Erste Group Bank: Filling the financial education gap in schools

Barbara Strachwitz, from Erste Group Bank, outlines their impressive educational program, FLiP, that utilizes gamification to create sustained financial learning for teenagers.  

How would you introduce FLiP to those who don't know this place?

The Erste Financial Life Park, FLiP for short, is Austria's most prominent project in the field of financial education. Economic and financial education contribute significantly to creating equal opportunities and economic prosperity. 

FLiP teaches young people, usually school children between the ages of 10 and 18, the financial skills and competencies they need to make financial decisions. FLiP promotes financial self-responsibility, takes precautions against over-indebtedness and thus also contributes to poverty prevention. Located at the Erste Campus in Vienna, FLiP offers interactive 120-minute tours where the importance of finances for personal life planning can be tangibly experienced. 

What is your audience? Who are the groups you host at FLiP?

FLiP is aimed at all school types and all levels of education, spanning from lower secondary schools to specialist vocational training institutes. The FLiP tour at the simplest level only requires reading comprehension and mastery of the four basic arithmetic operations. FLiP’s offerings are barrier-free in a financial and physical sense: admission is free of charge and an audio system and special display solutions are available for visitors with special needs. Apart from German-language tours, FLiP also offers tours in English and Slovakian. FLiP supports teachers by providing numerous additional offers to supplement the FLiP tour experience. These include ready-to-use teaching materials developed in co-operation with experts, a wide range of workshops, e-learning units and trainings for teachers and students.