What\u2019s this got to do with financial advice? Well, bear with me. I was a school governor for 15 years, through most of the Blair\/Brown years and a bit of Coalition rule and in the heyday introduction of league tables and target-setting for everything. The idea was, of course, to encourage competition and focus the minds of those involved on what\u2019s deemed to be important. And there\u2019s the rub. If your funding and status is based on your SATS, GCSE and A Level results, \u2018greater inclusivity\u2019 is not likely to help; as a school you\u2019re not going to try to pull in pupils from poorer areas who might bring your scores down. Now old-school financial advice firms were all about sales, competitions, incentives and glamorous overseas hols for the most successful, those flogging the most pensions, savings and life assurance plans. Our regulator decided that this might not encourage the best \u2018consumer outcomes\u2019 and all that sort of stuff has now disappeared. If you want to change schools\u2019 behaviour, look at what you\u2019re incentivising them to do. Or perhaps trust teachers (and financial advisers) to get on with the job, and trust that most of them actually do want to do a good one.<\/p>\n