The main objective of the project “A network game for life-cycle education” (ANGLE), funded by the Erasmus + programme of the EU, is to promote and enhance younger generations’ financial literacy (FL), adopting a life-cycle perspective to help the young to consider a long time horizon and to think about the future consequences of their decisions. It is conducted in strategic partnership with few educational and research institutions: CeRP - Collegio Carlo Alberto (project leader), ETLA Economic Research, National Institute for Family Finance Information (NIBUD), Palermo Urban Solutions Hub (PUSH), Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie, ST Skills Together, Tilburg University, Université Paris Dauphine. ANGLE focuses on ways in which knowledge can be acquired by using innovative technologies of education, such as games and on-line tools that allow learning through active involvement and participation.
The objectives of ANGLE will be pursued by the creation of three outputs:
- Output 1. A set of booklets available both on-line and in print about life-cycle key aspects: education vs. work; saving vs. indebtedness; housing choices; retirement choices.
- Output 2. A tabletop game designed to allow players to face situations that replicate real life-cycle experiences. Players will a have different in-endowments, reflecting the diverse paths and the variety of possible family backgrounds, and will be able to earn points by making wiser choices in a life-cycle perspective, answering quizzes and giving correct advice to other players. The basic methodology followed throughout the game will be co-design, involving the end users in the whole process of design, testing, use and improvement of the system.
- Output 3. A set of learning materials, in an on-line video format, on “saving vs. indebtedness”, providing the youth with the knowledge and competencies needed to better manage this crucial topic in a life-cycle perspective.
The main target group of ANGLE is represented by university students in the first years of higher education, differentiated by gender and socio-economic characteristics. The project will place strong emphasis on co-creating the project outputs jointly with the students in order to use an approach consistent with their language and to best include the needs, aspirations and viewpoints of the youth.
For this reason, we believe that, at the end of the project, the ANGLE output could also be of interest to high school students, young unemployed and people Not in Education, Employment or Training, thus broadening the initial audience. Participants in the game and users of the learning tools will acquire skills to be brought to the employment market, both indirectly with an improved proficiency in managing life-cycle investments (i.e. human, financial and housing wealth) and in a straightforward way, easing the transition from education to work, given the importance that financial education has for almost all jobs.