COMMUNITY: FINANCIAL LITERACY
Pupils at an online financial literacy class
and as adults. Therefore, we need to pick up everyone in their everyday life, show the relevance and implications for their future phases of life. Let it feel like fun to discuss finance issues.” Having worked in banking for more than
two decades, Ottmann struggles with the declining reputation of the industry within society. “By going to schools, I want to show a different picture of what working for a bank could look like.” Ottmann joined Deutsche Bank in the private clients’ business around the turn of the millennium for a dual-study programme – at a time when working for a bank was considered a more attractive proposition by young people than it is now.
Home schooling rethought Ottmann’s first pupils were a ninth grade class, aged 15 to 16, at a school in Darmstadt, whose teacher had reached out to him via a local business contact. In his main job, Ottmann manages relations with commercial clients in the south of Hessen. Despite making careful preparations, he faced a challenge from the outset. As his
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project kicked off in spring 2021 – as the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic began – Ottmann had to give most of the lessons from his desk at home. Together with his colleague Sarah Theuerkauf – a trainee at Deutsche Bank – he made the online classes as interactive as possible by using the Doodle Poll tool, digital point clouds or group work on case studies. “For example, we asked the pupils what comes to mind when they think about money,” he recalls. In a second step, the teenagers were then asked to consider how their parents and grandparents would have answered this question. “Changing perspectives helps to raise awareness of why saving is important or under which circumstances taking up debt might be reasonable,” Ottmann believes. However, several topics that were addressed focused less on banking. Ottmann and the schoolteacher also talked to the class about why streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon and Spotify offer part of their products free of charge – explaining the concept of data as a new currency.
Moreover, the teenagers were invited to ask all the questions that came to mind. Ottmann recalls one pupil asking whether a marriage settlement would make sense: “I thought this was a pretty pragmatic question for a 15- or 16-year-old,” he laughs. In general, he was surprised by how
informed and enthusiastic many of the pupils were during the discussions. “Yet, it was a challenge to keep everybody on board, given the different social and economic backgrounds of the teenagers,” he says. In total, he gave six lessons spread over two months – with the last class taking place in June 2021 at the school: “After weeks of home schooling, it was great to meet everybody in person.” For him, the first project was a runaway success, and he is now looking for a follow- up class on ‘So geht Geld’ in Darmstadt: “Some of the kids are still calling me and ask questions, like my top tips for writing a job application.” Two of the teenagers have applied for an internship at Deutsche Bank, and one is even interested in starting a bank traineeship.
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