Basic economic education for the least qualified - identification, analysis and assessment of needs

Abstract

Ever since Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, economic education has been regarded in certain quarters as an integral component of human enculturation and socialisation. In a society as economised as ours, meanwhile, economic expertise has finally become indispensable, whether for investing money, running a household or evaluating economic reforms. Regardless of the encroaching economisation of our lifeworld, however, (basic) economic education should not only transport financially exploitable information, but also pave the way for the acquisition of social and participatory skills. There is a special dual role for employment (besides its obvious primary purpose of earning a living): on the one hand as the hook for related educational programs, on the other as the point of reference for their content. In the following, the need for basic economic education in relation to the economic domain is analysed, central topics that must be addressed are named and the elementary coordinates of basic economic education for the target group of the least qualified are identified. The article disposes a heuristic function and should hopefully, in connection with the employment-situation approach as described here, stimulate further scientific debates.