Students' production of curricular knowledge: Perspectives on empowerment in financial capability education

The aim of this article is to extend our understanding of the relationship between knowledge of personal finance and empowerment. The analysis is based on interview data obtained as part of a longitudinal study of students, aged 16-19, who completed a financial capability course in the UK. The analysis presents a set of cultural models or storylines implied in student discourse about what it means to be financially capable. Possibilities for empowerment are interpreted from these cultural models with implications for how we define the boundaries of financial capability education. References to empowerment in terms of having a voice and feeling confident to make consumer decisions and to advise others in matters of finance were common across the interview data. However, a form of knowledge and empowerment that positioned students not as aware consumers but as individuals with a critical awareness of financial and economic systems was less evident. © The Author(s) 2011.