Providing access to ‘powerful’ financial knowledge : a financial literacy programme for school students

Abstract

There is an urgent need of financial inclusion that provides adequate financial education to all young people, especially those who do not study the business education subjects (e.g.,Farrugia, 2021; Greimel‐Fuhrmann et al., 2016; Mizzi, 2021a, b). All school students have a right to epistemic access to ‘powerful’ financial knowledge that helps them to think and actin new ways and guide their financial decisions (Young, 2015). This paper proposes a financial literacy programme for the lower secondary school years that includes the ‘powerful’ financial knowledge identified by the participants in a researchstudy conducted by the author that explored school economics education in Malta. The notion of ‘powerful knowledge’ refers to disciplinary knowledge that, when learned, empowersstudents to make decisions in a way that will influence their lives in a positive way (Young, 2008). The underlying conceptual framework for this study is critical realism, which offers an understanding of the world that is real but which may be differently experienced and interpretedby different observers (Bhaskar, 1979; Fletcher, 2017). This qualitative research involved interviewing and observing fourteen economics teachers, together with four focus groupinterviews with students. Data was analysed thematically with the help of Nvivo software. Financial literacy emerged as a main theme. The financial literacy programme proposed in this paper is based on the findings of this study and underpinned by the notions of threshold concepts and powerful knowledge. Thefinancial education of students needs to be based on what constitutes powerful knowledge in the area of financial literacy. The consideration of the relationship between financialliteracy, powerful knowledge and threshold concepts assists the reflection, policy development and practice relating to effective financial inclusion.