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September 2010 - Economics in Education

1) Reading in Finance

This issue of the bulletin details several courses, research projects and collaborations that aim to further a comprehensive approach to the role of economics in education, which is also the subject of this months Associate! Items 6) 7) and 8) describe a course aimed at teachers, an international project for curriculum development and a University based research project respectively. Full outlines are available of each through the embedded links.

1) Reading in Finance

2) Associate! September 2010

3) Annual Goetheanum Economics Conference Meeting

4) Colours of Money, October 2010, California

5) Accounting For Oneself

6) Edge Funding, A Course in Finance for Teachers

7) The Importance of Economic Literacy for Our Time

8) Societal Finance - A Phd Research Project

2) Associate! September 2010

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How and why young people should learn about finance is a topic that has featured regularly in the pages of Associate!, and with good reason. Why this particular emphasis, especially when the calls for financial education are so widespread as to be almost universal?

Our view is that what is generally understood as 'financial literacy' is not only too weak and too shallow an approach, but is founded on an illusory idea of finance and is too biased to the individual. Worse still, such financial illiteracy, though based on an abstract idea of money, is increasingly becoming mandatory in schools. Moreover, it is funded by the state and delivered by its third sector agencies using formulaic curricula that bypass the understanding both of the students and those responsible for presenting the material.

In the lead item this month Arthur Edwards outlines an associative approach that he describes as societal finance which emphasises how, through accounting, students can foster and make conscious their own economic undertaking.

In Literacy before Loans, Sign of Our Time offers a typical and well-articulated view of the financial concerns of a young person.

The feature article, Leading Horses to Water, Jim Yih describes the need to care about finance as a remedy for the 'epidemic' of ignorance and goes on to offer a summary of current conventional understandings which place an emphasis on managing debt, the importance of savings and the basics of compound interest etc. Also interesting are the author's insights that 'The recent global financial crisis has shown that even “experts” can make unwise financial decisions, or act irresponsibly' and in the realm of financial literacy provision 'most organizations have their own agendas.'

The focus of this month's Friends' Page is on related topics concerning financial literacy, especially its absence from the public mind and projects aimed at addressing this lack.

Accounting Corner completes the issue with a prompt to the banks to provide real financial advice.

Lead: Societal Finance Arthur Edwards

A Sign of Our Time: Literacy Before Loans

Feature: 3 Kinds of Deposit Toby Baxendale

Feature: The Need for Financial Education Jim Yih

Glossary: O : Own Capital

News and Views: CLT rejoinder, Economic Literacy Initiatives, the ae-cafe

Accounting Corner: Real Financial Advice Stephen Torr

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3) Annual Goetheanum Economics Conference Meeting

An invitation to participate in the 9th Annual Meeting of the Economics Conference taking place in Neuchatel Switzerland, 16–19 September 2010

Follow this link for details.

4) The Colours of Money, October 2010, California

The next Colours of Money will take place from October 22-24 in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California, USA. Details are available at theaecafe.com

Derived from Rudolf Steiner’s contribution to economic and monetary history, The Colors of Money© seminar looks at the history and purpose of money and how it can be the main instrument for bringing about real and lasting change in our economic circumstances. Grounded in associative economics – an approach that covers many schools of thought, beginning with Aristotle and leading up to today’s wide range of views from mainstream to alternative – the seminar ranges from the problems of small businesses to larger questions of global finance and the power of corporations. Offering a radical yet concrete and in-depth approach to money in our times, it is presented using colored chalk imagery on black paper, a technique intended to overcome the reputation of economics as a dismal science!

5) Accounting for Oneself - 10th October London

Open to all and practically focused, this workshop explores the why and how of accounting from the perspective of Rudolf Steiner's economic thinking. It is designed for individuals and enterprises wanting to adopt an associative approach to the accounting of their activities and includes 'walk-throughs' on the logic of double-entry bookkeeping and the use of an accounting template to promote associative thinking. Benefits of attendance range from the technical matters (e.g. data processing) to managerial issues (cash flow and capitalization) and overall strategy (combining 'core values' and financial planning).

Please take contact for further details: Arthur Edwards ame (at) cfae.biz

Venue to be confirmed

6) Edge Funding, A Course in Finance for Teachers

Modern finance through Rudolf Steiner's eyes - An introductory course with Dr. Christopher Houghton Budd

Follow this link for details

There is perhaps no greater challenge today than understanding modern finance. Many of today's pressures derive from the way we behave or are expected to behave in regard to finance; pressures that are only increased by lack of understanding and the bewilderment and disempowerment this can bring. This is even more the case if one sees finance as something merely outer and not as the deeply spiritual event it in reality is. By bringing together two themes normally kept apart – finance and the threshold – and by spanning from the big picture to hands-on, from comprehension to competence, this course is designed to equip participants with an appreciation of modern finance, cladding them against an often otherwise harsh environment.

'Financial markets are like the mirror of mankind, revealing every hour of every working day the way we value ourselves and the resources of the world around us [so that] it is not the fault of the mirror if it reflects our blemishes as clearly as our beauty.' – Niall Ferguson

'It means extinction and death to the economic body when we deprive the individual of his initiative, which must proceed from his spirit and take part in the ordering of the means of production purely for the benefit of human society.' – Rudolf Steiner

12 Saturdays (9.00 to 10.00), 26 September 2010 to 9 July 2011

7) The Importance of Economic Literacy for Our Time

An invitation to collaborate in a new approach to Economics in Waldorf High Schools

Follow this link for the full project outline

This proposal outlines a collaborative model for researching and developing an approach to economic literacy in Waldorf High Schools that is intended to inform and transform the way students view and work with money, finance, and enterprise. Waldorf education is in a unique position to instill a conscious approach to economic life by fostering social enterprise and making visible its financial side as preparation for contemporary life. If spiritual values are at the heart of Waldorf education, then demystifying money is essential to supporting students' developing understanding of themselves and the world. In this way, they can learn to manage their own economic endeavors as they form their identities, and thus create an antidote to the pervasive and invasive consumerism of the culture in which they live.

The Economic Literacy Initiative Group

John Bloom, RSF Social Finance
Arthur Edwards, Centre for Associative Economics
Gary Lamb, Hawthorne Valley Association

8) The Societal Role of Financial Literacy

A Phd Research Project by Arthur Edwards to be undertaken at Bristol University, UK

Follow this link for full details

What is financial literacy; how should it be taught; and what are its macro-economic consequences?

The aim of this project is to further the development of financial literacy that is robust enough to engender societal as well as individual economic outcomes. The three questions above constitute the core of a research project that aims to establish a link between the crisis in finance and the kind of economic education that has informed our society in its financial behaviour to date.

The Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin provides an overview of what is going on around the world in the associative economics movement. The bulletin is viewable as a webpage at www.cfae.biz/fae-bulletin/10Aug/