This study aims to compare and investigate consumer education content in middle school Home Economics and other subjects in terms of content and component of consumer competency to identify implications for consumer education of home economics focused...
This study aims to compare and investigate consumer education content in middle school Home Economics and other subjects in terms of content and component of consumer competency to identify implications for consumer education of home economics focused on building consumer competency. To this end, analyzed content on consumer education in middle school textbooks, written according to the 2015 revised curriculum, for home economics and other subjects, including social studies, ethics, technology, Korean, mathematics, art, and physical education. This study examined consumer education content based on the consumer competency measurement index developed by the Korean Consumer Agency, and reviewed different focus presented by subjects. And this study investigated whether the knowledge, attitude and practice, which are components of consumer competency, are presented in connection.
The major findings and discussions of this study can be summarized as follows:
First, consumer competency content, presented in textbooks of home economics and other subjects, were comprised in the order of citizenship competency(65.3%), transactional competency(27%), and financial competency(7.7%). In the middle school curriculum, in general, financial competency content was inadequate: it was virtually non-existent in home economics. The home economics course needs to include financial life-planning, financial consumer education in relation to real-life situations.
Second, in terms of content on the consumer’s citizenship competency, the focus on consumer responsibilities is excessive. In contrast, little attention is paid to consumer rights, revealing an imbalance between responsibilities and rights. The claim of consumer rights, currently covered only in the home economics course, should be complemented with content that can justify the claim of rights, thereby balancing between the two as a consumer.
Third, despite its importance and the need of the hour, the “utilization of information and communications technology” in a transaction competency, and “consumer participation” in citizenship competency are insufficiently covered in the home economics curriculum. These should be supplemented to enhance the practical competency of consumers to respond to a rapidly changing consumer environment in the information society and encourage them to behave more actively, leading to consumer participation.
Fourth, as for content on consumer capacity by subjects, social studies were most extensively covered(41%), followed by home economics(25.8%), ethics(17%), and technology(8.4%) courses. In terms of scope, home economics deals with the most sub-fields—17 out of the 22. As per these results, home economics deals with the core content on consumer competency, covering a wide range of areas, indicating that it should play a key role in consumer competency education.
Fifth, even when the same content was covered in consumer competency education, it was presented differently by subject. Home economics focused on proposing practical ways and specific knowledge concerning daily lives of individuals. Social studies approached social problems associated with consumption, from the institutional perspective and considered them in the interaction with the environment surrounding consumers. Ethics education reflected on consumer life and dealt with moral problems related to consumption.
Sixth, there was a lack of connection between components of consumer competency—knowledge, attitude, and practice, with a disproportionately high emphasis on knowledge. Notably, it was the same for home economics, which is considered a practical subject, revealing its limitation in consumer education. This indicated that consumer education content should be organized in a manner wherein its components—knowledge, attitude, and practice—are closely linked to help nurture consumer competency in students.
It is hoped that this study will provide an opportunity to examine the role of home economics in consumer education to nurture consumer competency of middle school students and be used as basic materials for reorganizing consumer education content through interdisciplinary curriculum integration.