It is everyone’s duty to realize a more human, fraternal and sustainable economy, but to teach and promote it right from school is an educational challenge. Thus, an educational proposal for the teachers and educators is born: EoF in class. Let us tell you what this is about…..

Till a year or so ago, to talk about economy was a task delegated only to the universities, to the enterprises, to the government… in short, it was a topic for adults. But the modern era has brought us to see the economy with new eyes and new responsibilities (as well as new emergencies), to such an extent that today this is a discipline with a language that has entered civil life, and has demonstrated to have intimately connected with themes such as ecology, progress, happiness, etc.

It is here, in this generational transition, that the school becomes an educational context to talk, moreover, of finance, enterprise and sustainability. The children and teens practice, learn and question the economy. Thus, it is important to ask ourselves: which economy must enter the schools? Luigi Bruni, economist and scientific director of The Economy of Francesco, answers:

“It is important to talk to schools about the economy as governance of the Common House, of the common goods, of the planet, of the air, of the earth. If the question is which economy must enter the schools, for me the answer is: The Economy of Francesco. That is a fraternal economy, earth friendly, an economy that moves away from speculation, an economy of gratuitousness, because we must protect the youth from the traders, and instead make them meet the economy of the common good, as is the economy of Saint Francis and Pope Francis”.

Lively, creative and proactive, the youth of The Economy of Francesco (EoF), a global community of young entrepreneurs, economists and changemakers, decide to give life to an initiative to bring this economy in schools: an educational kit.

For months, they defined a strategy that would be able to answer the young student’s economical questions through a new language, an economic language with a soul. A kit capable of reviving the economic vision born from schools, a support for the many teachers willing and eager to bring new knowledge in class.

In fact, in his first letter to the youth of the EoF, Pope Francis highlighted that the places of learning are “construction sites of hope to build other ways to understand the economy and progress, to fight the culture of discard, to give voice to who doesn’t have it, to offer new lifestyles”.

“EoF in class. Protagonist schools of change” is the title the youth gave this instrument that was finally presented to the public on the 27th of March. During the presentation of the kit, Chiara Scardicchio, professor of experimental pedagogy who appreciated the educational proposal intervened and said that often “we think that having a kit to teach means already having everything organized, having a method. It is true that in the past teaching was thought as only theory and thus an instrument was needed. But what risk have we passed? We passed from the idolatry of theory to the idolatry of practice. Believing that the economy suggested by the Pope is an economy limited to some methods (technique) is completely wrong, firstly because it is an economy concerning a paradigm shift, a transition of the vision, a change of the narration”.

The kit provides the teachers with instruments that favor brainstorming, it presents the journey of the youth of The Economy of Francesco in the last three years, it proposes sessions of questions and answers to the teens, group projects, it inspires the reflection on the big challenges of today’s economy, it allows the students to learn more about the great themes on which The Economy of Francesco has worked on, it encourages research and makes them learn about projects and initiatives that already experiment and practice the new economic models.

“In a formative proposal inspired by The Economy of Francesco – Scardicchio underlines – the teachers, educators, and parents must have an open posture. That means that also we must be in a continuous and mutual learning, a transformative learning”.

For the time being, the kit is available only in Italian and can be requested at this link:

https://francescoeconomy.org/it/eof-in-classe/