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Crisis and Economic Education in Europe Vol. 12, No 2 (2013): Crisis and Economic Education in Europe ISSN 1618-5293 published by: sowi-online e.V. Journal of Social Science Education © JSSE 2013 Volume 12, Number 2 ISSN 1618-5293 Masthead Editors: Prof. Dr. Reinhold Hedtke, Bielefeld University, Faculty of Sociology Prof. Ian Davies, PhD, Department of Educational Studies, University of York, UK Prof. Dr. Andreas Fischer, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Tilman Grammes, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Human Movement Prof. Isabel Menezes, PhD, University of Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences Prof. Dr. Birgit Weber, University of Cologne, Faculty of Human Sciences Editors of this Issue: Prof. Dr. Birgit Weber, University of Cologne, Faculty of Human Sciences Prof. Dr. Hans Jürgen Schlösser (Guest Editor), University of Siegen, Center for economic education in Siegen (ZöBiS) Editorial Assistant: Simon Niklas Hellmich Editorial Office: Journal of Social Science Education Bielefeld University Faculty of Sociology Postbox 100 131 33501 Bielefeld Germany E-Mail: [email protected] http://jsse.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/index.php/jsse/index Editorial Board: Prof. Dr. Helena C. Araújo, Portugal; Prof. Dr. François Audigier, Genève, Switzerland; Prof. Dr. Cesar Birzea, Bucharest, Romania; Prof. Pepka Boyadjieva, Sofia, Bulgaria; Ass. Prof. Dr. Kenan Çayir, Istanbul, Turkey; Prof. Peter Davies, PhD, Stoke-on-Trent, UK; Prof. Dr. Georgi Dimitrov, Sofia, Bulgaria; Ass. Prof. Niklas Eklund, PhD, Umeå, Sweden; Prof. Dr. Peter Filzmaier, Krems, Austria; Prof. Dr. Karl Peter Fritzsche, Magdeburg, Germany; Prof. Dr. Ipek Gurkaynak, Ankara, Turkey; Prof. Dr. Ireneusz Pawel Karolewski, Wroclaw, Poland; Prof. Takahiro Kondo, PhD, Tokyo, Japan; Prof. Dr. Gitsa Kontogiannopoulou- Polydorides, Athens, Greece; Dr. Janez Krek, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Prof. Dr. Klaus- Peter Kruber, Kiel, Germany; Ass. Prof., PhD, Anna Larsson, Umeå, Sweden; Prof. Dr. Bruno Losito, Rome, Italy; Ass. Prof. Despina Makridou-Bousiou, Thessaloniki, Greece; Dr. Tristan McCowan, London, UK; Prof. Erich Mistrik, PhD, Bratislava, Slovakia; Prof. Dr. Concepción Naval, Pamplona, Spain; Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Fritz Oser, Fribourg, Switzerland; Prof. Dr. Dr. Constantinos Papanastasiou, Nicosia, Cyprus (passed away on January 20, 2012); Prof. Dr. Vedrana Spajic-Vrkas, Zagreb, Croatia; Prof. Dr. Anu Toots, Tallinn, Estonia; Prof., PhD, Ilo Trajkovski Skopje, Rep. Macedonia; Prof. Dr. Nicole Tutiaux- Guillon, Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France; Dr. Ruud Veldhuis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Prof. Arja Virta, Turku, Finland; Ass. Prof. Dr. Irena Zaleskiené, Vilnius, Lithuania The Journal of Social Science Education is published quarterly by sowi-online e.V., a non-profit organisation and registered society at the Bielefeld Court of Record (Registergericht), Germany. Members of the JSSE team are the editors, the editorial assistant, the technical staff, and the editorial board. Contents: Editorial: Birgit Weber: Editorial: Crises in Europe and Challenges for Economic Education…………………....2-10 Special Topic Articles: Crisis and Economic Education in Europe Ewald Mittelstaedt, Roman Lutz, Claudia Wiepcke: The Financial Crisis – An Ideal Teaching Moment…………….............................…11-22 Iraklis Pliakis, Christos Digkas, Despoina Bousiou-Makridou, Stavros Tsopoglou: The Impact of Economic Crisis on the Perception and Knowledge Level of Students Regarding Economic and Financial Concepts…..…….23-30 Agnieszka Jeziorki, Alain Legardez, Doris Valente: Taking into Account Knowledge Representations about the Crisis, Uncertainty and Risk in Teaching Economics: A Comparative Study of European Students in Economic Programmes……….…..……………..................31-41 Sandra Speer, Günther Seeber: Financial Understanding: A Phenomenographic Access to Students’ Concepts of Credits………………………..............……………………………..42-52 Jan Lofström, Marko van den Berg: Making Sense of the Financial Crisis in Economic Education: An Analysis of the Upper Secondary School Social Studies Teaching in Finland in the 2010’s………………..................................................................…53-68 Tadayoshi Asano, Michio Yamaoka, Shintaro Abe: The Quality and Attitude of High School Teachers of Economics in Japan: An Explanation of Sample Data ..........................................…69-78 Review: The State of the Art in Economics Education Research Celeste Varum, Abigail Ferreira, Ana Breda: Economics Education Research: Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Research, Directions and Trends in the Past Decades……..…................………......79-86 Project: Michael Weyland, Marco Rehm: How Can Economics Education be Implemented Without a Separate Subject? A Case Study from Germany.…….......................................................................…87-93 1 Journal of Social Science Education © JSSE 2013 Volume 12, Number 2 ISSN 1618-5293 Birgit Weber Editorial: Crises in Europe and Challenges for Economic Education Keywords: economic crisis, European crises, concepts, views and minds about European crises, economic education Since 2009 the European Union is facing a severe At such dynamically changing times, where eco- economic crisis. Does the current crisis reflect the nomy is affected by multiple crises and in which failure of the economic player or markets? Or does it also the discipline of economics critically reflects even reflect the failure of an entire economic system their limitations, it does not belong to the easiest inevitably culminating in speculative bubbles, tasks of economic education to provide with increasing economic inequality, always accompanied orientation, judgment, decision-making and action by severe crises? Or is it more of a failure of the according to economic situations, problems and political institutions that relinquished its power by phenomena. On the one hand, the crises generates the liberalization of financial markets, cancelling the quite considerable interest by their ubiquity, liability of financial institutions, becoming helpless particularly focusing on the other hand only on repair institutions of financial capitalism? Or is the fragments and dominant controversies of the European crisis “only” an extension of the global respective current situations. On the one hand, the financial crisis of 2008, which resulted in the rescue understanding of relationships and developments is of individual states, brought them to stumble complex and on the other hand, considerable themselves? Or does it just bring the design flaws of uncertainty and controversy of experts create the the European Monetary System to light? There is no impression of arbitrariness. As the Crises reveal a doubt about a tremendous complexity according to lot of interdependencies, also rigorous analytical the current crises. separations between economic and political Also there is a lot of radical criticism not only as a dimensions are hardly possible. While a purely topic to the left or alternative movements, but also political view or a focus obscures the social to business leaders and economists themselves. "The consequences also for existing economic laws, a capitalist system no longer fits into the world" sole focus on the challenges of economic laws resumed Klaus Schwab (2012), founder and suppresses cultural differences, economic historical Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum developments, lack of development of institutions 2012. Economists, business ethics and social as well as individual and social affection. scientists complain that the financial and euro crisis Three years ago the Journal of Social Science illustrate the failure of conventional economics with Education focus ‘Civic and Economic Education and their unshakable faith in the self-healing forces of the Current Financial Crisis’ (see: Hedtke JSSE 1- the markets (Colander et al. 2009, Me'M 2012). 2010, Hippe JSSE 2-2010). Most of the articles in German and French economics students (e.g. Plural 2010 reflect the financial crisis not only as an Network Economics) criticized in 2012, that the economic crisis, but look also at moral, social and global financial crisis did not matter in their studies political intertwining as well. This current issue of and claimed a more critical use of economic the Journal of Social Science Education was initiated knowledge and also more plurality. George Akerlof mainly by the conference of the Association of and Robert Shiller (2009) criticized the failure of Economics Education in Europe with the subject modern economics ignoring the animal spirits. In ‘Economic Crisis – Catastrophe or Opportunity?’ in Interviews Dennis Snower (2012), President of the 2012 in Germany, when mostly experts of economic Kiel Institute for the World Economy, reflects, that education focus on the on-going crises. At the the economy is standing at the begin of a revolution conference 21 lectures and workshops dealt with and Thomas Straubhaar (2012), Director of the economic crisis and financial education as well as Hamburg Institute of International Economics calls with developing, measuring and diagnosing econo- for an end to the imperialism of economists. mic, business and entrepreneurial competences. Before we editors present an insight into some of Birgit Weber is Professor for the contributions of the conference, which was also social science with a focus offered to the journal, and passed the anonymous on economic education at review process, respectively showed good practice University
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