Representing Swiss vocational education and training teachers’ domain-specific conceptions of financial literacy using concept maps

Seraina Leumann

doi:10.1177/2047173416689687

Abstract

Issues related to financial matters are an integral component of the curricula in vocational education and training in Switzerland. However, the differences between students’ competences are caused not only by the curricula but by multiple factors. One key factor is teachers’ characteristics that support successful learning processes. Teachers’ conceptions with respect to general or domain-specific aspects of teaching-related phenomena and processes play a particularly important role. In contrast to subjects such as mathematics, little is known about teachers’ conceptions in the domain of economics and financial literacy. This applies in particular to the investigation of the deep structure of teachers’ conceptions, which goes beyond the designation of contents. A structural representation in the form of concept maps is a possible instrument for the collection and analysis of data to that end. Consequently, it is the aim of this study to demonstrate, how concept maps can be used as a methodological instrument in order to gain information about the domain-specific conceptions of vocational education and training teachers regarding the subject matter of financial literacy. Results show that concept maps are a targeted instrument for the exploration of the deep structure of conceptions and have therefore a great potential for research and teacher education.

Highlights

In modern economies, finance-related tasks and challenges are increasingly essential for individuals responsible for managing their financial affairs in everyday life
The following shows the content-related domain-specific conceptions of financial literacy generated by the 16 teachers in their individual concept maps
The results presented on content-related domain-specific conceptions of financial literacy indicated that the 16 teachers depicted contents of all four facets of financial literacy in their individual concept maps

Summary

Introduction

Finance-related tasks and challenges are increasingly essential for individuals responsible for managing their financial affairs in everyday life. With regard to financial education, institutionalised learning processes are required to prepare individuals for money- and finance-related tasks and challenges in the realms of their private life and in democratic society. As Lucey (2016) states, it is teachers’ content understanding as well as their instructional strategies which affect heavily how they construct learning arrangements. This statement underlines the important role of teachers’ conceptions. Teachers’ conceptions can be understood as their mental representations of personal knowledge or their subjective views of the phenomena and processes of learning and instruction and the associated interdisciplinary or domain-specific content

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion