Title: Cornerstones of socio-economic education: on the importance of contextualising economic issues

Authors: Tim Engartner

Addresses: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 6, D-60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Abstract: Like mainstream neo-classical economics, mono-paradigmatic economic education currents neglect the cultural, historical, political, ethical, social and psychological factors. This occurs even though the relevance of these aspects is obvious from the (subject) didactic perspective, topically revealing, and convincing in terms of educational psychology. Many economic 'semi-fictions' such as 'economic man' persist, especially in the teaching context, despite wide-ranging discussion of importance of multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches. The issue is especially pressing in school economics teaching, which should be orientated on students' situations and lifeworlds rather than adhering to the structures and models of the academic discipline. The present contribution identifies the epistemological, education policy and didactic deficits of neo-liberal-leaning economic education and outlines the epistemological foundations, didactic principles and policy implications of socio-economic education.

Keywords: socio-economics; socio-economic education; multidisciplinarity; interdisciplinarity; transdisciplinarity; didactic principles; integration of social sciences.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPEE.2019.106099

International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, 2019 Vol.10 No.4, pp.335 - 349

Received: 23 Apr 2019
Accepted: 10 May 2019
Published online: 30 Mar 2020 *

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