Browsing by Author "Tepponen, Terhi"

Objectives. Financial capability is an important civic skill needed for managing one's own finances and money matters, as well as for functioning in society in a way that promotes its economic well-being. Consumer and financial literacy is a key content area in home economics education and an important life skill. The purpose of this study is to examine the content of home economics textbooks used in basic education from the 1980s to 2010s, regarding financial capability and to find out the themes of financial capability presented and emphasized in these textbooks. The second objective of the study is to examine the objectives of the Finnish National Agency for Education (FNAE) in the national core curriculum for basic education (NCCBE/POPS) related to financial capability and how these goals are reflected in home economics textbooks from different decades. Methods. This study was a qualitative research and theory-guided content analysis was used as the analytical method. Analysis tables were used as a support for content analysis, where themes found in the textbooks were recorded. The four-part model of financial capability developed by Atkinson, Mc Kay, Kempson and Collard (2006) was used as an analysis tool. The data consisted of eight (8) home economics textbooks published between 1986 and 2017. The content areas related to financial capability, as well as their main text, images, captions various information boxes, summaries, and exercises was included in the analyses. Results and conclusions. The results were divided into the following areas based on the four-field framework: managing money, planning, choosing products and staying informed. All four areas were presented both in home economics textbooks and National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (NCCBE/POPS). The results of the study show that the most addressed themes of financial capability in home economics textbooks were related to managing money and choosing products. The themes of managing money and staying informed were emphasized in the goals of the NCCBE/POPS.