A comparative analysis of financial literacy skills in the social studies curriculum from the perspectives of business people and of elementary school teachers

One of the skills that has become increasingly important recently is financial literacy. Financial literacy is important in the economic well-being of individuals and the development and progress of societies; It can be expressed as one of the prominent skills that students will need in their school lives, future business lives and while maintaining and planning their private lifes. Therefore, this skill should be gained students from an early age. In this context, financial literacy skills are included in the 2018 SBDÖP. However, the definition, scope and applications of financial literacy and the achievements that can be directly associated with it are not specified in social studies curriculum clearly; It seems that there is no detailed information about how to gain this skill to students. In order to draw the general framework of financial literacy in terms of definition, scope and implementation, this research aims to determine the opinions of business people and elementary school teachers regarding financial literacy and to examine them comparatively. It is thought that this research can contribute to drawing the general framework of financial literacy from a broad perspective and to carrying out effective implementations regarding financial literacy in elementary schools. Phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. The participants of the research consist of 13 elementary school teachers working in five public primary schools at different (lower, middle, upper) socio-economic levels in Afyonkarahisar city center in the second semester of the 2022-2023 academic year and also 13 business people working in different sectors in Afyonkarahisar city center. Research data was collected through face-to-face interviews. The interviews were analyzed with content analysis. As a result of the research, from the opinions of elementary school teachers; The themes of the definition of financial literacy, financial literacy practices, financial literacy in social studies curriculum and textbook, resources and tools used in financial literacy education, contributions of financial literacy, opinions and justifications regarding financial literacy self-efficacy, and problems and results related to financial literacy were reached. As a result of interviews with business people; definition of financial literacy, contributions of financial literacy, suggestions for increasing financial literacy skills, financial literacy indicators, activities carried out to become financially literate, financial literacy problems in business life, opinions and justifications regarding financial literacy self-efficacy, characteristics of successful business people and financial literacy themes in schools. has been reached. It has been determined that most elementary school teachers and business people consider themselves to be moderately financially literate. Participants stated that financial literacy has many contributions to teachers, students, individuals, society, employees and employers; They stated that they encountered many problems and problems related to financial literacy in their lives. Elementary school teachers stated that they carried out different practices and activities related to financial literacy in Social Studies classes; They also explained that they benefited from different sources other than the textbook. They stated that SBDÖP and the textbook are lacking in financial literacy and need to be improved. Business people have made suggestions to employers and employees to increase financial literacy skills. The majority of business people stated that they did not receive training on financial literacy, but acquired knowledge through professional and life experience; They explained that they pay attention to professional qualifications, personal characteristics and evaluation criteria in employees when recruiting. In addition, business people stated that financial literacy education should be given practically to students in schools from an early age. When the opinions of business people and elementary school teachers about financial literacy are compared; It has been observed that business people make comprehensive, in-depth, social and multidimensional evaluations with different perspectives on financial literacy because they are involved in business life and have experience in this field. Elementary school teachers, on the other hand, made limited and superficial evaluations about financial literacy. Keywords: Social Studies course, financial literacy, business people, elementary school teachers, skills