16th August 2026
In this podcast, I am joined by my elder son, James, to ask a deceptively simple question: why do schools prepare young people for examinations but not for adult life?
James describes arriving at university with a student loan and an overdraft, yet almost no understanding of budgeting, saving, rent, debt or credit. We discuss why this absence of financial education particularly disadvantages many young people.
But, as we noted, the problem goes well beyond money. Schools often steer pupils towards university without helping them decide what work they might enjoy or whether another route would suit them better.
At the same time, essential skills such as writing professional emails, preparing reports, making presentations, understanding tax and using spreadsheets are frequently neglected during formal education, but most are required by many employers
Then we considered how financial literacy could be integrated into mathematics through practical examples involving interest, VAT, borrowing and household budgets before moving on to discuss how artificial intelligence will transform employment, and why students must learn to use AI critically rather than treating it as a substitute for thought.
Finally, James proposes a National AI Skills Service and a new way of judging schools: not simply by examination results, but by whether their pupils flourish in adult life.
We covered a lot of ground.