Beyond Moral Teaching : Financial Literacy as Citizenship Education

Abstract: This thesis explores what financial literacy is, what financial literacy becomes and what financial literacy could become within the context of a citizenship education such as the Swedish upper secondary subject of social studies.  Financial literacy does not intuitively converge with social sciences which leaves social studies teachers to both teach and realise financial literacy. Thus, teachers become co-creators of financial literacy as a school subject. This thesis explores this process via two different studies resulting in four research articles. In the first study, semi-structured interviews – analysed through PCK – are used to explore the perceptions of Swedish social studies teachers in upper secondary school regarding financial literacy teaching and learning. The findings include differences between experienced and novice teachers regarding which content knowledge and pedagogical approaches they use. However, all teachers express difficulties fitting financial literacy into social studies, mainly due to a perception of financial literacy primarily being a private matter, along with the unclear relationship between financial and societal issues. The second study is designed as a financial literacy teaching intervention. Students’ views on a financial dilemma are analysed using citizenship conceptions and threshold concepts. The findings are used to discuss design principles for financial literacy teaching. Salient conclusions in the thesis include citizenship education being able to frame financial literacy and provide epistemic features which can make financial literacy more teachable and learnable. It is hoped that the results from this thesis can inform future financial literacy teaching design as well as policy discussion related to financial literacy teaching and learning contextualised with another subject, especially citizenship education.