Malaz Mohamed-Bakhit was 13 when she started reading and interpreting payslips for her mother.

Malaz does not yet have a job, but she understands the basics of tax, online banking and is starting to learn about superannuation.

It's partly thanks to a financial literacy program at her school, Collingwood College, but the year 10 student says her financial literacy lessons started at home.

Malaz's Eritrean mother occasionally called on her daughter's English skills to help make sense of her payslips, and to help her set up online pay transactions when she started working in childcare.

"We both learnt from it," Malaz said.

But Malaz is in the minority, with the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report on financial literacy finding that only 15 per cent of Australian 15-year-olds are able to detect a scam financial email and only about 37 per cent can read a payslip.

The study compares the performance of students from 15 OECD countries. Australian 15-year-olds are equal fifth in the world, with the Netherlands, scoring an average of 504 in the PISA test, above the OECD average of 489.

Australian students performed worse than those in China, Belgium, Canada and Russia, but better than those in the US, Poland, Italy, Spain and Lithuania.

Despite the country's high ranking, the average financial literacy score in Australia has fallen significantly from 526 in 2012, in line with the country's falling maths, reading and science scores in other PISA assessments.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), which ran a separate analysis of the findings, revealed a strong link between Australian students' financial literacy and their maths and reading skills.

ACER chief executive Professor Geoff Masters recommended that more schools take on specialised financial literacy programs such as as MoneySmart, which was made available to teachers across Australia in 2012 by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Victorian students start recognising and counting coins in prep and grade one in maths class. By year 7 and 8 they learn about consumer rights and financial planning. Senior secondary students learn about debt management, scams and identify theft.

The PISA study revealed that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds had an average financial literacy score of 107, below those from high socioeconomic backgrounds. Indigenous students had a score 97 points below that of non-Indigenous students.

Having a bank account at the age of 15 increased a student's score by 41 points. Nearly 80 per cent of Australian students have a bank account.

Malaz opened a bank account when she was 12 years old. She sets aside most of her weekly pocket money to save up for a laptop, and will soon start saving for a car.

"My parents have always encouraged me to save a bit ... it's going to be something I will have to get used to and need to be in control of," she said.

"But I'm not too worried about it ... it's a skill I should be able to develop."

Financially savvy student, Maddisyn Dixon-Whitbourne, 14 does not yet have a job, but she scans her friends' retail employment contracts for signs of dodgy employment conditions.

"Sometimes they say you need certain abilities and experience that no one at their age would have ... and they have to work certain hours to get paid minimum wage ... it sounds wrong," she said.

Maddisyn, who has been saving for big-ticket items since she was nine years old, is now saving to pay her university fees up front.

She doesn't want a "cloud hanging over" her head, she said.

Warracknabeal Secondary College's business management teacher Laura Good, uses the Foundation for Young Australians "$20 boss" program to teach her senior secondary students about financial literacy.

Students doing the program are given a $20 loan to start a business. Last year they made tie-dye products to raise money for charity.

"It's about applying what they learn in theory to go and create their own business," Ms Gould said.