Introduction to consumer education

Consumer education is concerned with the skills, attitudes and knowledge required for living in a consumer society. Consumer education is inextricably linked to the basic skills necessary for living.

Consumer education is about promoting an understanding of the structures and systems within the market.

Evidence suggests that many adults are not only unaware of how their individual consumer habits can affect the economy, the environment and society, but that many are also inadequately equipped to participate effectively in the market place.

Aims and objectives of 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. It can also help individuals to make decisions that may be concerned with the wider community. It is the transferability of skills conferred by consumer education that sets it apart from consumer information. Consumer education enables people to use consumer information, so they ultimately make informed decisions. Consuming is for most individuals a "natural" and accepted way to construct identity – “I am what I (...) Read more

Teaching consumer education

Following international studies and recommendations, consumer education in Dolceta is based in the COmpetence BAsed model for Consumer Education (COBACE). A competence is "a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to a particular situation". In the case of consumer education, the aim is to contribute to the development and improvement of competences for a permanent, healthy, sustainable, citizenship like lifestyle. Read more

Consumer education in the classroom

Consumer education is concerned with the skills, attitudes and knowledge required for living in a consumer society. Consumer education is a fundamental component of general education, which should support consumers in their attempts to organise their every-day lives in a sustainable way and deal fairly with the resources available. The primary goal of consumer education is to help consumers make informed, rational decisions in the marketplace Read more

Target groups and stakeholders

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 (...) Read more

Consumer education and the curriculum

All children and young people are consumers. They handle money, interpret consumer information and make choices. They have the same basic consumer rights as adults and need opportunities to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to make informed and responsible consumer decisions throughout their lives. Advertisers recognise the importance of young people’s spending power. They target advertising and marketing messages at specific age groups, even the very young. Research shows that from as early as four years old, children can distinguish between different (...) Read more