are critical to our long-term economic stability and competitiveness. Through this seminar, we hope to equip educators with the tools they need to teach financial literacy to their students.”
Attendance will be limited to 150 educators, including public and private high school teachers, principals, administrators and superintendents. KWHS and PwC are covering event costs, including transportation, hotel accommodations, meals, teaching sessions and conference materials. Teachers from all states are welcome to apply, including those from the 13 states that require financial literacy curricula as a high school graduation requirement (Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia).
The seminar’s application form is available online. Additional educators interested in accessing live-streaming video of the conference, including classroom sessions, panel presentations and keynote speeches, are encouraged to register online.
Conference attendees will learn from some of Wharton’s most distinguished faculty members and PwC executives. There also will be opportunities for networking with peers and sharing of “best practices.” The seminar will include a national education panel featuring leaders from Wharton, PwC and other organizations.
A full seminar agenda can be found online.
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About the Wharton School and Knowledge@Wharton
Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates ongoing economic and social value around the world. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and a powerful alumni network of 91,000 graduates.
Knowledge@Wharton is the online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The site, which is free, captures relevant knowledge generated at Wharton and beyond by offering articles and videos based on research, conferences, speakers, books and interviews with faculty and other experts on current business topics. The Knowledge@Wharton network – including Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Indian, Arabic and High School editions – has more than two million subscribers worldwide.