earticle

영어

This paper aims to provide new insights on the concept of economic competence as the teaching of personal economic and financial knowledge with a direct intention of increasing an individual’s economic and financial literacy. Education is increasingly being scrutinized by criteria relating to specified performance in the broad world of work and social behaviour, and an important criterion for the measurement of efficiency is that of productivity. Economic competence of people and increasing economic and financial literacy levels to improve financial well-being is of global concern and is regularly identified as a core life skill for everyone. Economic education aims to empower individuals with competence to evaluate and to decide on economic situations as well as on economic policy. Education toward economic competence can no longer be left in the realm of guesswork and treated merely through incidental instruction. Skilfully presented, it can serve as means toward greater everyday competence, better personal and family life, and more effective citizenship. According to the knowledge about formal education as a crucial factor of developing economic competence, we will then integrate the curricular frame as one variable in this concept construction model. A wide agreement in the scientific community of economic didactics exists about the objectives of economic education in school. As a part of general education, it ought to enable learners, confronted with economic situations, to decide and act in an adequate and thoughtful way. They should be able to form these situations, and they should be interested in doing so in order to secure and improve society as one worth to live in. Society is a human product in the sense that society is continually reproduced by taken-for-granted assumptions about the nature of institutions and social organizations. Institutions and social organizations exist because the people performing specific roles within them act on the shared assumption that they exist. In this paper, economic competence has been defined as “the application of knowledge, understandings, skills and values in consumer and financial contexts and the related decisions that impact on self, others, the community and the environment.” Economic competence entails more than just knowledge and skills - it is deeply personal and financial decision-making involves attitudes, values and emotions. It has become imperative for individuals to develop a more nuanced understanding of the world of finance to secure their economic and financial future. However, research from around the world on economic competence raises serious concerns about the ability of individuals to secure their economic and financial well-being. We also assume a connection between curricular conditions and the degree of economic competence. If this will be proven, we are able to generate suggestions for educational policy in respect of school-curricula. The pivotal aspect of this research interest is the connection between the degree of economic competence, focused on a systemic understanding, and value judgements. This paper is suggestive that the influence of the environment is not only unidirectional but also the economic competence of the individuals is able to influence on the future state of the environment which these individuals live in. So it is obvious that it is necessary to focus also on the problem of economic and financial literacy because it is the important indicator of the country’'s future development. Only the country which people dispose of higher level of economic competence has the potential to improve its economic position world-wide. Plain common sense tells us it is high time to take education toward economic competence - both personal-practical and general - out of the realm of guesswork and merely incidental instruction. Economic education is not an esoteric speciality, good for only the few. We can learn to make it a vital part in the liberal education of every person.

한국어

경제생활 영위와 경제적 의사결정에 대한 능력은 개인의 삶과 사회의 경제적 생존조건 유지의 대전제이다. 본 연구는 개인의 경제생활 영위 능력이며 사회의 경제적 안정과 존속의 기능을 갖는 총체적 능력을 ‘경제역량’ 으로 정의하여 개념정립과 함께 ‘경제역량’ 측정척도 구축을 목적으로 한다. 또한 이를 기반으로 ‘경제역량’ 제고를 위한 교양 경제교육 효율화 방안을 모색하고자 한다. 급격한 변모 속에 예측 불가능한 경제사회의 미래는 개인들로 하여금 경제생활 영위에서 새로운 차원의 역량을 요청받고 있다. 인간 삶의 핵심영역인 경제행위와 의사결정에 대한 경제역량은 경제사회 구성원의 핵심적 생애능력(life competency)으로 기능하며 이를 위한 교육적 개입을 필요로 하고 있다. 개별경제주체의 경제적 의사결정 합리성과 최적성이 개인의 정상적이고 행복한 사회·경제적 생활의 영위와 경제사회 공동체 전체의 후생수준을 결정하기 때문에, 경제역량의 함양은 국가적 중요성을 가지는 경제교육의 지향점이고 목표이다. 인간 삶에서의 경제생활의 중요성과 경제역량이 가지는 사회적 함의를 고려할 때, 경제 지식, 경제적 의사결정과정에의 적용, 그리고 공동체내 경제시민으로서의 태도 견지 등의 총체적인 경제역량 배양은 교양교육으로서의 경제교육이 담당하여야 하는 중요한 교육 영역이다. 교양 경제교육은 개인과 사회의 숙명으로서의 경제역량 배양을 교육적 자원의 투하를 통해 지원하여야 한다. 이는 교양교육이 지향하는 인간 삶의 가치 고양과 접맥되는 것이다.