Consumer education

Management and participation at home

The home is a central operating environment for the consumer. The home and household can be systems that consist of more than one individual. A well functioning consumer's household is an adaptive system, which ensures its continuation by securing alternative sustainable ways of operating in various life situations. A diverse system is able to cope with changes in circumstances. If one is to be aware of one's own and the environment's functioning and status, effective systems of information and feedback are required, and these can help us prepare for new situations and make flexible corrections to our ways of working. Managing this system is home management. 

Home management skills are based on understanding goals, roles and responsibilities, having foresight and the ability to share work processes. Managing the home and participation encompasses social skills that facilitate the formation of the commitment required to manage daily life, build shared understandings and tolerate differences. Home and household perspectives also enable participation in learning and consumer citizenship skills on a broader scale. 

Objectives

The learner learns how to responsibly maintain the functioning of the home environment by allocating resources and making decisions. Learners acquire the ability to evaluate factors like the consumer's household social relationships, time management, leisure and chores. Learners are able to assess how consumption habits influence our well-being, ability to work and our financial situation. 

Learners will

  • Realise the significance of the household and be able to consider the aspects of physical and mental safety in their choices and actions.
  • Understand the significance of the household in planning and managing consumption choices and assessing their consequences.
  • Make responsible decisions and be able to manage the household and work processes and the decision-making related to them, e.g. food choices and preparation, care of textiles and one’s residence, care and maintenance, transport, time management, leisure and energy consumption.
  • Understand the value of household work and be able to function efficiently in their household and local environment.
  • Know how to use product safety labels and operating instructions and be aware of their right to receive safe products and services.
  • Be able to assess products, services and sources of information and evaluate their suitability for their own household in a critical manner when making decisions.

Core contents

  • Household planning and the mastery of everyday life
    • Foresight, systems thinking and product lifecycle awareness
    • Democratic values, equality and personal social responsibility
    • Cultural awareness
    • Caring and confident adulthood
    • Well-being
    • Influencing decisions
    • Responsibility for finances
  • Health and safety in daily life choices
    • Nutritional recommendations (obesity, malnutrition)
    • Healthy, sustainable and safe food
    • Economical and purposeful food preparation
    • Cleaning and textile care
    • Product labels
    • Safe products and services and using them responsibly
    • Home surveillance technology
    • Entertainment electronics and home appliances
    • Safe use of pharmaceutical products
  • Home maintenance and responsibility
    • Home maintenance in a sustainable and responsible manner
    • Chores and time management
    • Waste management and recycling
    • Energy and transport
    • Automatic tools to make daily life easier
  • Choosing and using technology and media
    • Own needs vs. advertisers' needs
    • Consumer's freedom of choice (open source software, competition between suppliers)
    • Commercial media
    • Evaluating one's own technological environment, the compatibility of systems
    • Loss in value when buying trend technology
    • Limitations on adopting technology or media at home
    • Instructions for use and maintenance, contracts, copyright
    • Equality, gender, age etc
Print