The inclusion of insurance in the GCSE and "A" Level syllabuses would be a major advance for the industry and for the population as a whole. Most young people get a flavour of banking and investment through their higher education, but insurance seems to be the poor relation.
Insurance knowledge is invariably left to experience and this usually means bad experience. We are seen as either screwing the customer for higher premiums or refusing to pay claims.
Television programmes do little to help as they only show the negative side of our industry and, even then, they usually get their facts wrong.
Many of those who leave school only go into insurance until something better comes along. Another problem facing buyers and users of insurance currently is the well documented lack of skills in the market which means that good advice and sensible practices are in short supply.
If the correct people are used to teach the subject in schools (and this is vital), we can hope for a generation of young people who appreciate insurance both from the protection it provides and the benefits it provides to the community.
Roy Rodger
Motor Investigation Agency Liverpool
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