Educ 322

Introduction to 21st Century Literacies

Literacy is defined by dictionaries as the state of being able to read and write (Literacy,
Literate, n.d.).

1. This is the ability to understand the meaning of what is being read

a. Functional or Practical Literacy c. Basic Literacy
b. Comprehension Literacy d. Creative Lieracy

2. He defines the concept of functional literacy as the state of being able to read,
but not well enough to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading
skills beyond a basic level.
a. Schlechty c Roberts
b. Miller d. Chello

3. These arose from the increasing availability of communication technologies that

were once unavailable to the average individual.
a. Technical literacies c. Critical Literacy
b. Media Literacy d. New Literacies

4. The ability to read (i.e. decode and comprehend) written materials needed to
perform everyday vocational tasks
a. Functional or Practical Literacy c. Basic Literacy
b. Comprehension Literacy d. Creative Literacy

5. It defined literacy as “the ability to identify, interpret, create, communicate and

compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.
a. UNESCO c. Roberts
b. Miller d. (Richardson, 2014

The word “literacy” stems from the word “literate” which first appeared in the 15th
century and is in turn derived from the Latin word litteratus, meaning “(a person) marked
with letters” – that is, “distinguished or identified by letters” – and it carried with it the
idea that such a person was cultured and educated.

1. Basic Literacy – it is ability to correspond visual shapes to spoken sounds in

order to decode written materials and translate them into oral language.
2. Comprehension Literacy – it is the ability to understand the meaning of what
is being read.
basacan be mean either “to read” or “ to be wet”.

3. Functional or Practical Literacy – it is the ability to read written materials

needed to perform everyday vocational tasks.
Based on this conventional view of literacy, we notice two things for reading to exist: (1)
a text (consisting of symbols and grammar) to be read; and (2) a meaning or message
being communicated by the text for the reader to extract. Without a text, there would be
nothing to read; without meaning, the text is reduced to series of incomprehensible
doodles.

Miller’s definition of literacy, the act of reading implies a level of understanding. Simply
knowing how to say a word is not the same as being able to understand what it means.

Schlechty (2001) defines the concept of functional literacy as the state of being able to
read, but not well enough to manage daily living and employment tasks that require
reading skills beyond a basic level.

Expanded Views of Literacy

In 2004, UNESCO formally defined literacy as “the ability to identify, interpret, create,
communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying
contexts.

literacy has taken on a definition more in to “knowing about something and what to do
with it.”

Mkandawire (2018) more succinctly posits that literacy is a form of knowledge,

competence and skills in a particular field or area, “being supported by UNESCO (2006),
Barton (2007), and Mkandawire, Simooya – Mudenda, &Cheelo (2017), which
acknowledged that – as we have just pointed out – modern views appear to equate
literacy with knowledge.

Literacy in the 21st Century

“visual languages” required a kind of “visual literacy” to understand the message being
presented and to manage the information encoded therein – skills which, as following
chapters will further reveal, are coming into use again in the 21st century literacies.

In the Victorian era, there was such a thing as the “Language of Flowers,” where the
kind, color, and arrangement of a bouquet of flowers were used to communicate
messages that could not otherwise be spoken aloud in Victorian society (Greenaway,
1884). For example, a bouquet of oak leaves (representing strength), purple roses
(sorrow), white lilies (resurrection) and pale yellow tulips and rosemary (memory and
remembrance) would altogether communicate a message of sympathy, usually over the
death of a loved one.

1. Increased Research – we are communicating with more people, from more

diverse cultures, across vaster distances than ever before.
2. Increased Means of Communication – we are communicating in more ways and
at faster speeds than ever before.
3. Increased Breadth of Content – we are communicating about more things than
ever before.

Globalization and Multicultural Literacy discusses how our increasing ability to

communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, in real time requires new skills and
attitudes in interacting with people with cultures, perspective, worldviews and priorities
different from our own , particularly with the end-view of not only peace and
understanding, but also mutual benefit and productivity.

Social and Financial Literacies meanwhile explores the need for the ability to navigate
our own social networks – of both the online and off-line variety – to not only
communicate clearly, but also to leverage resources which we ourselves might not
possess. At the same time, the chapter addresses the notorious problem of short-
sightedness in Filipino culture regarding personal finances and how this must be
addressed at an increasingly earlier age to help mitigate the ever-widening gap between
the rich and the poor.

Media and Cyber/Digital Literacies explore the emerging need to locate, verify and
ultimately manage online information, especially in an age where information is power
and where having the right (and wrong) information and the ability to communicate it
with others and use it to address real-world problems easily spell the difference
between both personal and career success and failure.

Ecoliteracy and Artistic and Creative Literacy explore the emerging demands for
knowing how to effectively and sustainably manage the natural resources that our
increased industrialization and demands for productivity are so rapidly eating up. The
chapter also explores how this increase in productivity also brings with it an increased
demand for arts and aesthetics and the need to develop ways of effectively
communicating through the creative arts in industries dominated by objective data.

Critical Literacy addresses the increasing need to discern the underlying (and often tacit)
messages behind the new “texts” of the 21st century, particularly in an ever-increasingly
multicultural society where ideas, cultures and ideologies view with one another for
power and dominance in the minds of the masses.

One of the ways students can be trained in the new literacies is to engage them in
digital storytelling, wherein the students take part in the traditional process of storytelling,
but with some digital enhancements.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Globalization and Cultural and Multicultural Literacies

1. He coins his propensity for Filipino to look at their culture and themselves
through Western lenses as the Doña Victorina Syndrome, a kind of inferiority complex
wherein anything and everything natively.
a. Vlray b. De Leon c. FDI d. Levin Institute

2. It explains the Philippines’ OFW phenomenon that Filipinos travel abroad to find
better economic opportunities for themselves and their families for lack of said
opportunities here.
a. Socio-economic migration c.Travel for the sake of leisure
b. Political expulsion d. Globalization

3. It has more to do with trying to escape the political climate of a particular country,
thereby forcing an individual to seek asylum (and ultimately, resettlement) in another
more favorable country.
a. Socio-economic migration c.Travel for the sake of leisure
b. Political expulsion d. Globalization

4. This is the process of interaction and integration between people, business

entities, governments, and culture from other nations, driven by international trade and
investment and supported by information technology
a. Socio-economic migration c.Travel for the sake of leisure
b. Political expulsion d. Globalization

5. A set of skills and knowledge is difficult to define because of how it changes

depending on the contexts in which it is discussed.
a.Multicultural Literacy c.Travel for the sake of leisure
b. Socio-economic migration d. Globalization

Globalization is the process of interaction and integration between people, business

entities, governments, and culture from other nations, driven by international trade and
investment and supported by information technology (Levin institute, 2017).

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

The Effects of Globalization

The effects of globalization are multi-dimensional. As shown earlier, they range
from economic to cultural, on both national and individual levels. Meyer (2000)
summarizes the effects of globalization as follows:
• Economic, political, and military dependence and interdependence between
nations;
• Expanded flow of individual people among societies;
• Interdependence of expressive culture among nations; and
• Expanded flow of instrumental culture around the world.
Economic Dependence/ Interdependence

Kentor (2001) notes that foreign capital dependence increases income inequality in four
ways: (1) it creates a small, highly paid class of elites to manage these investments,
who create many but usually low-pay jobs; (2) profits from these investments are
repatriated, rather than invested in the host country, therefore inhibiting domestic capital
formation; (3) foreign capital penetration tends concentrate land ownership among the
very rich; and (4) host countries tend to create political and economic climates favorable
to foreign capital that in turn limit domestic labor’s ability to obtain better wages. In
simple words, “the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer.”

Hout (1980) observes that international dependence tends to suppress adult wages,
which in turn perpetuates the role of children as economic necessities (the familiar
saying “Kapagmaraminganak, maramingkatulongsahanapbuhay”), leading to explosive
population growth.

Political and Military Dependence/ Interdependence

A survey conducted in late 2018 found that three in five Filipinos believe that the United
States would intervene on behalf of the country in case of war (VIray, 2018). this can be
taken as evidence of the Philippines’ dependence on both the political and military
power of the US in order to maintain its sovereignty as a nation-state in the Southeast
Asia region.

Expanded Flow of Expressive and Instrumental Culture

Expressive culture, as the term suggests, deals with how particular culture expresses
itself in its language, music, arts and the like. Globalization encourages the
monetization of these cultural artifacts and their import/export among participating
cultures; the increased consumption of which changes the consuming culture.

Instrumental culture, on the other hand, refers to “common models of social order”
(Meyer, 2000) – that is , models or ways of thinking about and enacting national identity,
nation-state policies both domestic and foreign, socio-economic development, human
rights, education, and social progress.

Expanded Flow of People among Societies

Meyer (2000) observes three reasons for this: socio-economic migration, political
expulsion and travel/ tourism.
Socio-economic migration explains the Philippines’ OFW phenomenon. Filipinos
travel abroad to find better economic opportunities for themselves and their families for
lack of said opportunities here.
 Political expulsion, on the other hand, has more to do with trying to escape the
political climate of a particular country, thereby forcing an individual to seek asylum (and
ultimately, resettlement) in another more favorable country.
Travel for the sake of leisure (i.e., tourism) is a strong indicator of economic
development as more and more Filipinos are able to finance short-term travels abroad,
fueled by curiosity that is fed by social media and enabled by globalization.

Cultural Literacy
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is the government
body tasked with the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of Philippine
culture, both locally and abroad.

Philippine Cultural Education Program (PCEP), which “envisions a nation of culturally

literate and empowered Filipinos” (NCCA, 2015).

Republic Act 10066, PCEP has been designated as the body, together with the
Department of Education (DepEd), tasked to “formulate the cultural heritage educational
programs both for local and overseas Filipinos” that are to be an integral part of the
Philippine education aspects.

De Leon (2011) argues that this is in part due to a colonial mindset among Filipino
artists that inhibits the full development and realization of Filipino artistic creativity – a
kind of artistic and cultural creativity that is fully Filipino.

De Leon (2011) coins his propensity for Filipino to look at their culture and themselves
through Western lenses as the Doña Victorina Syndrome, a kind of inferiority complex
wherein anything and everything natively Filipino is considered by the Filipinos
themselves as being inferior, backward and worthless in comparison to Western
counterparts, and therefore a source of embarrassment and unease.

Challenges for Cultural Literacy in the Philippines

As Applebee (1987) observes, interesting discussions on cultural literacy give
rise to some very difficult questions which are particularly important to a multicultural
and multilingual nation like the Philippines.

Multicultural Literacy
As cultures begin to mix and change as a result of globalization, conflicts
inevitably arise over identity, values and worldviews.

Multicultural Literacy as a set of skills and knowledge is difficult to define because of

how it changes depending on the contexts in which it is discussed

multicultural literacy comes more in the form of intercultural communication competence

(ICC), which is defined by Dusi, Messetti and Steinbach (2014) as a composite of skills,
abilities, attitudes, personality patterns, etc. necessary for clear and productive
communication with cultures other than or own.

Fantini (2006) defines it as “a complex of abilities needed to perform effectively and

appropriately when interacting with others who are linguistically and culturally different
from oneself.”

The skills and knowledge required for one to be multi-culturally literate are not mere language
skills, since it is assumed that some medium of communication already exists between two
cultures. . Here are some examples:

1. Be selfless – an attitude of selflessness

2. Know that good and useful things can (and do) come from those different
from us – hand-in-hand with a dismissive attitude toward another culture is
the idea that nothing good can come from them.
3. Be willing to compromise – any significant interaction with someone from a
different culture is governed by the principle of “he/she wants something and I
want something.”
4. Accept that there are limits – at some point however, one or both cultures will
be unwilling/ unable to adjust their wants for the sake of the other any further.

Issues in Teaching and Learning Multicultural Literacy in the Philippines

Conflicting Requirements for Peace

easy to assume that all cultures value peace to the same degree and are
therefore willing to make the same compromises in order to attain it, but this is not
necessarily true.

Nationalistic and Regionalistic Pushback

recent proposal of “OrtograpiyatiPagsasaonga Ilokano” by officials of the Komisyon ng

Wikang Filipino (KWF) in October of 2018.

The proposal was met with intense backlash from group of Ilokano writers and language
advocates over the “incompetence in preparing the Ilokano orthography that didn’t
conform with the existing orthography being used by the Ilokano writers and experts,”
claiming that the proposed orthography was based on Tagalog and not Ilokano and that
the commission’s attempts to compel the regional language to conform to the standards
of the Ortograpiyang Pambansa (National Orthography) would “destroy the identity of
the Ilokano language” (Dumlao, 2018)
The Persistence of the Problem

Boutte (2008) suggests that issues of discrimination in all its forms (racial, religious,
tribal, cultural, etc.) are really issues of hatred, which she defines in an educational
setting as “the lack of compassion and lack of respect for the right of others,” and that
such hatred must be fought and its roots must be attacked, because for as long as
hatred exists in the human mind, real peace will be impossible (Vreeland, 2001).

The Question of Value

Dawkins’ (2016) concept of “selfish gene” – where on a genetic level, the more two
individuals are genetically similar to one another, the more sense it makes to behave
selflessly toward one another and selfishly toward others who are different – then we
can easily frame the issue of discrimination of cultural discrimination and injustice as
one of both genetics and survival.

• Learn about other cultures. Banks (1991a) posits that the first step to teaching
multiculturalism is knowing about cultures that are not your own. It follows that if you,
the teacher, know only your own culture, then you will be unable to teach your students
to appreciate a culture that is different from your own.
• Familiarize yourself with how discrimination and prejudice appear in your own
culture. Boutte (2008) and Banks (1991b) agree that teachers must be able to identify
and confront patterns of discrimination and prejudice in their own lives before they can
teach their students to do the same. For example, when someone you just met says he
or she is from Mindanao, what words immediately come out of your mouth in response?
Do they express genuine acceptance, or they betray some long-held preconceptions
about people from the region?
• As you are, so will you behave. Key to genuine multicultural literacy is core
values – that is, what you, the teacher, really believe about people who are different
from you; not a kind of belief that you can just say you possess when talking to your
class, but the kind that determines your behavior when you think no one is watching.

• Model more, tell more. Young students, by nature, will have difficulty in exercising
empathy toward those who are different from them. The ability is here, but it will
naturally lack practice. It is therefore not enough that teachers tell them to be more
compassionate – you, the teacher, must model for them what empathy and compassion
for others look like on a day-to-day basis.

Social Literacy
Social literacy concerns itself with the development of social skills, knowledge and
positive human values that enable human beings to act positively and responsibly in
range of complex social settings. It is the knowledge of how to behave and treat other
people in a way that is morally upright, just and equitable, with a view of promoting
positive and productive relations that are free from unfair prejudices, hate, and
discrimination.

1. It is a sign of humble and mature character when one commits mistakes.

a. Apologizing b. Greeting c. Empathizing d. Communicating

2. They play vital roles in developing children’s social skills.

a. Peers b. Teachers c.Parents d.Schools

3. This pertains information showing how to act and behave accordingly in

promoting positive and productive relations that are free from unfair prejudices, hate,
and discrimination.
a. Communication b. Appreciation c.Social Literacy d. Social skills
4. This is an able to feel what the other person feels.
a. Apologizing b. Greeting c. Empathizing d. Communicating

5. It connotes a fixed standard of treatment for all people, equity seeks good of
others, and labors to find means by which everyone gets “what they need” rather than
simply “everyone gets the same thing in the same amount.”
a. Equality b. Equity c. Behavior d. Quality

Equitable are the speech, actions, behaviors, and decisions that treat others fairly,
regardless of background or circumstances.

These social skills are often expressed as consisting of three inter-related components:
social perception, social cognition and social performance (Arthur, Davidson, & Stow,
2000).

These range from the ability to initiate, maintain, and end a conversation to reading
social signals to more complex skills such as solving problems and resolving conflicts
(Lawson, 2003).

Children with social skill deficits can be taught these skills directly by parents, teachers,
and/or professionals using the strategies of modeling, role-playing, rehearsal and
practice.
• Greeting– children develop relationships with peers by interacting with them. The
first step in a social interaction is greeting someone. Greeting others is done not only
with words like “Hi!” or “How are you?” but with facial expressions, tone of voice, and
gestures such as a nod or a wave. The nonverbal part of greeting someone is just as
important as the words. It is not so much what one says but how he/she says it that lets
people know he/she is glad to see them.
• Initiating Conversation – in order to carry on a conversation, a child must be able
to initiate, maintain and close conversation appropriately. This requires good listening
and attention skills, as well as the ability to take turns and probe for missing information.
Being a good conversationalist requires turn-taking and reciprocity. Children have to
listen as well as talk. If they do not show an interest in what the other person has to say,
they probably will not be interested in talking. Impulsive children often have trouble
knowing when to talk and when to listen.
• Understanding the Listener – once the conversation is initiated, it has to be
maintained. In order to do that, it is important to understand the audience one is talking
to. A socially adept child quickly and unconsciously identifies and categorizes his
listener, measures what he/she has planned to say against the anticipated response of
the listener, and then proceeds, alters or avoids what she has planned to say. He/she
knows that talking to authority figures is not done in the same way when talking to peers.
A misread of the listener often leads to a misunderstood message and potential social
rejection. To converse in a socially appropriate manner, children must be able to take
the perspective or point of view of the other person, i.e., think the way they think. To do
this a child must pretend that he/she is the listener and think about what he/she needs
to hear to understand what is being said.
• Empathizing – empathy is more than perspective taking; it means that one is able
to feel what the other person feels. Empathy allows one to really connect with other
people. Other children often think of children who lack empathy as mean, unkind or self-
centered.
• Reading Social Cues – it is very important to read social cues in a conversation.
Cues are the hints and signals that guide us to the next thing to say or do. Social cues
can be verbal or nonverbal. Verbal cues are the words that other person is saying. Tone
of voice is an important part of verbal cues. Good detectives pay very close attention to
nonverbal cues.
• Previewing or Planning – conversation also require that one previews or thinks
about what effect the words or actions may have on the listener before she says or does
them. If the impact will be negative, one can adjust what she might say or do.
• Problem Solving –problems and conflict are often a part of social interactions.
Someone may not agree, get angry, insult, or become aggressive at something that one
says. How one reacts to these conflicts depends on how good her problem solving skills
are. Conflicts cannot be avoided and are often necessary to “clear the air.” Turning a
conflict from a “win-lose” situation to a “win-win” situation is the best way to resolve
conflicts. This requires negotiation and compromise, give and take that results in a
situation where all parties can live with the help maintain friendships.
• Apologizing – everyone makes social mistakes at one time or another. A person
with good social skills is confident enough to make a sincere apology for her error. This
is a courageous act and is the quickest and easiest way to correct a social blunder. In
reality, other people usually have a higher opinion of someone who apologizes for
making a mistake. Apologizing is a sign of humble and mature character when one
commits mistakes.
The Role of Parents and Teachers in Teaching Social Skills to Children

Parents typically play the major role in teaching children social skills. Parents can
directly teach social skills by modeling, role-playing, and providing opportunities for their
child to rehearse and practice new skills.

School is the place where children spend the majority of their time with peers. It is,
therefore, a natural and perfect setting for children to learn and practice social skills.

Teachers they can take advantage of every opportunity to help children improve their
social skills.

Issues in Teaching Social Literacy

Children learn through social practices, both explicit and implicit, and become human
through social interaction.

There are two distinct ways of answering the question on how children learn to live
socially with each other and with adults. The first view is normative and communal.
From their culture, children learn customs that provide them with guide to act in ways
that minimize conflict. The second view is programmatic and individualistic. The social
order of children is created by explicit and implicit agreements entered into by self-
seeking individuals to avert the worst consequences of their selfish instincts (Arthur,
Davidson, & Stow, 2000).

social order is dependent on sanctions and formal agreements. Rules are obeyed
because they confer personal advantage on a child. In the normative view, children are
persuaded of the moral force of acting socially through their voluntary associations with
others, both in their immediate circle, such as the family, and in the wider community, for
example, through membership of a church or club. The child in this normative view will
not only know the correct behavior but will perform the role without any need for regular,
conscious reference to the rules governing it.

Subjective Standards of Morality

The natural outcome of postmodern philosophies is that truth and morality are
considered subjective and open to individual interpretation.

Human Nature
 While we would all like to believe that people are inherently good, experience has
taught us that the inherent goodness of humanity is, at best, unreliable: Sometimes it is
there, often it is not.

Blake (2017) offers helpful reminders to young professionals in terms of social skills in
the modern age. This situation underscores the importance of educating students in
what could be called social literacy to ensure their academic and career success.

Situational Awareness in the Workplace

While casual office attire has become the norm in many offices, job interviews
typically require more formal dress and behavior to demonstrate a level of respect

Social Intelligence in Technological Communication

students can learn more about what individual situations demand in terms of the
formality of communication.

Social Intelligence in Traditional Communication

. An ability to craft these types of documents illustrates an understanding of
social expectations and denotes a level of respect or appreciation.

Financial Literacy

The National Endowment for Financial Education defines financial literacy as “the ability
to read, analyze, manage, and communicate about the personal financial conditions that
affect material well-being. It includes the ability to discern financial choices, discuss
money and financial issues without (or despite) discomfort, plan for the future and
respond competently to life events that affect every day financial decisions, including
events in the general economy” (Incharge Education Foundation, 2017).

it is “the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage one’s financial resources
effectively for lifetime financial security” (Mandell, 2009)

Hashtings, et. al. (2013) refers to financially literacy as:

1. Knowledge of financial products (e.g., a stock vs. a bond, fixed vs. adjustable
rate mortgage);

2. Knowledge of financial concepts (e.g. inflation, compounding, diversification,

credit scores);

3. Having the mathematical skills or numeracy necessary for effective financial

decision making; and
4. Being engaged in certain activities such as financial planning.

Public and private institutions alike have recognized the need for financial literacy to be
incorporated in the school curriculum. Financial education and advocacy programs of
the public and private sectors have been identified as key areas in building an improved
financial system I the Philippines (Go, 2017).

Republic Act 10922, otherwise known as the “Economic and Financial Literacy Act,”
mandates DepEd to “ensure that economic and financial education becomes an integral
part of formal learning.”

The Council for Economic Education, the leading organization in the United States that
focuses on the economic and financial education of students from Kindergarten through
high school developed six standards gearing toward deepening students’ understanding
of personal finances through economic perspective.

Earning Income

• Income earned or received by people

• Different types of jobs as well as different forms of income earned or received
• Benefits and costs of increasing income through the acquisition of education and
skills
• Government programs that affect income
• Types of income and taxes
• Labor market

Buying goods and services

• Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost

• Factors that influence spending choices, such as advertising, peer pressure and
spending choices of others
• Comparing the costs and benefits of spending decisions
• Basics of budgeting and planning
• Making a spending decision
• Payment methods, costs and benefits of each
• Budgeting and classification of expenses
• Satisfaction, determinants of demand, costs of information search, choice of
product durability
• The role of government and other institutions in providing information for
consumers

Saving
• Concept of saving and interest
• How people save money, where people can save money, and why people save
money
• The role that financial institutions play as intermediaries between savers and
borrowers
• The role the government agencies such as the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) play in protecting savings deposits
• Role of markets in determining interest rates
• The mathematics of saving
• The power of compound interest
• Real versus nominal interest rates
• Present versus future value
• Financial regulators
• The factors determining the value of a person’s savings over time
• Automatic savings plan, “rainy-day” funds
• Saving for retirement

Using credit
• Concept of credit and cost of using credit
• Why people use credit and sources of credit
• Why interest rates vary across borrowers
• Basic calculations related to borrowing (principal, interest, compound interest)
• Credit reports and credit scores
• Behaviors that contribute to strong credit reports and scores
• Impact of credit reports and scores on consumers
• Consumer protection laws

Financial Investing
• Concept of financial investment
• Variety of possible financial investment
• Calculate rates of return
• Relevance and calculation of real and after-tax rates of return
• How markets cause rates of return to change in response to variation in risk and
maturity
• How diversification can reduce risk
• How financial markets react to changes in market conditions and information

Protecting and Insuring

• Concepts of financial risk and loss
• Insurance (transfer of risk through risk poling)
• Managing risk
• Identify theft
• Life insurance products
• How to protect oneself against identity theft

The Benefits of Financial Literacy

It determines one’s ability to provide basic needs, attitude toward money and
investment, as well as one’s contribution to the community.

Financial literacy enables people to understand and apply knowledge and skills to
achieve a lifestyle that is financially balanced, sustainable, ethical and responsible.

Financial Literacy in the Philippines

In this article, “State of Financial Education in the Philippines,” Go (2017)
indicated several findings of researchers with regards to the state of financial literacy in
the country including the following:
• World Bank study 2014 estimated 20 million Filipinos saved money but only half
had bank accounts.
• Asian Development Bank (ADB) study in 2015 revealed that PH does not have a
national strategy for financial education and literacy.
• In 2016, BangkoSentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released the national strategy for
financial inclusion, stating that while institutions strive to broaden financial services,
financial literacy should also complement such initiatives.
• As per Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings services survey last year, only 25% OF
Filipinos are financially literate. This means that about 75 million Filipinos have no idea
about inflation, risk diversification, insurance, compound interest and bank savings.
• Ten years after discovery of the stock market, still less than one percent of PH
population is invested in it.
• More than 80 percent of the working middle class have no formal financial plan.

The Expo is designed to build an organized network of players that share the vision of a
financially literate citizenry and cohesively implement a variety of initiatives to achieve
this vision.

The Expo supports Republic Act No. 10922 which designates second week of
November as Economic and Financial Literacy Week. It is also designed with the
objectives of the Philippine National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, particularly the
pillar on Financial Education and Consumer Protection.

Developing Personal Financial Literacy

 One’s attitude about money is heavily influenced by the parents’ attitude and
behavior about money. The attitudes you formed early in life probably affect how you
save, spend, and invest today.

There are six major characteristics types in how people view money (Incharge, 2017)
Frugal: frugal people seek financial security by living below their means and saving
money. They rarely buy luxurious items; they save money instead. They save money
because they believe that money will offer protection from unprecedented events and
expenses.
Pleasure: pleasure seekers use money to bring by pleasure to themselves and to others.
They are more likely to spend than to save. They often live beyond their means and
spend more than they earn. If they are not careful and do not change, they may fall into
deep debt.
Status: some people use money to express their social status. They like to purchase
and “show off” their branded items.
Indifference: some people place very little importance on having money and would
rather grow their own food and craft their own clothes. It is as if having too much money
makes them nervous and uncomfortable.
Powerful: powerful people use money to express power or control over others.
Self-worth: people who spend money for self-worth value how much they accumulate
and tend to judge others based on the amount of money they have.

Spending Patterns

There are two common spending patterns: habitual spending and impulsive
spending. Habitual spending occurs when one spends out of habit, when one buys an
item daily, weekly or monthly. Daily items may include water, rice, and cup of coffee.
Week items may be grocery items. Monthly items are the electricity and internet bills.
Impulsive spending occurs when one mindlessly purchases items that he or she does
not need. Many people are often enticed by monthly sales at the malls with the attitude
that they may lose the items the following day.

Fixed vs. Variable Expenses

Fixed expenses remain the same year-round. Car payment is an example.
Variable expenses occur regularly but the amount you pay varies. Electric and gas bills
are examples of these.

Needs vs. Wants

Financial discipline starts with an ability to recognize whether expenses
are needs or wants, and followed by ability to prioritize needs over wants. Needs are
essential to our survival. Wants are things that you like to have but you can live without,
such as new clothes, or new cellphone model. You want them but do not necessarily
need them. Too many wants can ruin your budget.
 Setting Financial Goal
Setting financial goals is the first step to managing one’s financial life.
Goals may be short, medium and long-term. Short-term goals can be measured in
weeks and can provide instant gratification and feedback. Medium-term goals should be
accomplished within one to six months. Long-term financial goals can take years to
achieve.
Developing a Spending Plan
Time and effort are necessary to build a sustainable spending plan. Three
easy steps are proposed below when developing your personal spending plan:
1. Record – keep a record of what you spend
2. Review – analyze the information and decide what you do.
3. Take action – do something about what you have written down.

Importance of Saving
Because no one can predict the future with certainty, we need to save
money for anything that might happen. Here are some reasons why saving is important:
• Emergency Bolster – you should save money to avoid going to debt just to
pay emergency situations, like unexpected medical expenses and damages caused by
calamities or accidents.
• Retirement – you will need savings/ investments to take the place of
income you will no longer receive when you retire.
• Future Events – you need to save for future events like weddings,
birthdays, anniversaries and travels so as not to sacrifice your fixed expenses.
• Instability of Social Security – pensions from social security should only
serve as supplementary and not the primary source of income after retirement.
• A Little Goes a Long Way – small consistent savings go a long way.

There are two ways to save:

• Save before you spend; and
• Save after you spend wisely.
In order to stick to the savings habit, you should:
1. Commit to a month;
2. Find an accountability partner;
3. Find a savings role model who is successful with his/her money, through
tried and true savings;
4. Write your goal down and track it; and
5. Avoid tempting situations (don’t go to the mall to “hang out”).