Conference Program

Financial education is increasingly recognized as a key prerequisite for social participation, as it equips individuals with the knowledge and competencies required to make informed and responsible economic decisions. Economic agency, in this sense, extends beyond the instrumental management of financial resources and represents a fundamental condition for autonomous and meaningful participation in contemporary societies. Individuals who understand economic interrelations are better equipped to articulate their interests reflectively, to critically assess societal developments, and to participate competently in public discourse. From a pedagogical perspective, social participation is closely linked to the development of democratic competencies. Active involvement in social, economic, and political processes strengthens democratic awareness, as individuals do not merely comprehend democratic principles cognitively but experience them in practice. In this sense, financial education can be understood as an integral component of comprehensive civic and political education, since economic competence forms an essential foundation for responsible democratic participation. Within this framework, the integrated education system emphasizes the importance of structured collaboration among multiple stakeholders in order to foster students’ engagement and support the development of participation competencies. Such collaboration may involve schools and universities, teacher education institutions, public authorities, financial institutions, civil society organisations, local community actors, and families.

Accordingly, this study is situated within that perspective and highlights the strategic cooperation between formal educational institutions (schools and universities), policy actors (such as school authorities and governmental bodies), and external stakeholders, particularly banks, operating within both informal and non-formal learning environments and embedded in structured collaborative networks. The integrated education system thus promotes multi-level partnerships in which formal education providers work together with external actors, especially financial institutions partnering with schools to deliver financial education programmes, in order to create coherent, practice-oriented, and socially embedded educational pathways.

In a small-scale regional context such as South Tyrol/Alto Adige, three fundamental forms of cooperation have been established through the formalization of agreements:

1. A research partnership between the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Economics.
2. A programme based on a “train-the-trainers” model involving university students and teachers.
3. A formal agreement between the National Bank, the local bank (Cassa di Risparmio), and the Italian school authority-already involving several school districts and soon to include the German school authority-providing structured training packages and educational formats.

In future research, and in line with a growing body of international literature, the research group aims to further investigate the effects of this initiative. In particular, the study seeks to explore whether economic literacy can be confirmed as a significant predictor of students’ engagement in civic participation. Moreover, ongoing data collection within this collaborative model will examine whether integrated educational strategies, linking formal curricula with informal learning experiences and peer-group-based economic socialization, are capable of strengthening students’ competencies in school settings which foster innovation. The extent to which such collaborative approaches contribute to sustainable educational and civic outcomes remains an open empirical question.