Happ, Roland

Pilz, Matthias

English

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EditorialResearch in Comparative &International Education2022, Vol. 17(2) 149–152© The Author(s) 2022Article reuse guidelines:sagepub.com/journals-permissionsDOI: 10.1177/17454999221103092journals.sagepub.com/home/rciEconomic competences of youngadults around the worldRoland HappChair of Vocational Education and Training - Specialization in Economics, Institute for Business and Economics Education,Faculty of Economics and Management Science, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyMatthias PilzChair of Economics and Business Education, Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne,Koln, GermanyYoung adults around the world face many similar challenges. This also applies, among others, to thefield of economic thinking. On the one hand, young adults have to make various economic decisionson a daily basis, for example, when shopping. On the other hand, they are confronted in variousways with different areas of economics in relation to their choice of career. As a result, a growinginterest in teaching issues such as basic economic knowledge, financial literacy, or pre-vocationaleducation (Pilz et al., 2014, 2016) and also a more in-depth assessments of the economic com-petences of young adults embedded in an international comparison are increasingly emerging (Happet al., 2021; Happ and Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, 2021; Siegfried and Walstad, 2014).The fact that there is an empirically valid, comparable construct is not a sufficient basis for acomprehensive international comparison. It should rather be the educational problems of thecountries that provide the starting point for comparison. In particular, globalization developments ineconomic competences and common challenges in promoting these competences have motivatedseveral comparative studies (Walstad et al., 2013; Wuttke et al., 2016).The eight studies in this issue combine the testing of economic competences with a detailedcomparative analysis, including ideographic aspects (Hilker, 1962). This is the basis for “real”comparative analyses (Evans, 2020; Pilz, 2012). The combination of significant empirical resultsand an in-depth comparative analysis is the innovative core of the research. Therefore, the focus ofthe issue is on comparative papers on the economic competences of young adults from 14 countries.The eight papers are always ideographically embedded and the findings are discussed and comparedin a profound manner. The link between all papers is the topic of economic competence. Accordingto internationally well-recognized definition Weinert (2001), competence can be understood as theavailable or learnable cognitive abilities and skills required to successfully cope with economicproblems and questions. This competent handling of problems also includes the motivational andvolitional willingness and abilities associated with cognitive dispositions to deal with the problem.In the context of economics and thus of these issues, the focus is on the skills and abilities required toCorresponding author:Roland Happ, Chair of Vocational Education and Training - Specialization in Economics, Institute for Business andEconomics Education, Faculty of Economics and Management Science, Leipzig University, Grimmaische Straße 12, Leipzig04109, Germany.Email: happ@wifa.uni-leipzig.desolve economic and financial problems and challenges associated with the motivational and vo-litional willingness. In the papers, both cognitive (e.g., economic and financial knowledge) and non-cognitive (e.g., interest in economic situations and attitudes towards economic questions) elementsof this competence construct are examined.The eight papers include data from a total of 14 countries. The studies were conducted inGermany, Russia, the USA, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Estonia, Flanders, Italy,Slovakia, Austria, and Switzerland. In the sense of the title “around the world,” this issue is thereforecharacterized by the large number of country-specific perspectives on economic competences. Thearticles systematically present the educational systems of the countries, especially from the per-spective of economic education.The question is how to cluster the eight articles. This clustering is not intended to be purelygeographical in this editorial. It would be possible, for example, to distinguish the Europeancountries from the non-European countries. However, this does not do justice to the construct ofeconomic competences. There are clear differences within Europe in the perspective of howeconomic competences are modeled. For example, the Western European understanding differssignificantly from the Eastern European perspective (Grable et al., 2009). Therefore, a purelygeographic clustering is not helpful.For this reason, we have clustered on the basis of proximity to a Western perspective oneconomic competences. The papers show that the more distant the two countries are from each otherin terms of a Western perspective on the economic order, the more cultural adaptations are requiredfor the test adaptation of a measurement instrument. Since the test is already widely and commonlyused in theWestern world, it had to be adapted to a greater extent for the other countries. In our view,this is a substantive method of clustering that can be incorporated for the papers.The paper by Kraitzek et al. includes the two countries Germany and the USA. The testadaptation presented in the paper shows that there were comparatively few changes in the testadaptation in these two countries due to the very similar economic structures. However, the differentcurricular anchoring of economic content in Germany and the USA poses significant challenges forthe authors.The two articles by Ackermann and Siegfried as well as Jüttler and Schumann both includeSwitzerland. In the article by Ackermann and Siegfried, Switzerland and Germany are comparedwith the goal of promoting and examining content knowledge and argumentation skills in socio-economic contexts. The article by Jüttler and Schumann transfers findings from Switzerland toGermany, Japan and the USA. In this paper the long-term effects of students’ economic com-petences on the transition from school to university are analyzed. Switzerland occupies a specialposition within Europe with regard to the economic competences of young adults. German is themost widely used lingua franca in Switzerland, which is why test adaptation is not very challengingfrom a linguistic point of view. However, the two articles show that Switzerland, as a non-member ofthe European Union, is subject to special economic conditions that need to be taken into accountwhen assessing and comparing economic competences. Under certain restrictions, however,transferable findings between Switzerland and Germany, the USA and Japan are possible.The articles by Federjakin et al. andCannistra et al. show similar challenges. Federjakin et al.compare the economic competences of Russian and German learners. The article by Cannistraet al. includes the Netherlands, Flanders, Italy, Slovakia, and Estonia. The two papers show that inthe case of these studies, more significant adjustments had to be made in the test adaptation. This canalso be attributed to the fact that Russia, Estonia, and Slovakia exhibit differences in economiccompetences due to the influence of the former Soviet Union. These differences have to be takeninto account in the test adaptation and interpretation of data.150 Research in Comparative & International Education 17(2)Last but not least, the articles by Reichert-Schlax et al.,Happ et al. as well as Pilz et al. can beclustered. Reichert-Schlax and colleagues compare the economic competences of German andJapanese students in tertiary education. Happ et al. include German and South Korean tertiarystudents and compare financial literacy as a subfield of economic competences. With Austria, India,and China, Pilz et al. also face the challenge of adapting an instrument to very different countries intest adaptation. The three studies show that a comparison of economic literacy is also possiblebetween European and Asian countries. There are core concepts in economics that can be identifiedas common denominators for such a comparison and for which a comparison is possible.The 14 countries included in this issue appear to be very diverse. But a closer look at the findingson learners’ economic literacy in these countries reveals that they face very similar challenges. Weargue that joint collaboration is enriching for the participating countries in such comparative studiesand learning from each other’s experience as one important aim of comparative research can berealized in the addressed area of competence development.A total of 21 anonymous reviewers made an important contribution to the success of this issue.Thanks to the many constructive comments, the authors have significantly improved the articles intwo rounds of revisions. Finally, we would like to thank Prof. Dr. Hubert Ertl for the opportunity toedit this issue. Many thanks for the constructive comments. Our special thanks also go to Ms HeidiMöhker, who very patiently guided us through the various review phases.Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/orpublication of this article.FundingThe author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.ORCID iDsMatthias Pilz  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-6915Roland Happ  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6829-2909ReferencesEvans K (2020) Comparative vocational education and training research: What purposes does it serve? In: PilzM and Li J (eds), Comparative Vocational Education Research -Enduring Challenges and New WaysForward. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 3–19.Grable J, Park JY and Joo SH (2009) Explaining financial management behavior for Koreans living in theUnited States. The Journal of Consumer Affairs 43(1): 80–107.Happ R and Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia O (2021) International comparative analyses of students’ economicknowledge using the test of economic literacy. In: Beck K and Oser F (eds), Resultate und Probleme derBerufsbildungsforschung: Festschrift für Susanne Weber [Results and Problems of Vocational EducationResearch: Festschrift for Susanne Weber]. Bielefeld: wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG, pp. 43–62.Happ R, Kato M and Rüter I (2021) Results from the test of economic literacy in Germany and Japan: a criticaldiscussion on the gender effect. Citizenship, Social and Economics Education 20(1): 48–68.Hilker F (1962) Vergleichende Pädagogik. Eine Einführung in ihre Geschichte, Theorie und Praxis [Com-parative education. An introduction to its history, theory and practice]. München: Hueber.Happ and Pilz 151Pilz M (2012) International comparative research into vocational training: methods and approaches. In: Pilz M(ed), The Future of Vocational Education and Training in a ChangingWorld. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp.561–588.Pilz M, Berger S and Canning R (2014) Pre-vocational education in seven European countries: a comparison ofcurricular embedding and implementation in schools. European Journal of Educational Research 3(1):25–41.Pilz M, Krisanthan B, Michalik B, et al. (2016) Learning for life and/or work: the status quo of pre-vocationaleducation in India, China, Germany and the USA. Research in Comparative and International Education11(2): 117–134.Siegfried JJ and Walstad WB (2014) Undergraduate coursework in the economics curriculum: a surveyperspective. Journal of Economic Education 45(2): 147–158.Walstad WB, Rebeck K and Butters RB (2013) The test of economic literacy: development and results. TheJournal of Economic Education 44(3): 298–309.Weinert FE (2001) Concept of competence: a conceptual clarification. In: Rychen S and Salganik LH (eds),Defining and Selecting Key Competencies. Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber, pp. 45–66.Wuttke E, Seifried J and Schumann S (eds), (2016) Economic competence and financial literacy of youngadults: status and challenges. Leverkusen-Opladen: Barbara Budrich.152 Research in Comparative & International Education 17(2)

Economic competences of young adults around the world

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Economic competences of young adults around the world

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