Fresh-up Economics. Towards Economic Literacy in Europe

"European societies are more and more steeped in economy and its principles. The context of work, health care, pension insurance, life insurance, education and other spheres are progressively shaped by supply and demand, competition and efficiency. However, there is a lack of knowledge of what an economy is and what could be called economic reason. This causes uncertainty in particular in times of crises like the current climate change challenge, the growing social inequality, the fear of job loss due to digitisation, etc. As people normally refer to interpretations in public discourse, there is a threat that they may get attracted by nationalist and 'right wing' perspectives on economic, social and political phenomenons. Citizens need orientation, an 'order in mind' to cope with complexity and ambivalences to keep the humanistic values alive and 'updated' in times of change. The European societies, in turn, need well informed citizens so that the capacities of ALL may be transformed in ideas and actions for a Europe of democracy, prosperity, peace, sustainability and well-being. This project brings economists and adult educators of seven countries together to bridge the gap between the educational requirement and the missing offers of socio-economic learning in adult education. It aims to establish socio-economic education as part of general and civic education in Europe. This includes a ""fresh-up"" of economics by considering different schools of economic thinking as well as social and political aspects. Moreover, it shall combined with participative, creative methods to stimulate interest, overcoming fear in understanding economy, entrepreneurial competences, critical thinking, active citizenship and humanity. The exchange during five transnational meetings results in an educational platform (edu-kit) for Economic Literacy in Europe with 15 articles on issues such as economy and migration, the Euro zone project, women's economic empowerment through business skills, inequality, debts, climate change, etc. and related to them didactic tools to be applied in adult education. The edu-kit also contains glossary on basic economic terms. The project partners exchange on the article's subjects during learning, teaching, training activities ensuring that the texts are comprehensible, that multi-perspectivity (different economic schools), self-reflexion and method reflexion are put in practice and a European dimension is taken into account. The direct exchanges allow testing the methods developed according to the articles. In order to 'push' socio-economic learning in Europe, each partner holds a multiplyer event to present the platform and motivates its implementation in the educational practise of adult educators, the direct target group of the project."