Privatekonomi i den nya gymnasieskolan : En läromedelsanalys inom samhällskunskap om hur läroböcker hanterar ämnet privatekonomi

This paper aims to study the correlation between the Swedish high school curricula and educational materials, i.e. educational books. More specifically if a selection of market available books fulfils the curriculums set requirements for the educational goal surrounding privatekonomi, personal finances. Because this is a new subject in Swedish social studies since 2011 for teenagers between the ages of 16–19, the author of this essay argues that it is therefore relevant to study educational books which are supposedly tailored to meet the new requirements, to see if they meet the set goals. To reach the goal of this paper, nine books have been studied with the help of läroplansteori, curricula theory, as Nina Wahlström presents it. Four so called kunskapstraditioner, traditions of knowledge, wherein “worthy” knowledge is subjective to each tradition, have been used in the interpretation of the selected books in order to correlate potentially flawed materials to one of these four traditions. Firstly, the books were studied with the purpose to discern if their contents were lacking. The curricula theory was applied afterwards to the interpretation of the books’ relevant chapters. In the end, four out of the nine books were deemed to have fulfilled every single goal the curricula had set for the subject of personal finances, whilst the remaining five were flawed to a varying degree. However, no set conclusions could be made if the faulty books were inherently different from their complete counterparts. Although the flawed books showed less of a connection to some traditions compared to the complete ones, this fact can be argued that it is the inclusion of personal finances itself that makes these books associate with some traditions more than the others. Further study on the subject is advised