Consumer education as counselling?

Teacher beliefs about consumption and (social science) education

Abstract

- Consumer education is a normative field of action.

- Social science teachers base the design of consumer education concepts often on their own, milieu-bound values.

- Especially when teachers see students' consumption as deficient, consumer education has the task to teach appropriate consumption patterns.

- In formal teacher training processes, students’ everyday experiences as members of society can serve as a starting point for self-reflective processes.

Purpose: This article aims to discuss the influence of milieu-based daily life experiences on teaching social science studies by taking the example of consumption. It should be asked to what extent personal habitus in a Bourdieuian sense influences teachers’ beliefs about consumer education in particular and social science education in general. 

Method: Qualitative interviews and group discussions with 19 teachers out of the social science domain were analysed following the concept of interpretation patterns as socially shared world views. 

Findings: Personal experiences and common knowledge based on the daily involvement in consumption practices are a crucial factor influencing consumer education. They lead rather to tendencies of overwhelming students than imparting knowledge about consumption as a social phenomenon. Implications: Teacher training in fields of social science education, which is strongly related milieu-driven daily life, should focus a distanced, reflective and multiperspective view on the teaching practices based on professional, theoretic knowledge.