An investigation of the financial literacy in high school mathematics curriculum and textbooks

The aim of the study was to investigate the high school mathematics course curriculum and high school mathematics textbooks approved by the Board of Education and Discipline in the 2018-2019 academic year in terms of financial literacy skills. Employing the document analysis, the data was collected from the 2018 High School Mathematics Course Curriculum and the high school mathematics textbooks (9-12th grades) through the Financial Literacy Review Form developed by the researchers in line with three main financial literacy dimensions, namely content, process and context, within the scope of 2012 PISA Financial Literacy skills. Qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis. The findings indicated that the financial literacy concepts, dimensions and components included in the curriculum are given in a limited scope; the distribution of financial literacy across the grade levels is random, not systematic. However, the results clearly showed that the financial literacy content included in the textbooks is more balanced and detailed than the curriculum. It is believed that the results of the study will contribute to the understanding of the importance of financial literacy skills in the education process, which has been accepted as one of the basic competencies in many countries curricula in recent years, and to determine the current situation in the high school mathematics course curriculum and textbooks, and to contribute to the curriculum development or revision studies to be made in the future.