Consumer Education

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Introduction to consumer education
Finance Management
- Competence 1 : managing finances
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools
- Competence 2 : undertake financial risk assessement
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools
Safe and Healthy Consumers
- Competence 1 : use and evaluate information
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools
- Competence 2 : apply consumer knowledge to health management
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools
Responsible Consumers
- Competence 1 : reflect on and evaluate consumption patterns
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools
- Competence 2 : analyse product quality and promote sustainability
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools
Services
- Competence 1 : demonstrate consumer responsibility towards the use of services
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools
- Competence 2 : recognize consumers influence on service quality
  - Teaching and learning approaches
  - Teaching and learning tools

Glossary

Legal validation: 15/03/2011

Introduction to consumer education

The fundamentals of consumerism can be taught effectively in the classroom.

Traditionally consumer education has been treated as being about avoiding the rip-offs, money management and understanding credit. But many educators take the broader view that it should be ‘education for living’ with the major emphasis on the economic, environmental, political and social decisions that learners will make today, tomorrow and in the future.

"Consumer Education is a way to balance the power between producers and consumers. Consumer Education aims to encourage individuals to analyse and make value-based decisions at a personal level in terms of needs and wants. It can also help individuals to make decisions which may be concerned with the wider community. It is the transferability of skills conferred by consumer education which sets it apart from consumer information - enabling people to use consumer information, so they ultimately make informed decisions.” (National Consumer Education Partnership [UK] 1999.)

Why teach Consumer Education?

Consumer education aims to encourage individuals to analyse and make value-based decisions at a personal level in terms of needs and wants. Read more

How to teach Consumer Education?

Consumer education in Dolceta is based in the Competence Based model for Consumer Education (COBACE) . Read more

What to teach in Consumer Education?

Consumer Education is one of the declared objectives of the European Union (EU) [1]. Political strategists are convinced that it is indispensable to implement well-structured consumer education measures both on a national level and through international networks. Read more

Who to teach Consumer Education to?

As a key component of lifelong learning, consumer education has close links to other work such as the development of basic skills and formal education. Understanding your target learners and their needs is essential for all learning. Dolceta is an education tool designed to assist teachers of students at all levels to teach consumer education effectively in the classroom. The rationale for consumer education is that it helps to develop more confident consumers, so helping to drive competition and innovation, helping markets to operate more effectively. Read more

Where should we teach Consumer Education?

There is no best place to teach consumer education! Read more

For consumers

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