The Quebec Financial Education Program A necessary change of perspective

In this chapter, the authors draw on literature in didactics, published in French and English, about the deliberative goals of teaching in social studies through socially active questions (SAQ) and try to apply such a perspective to a specific context. In September 2017, Québec’s Ministry of Education introduced a new required high school course as a part of the social studies curriculum focusing on financial literacy. By identifying textual patterns and themes in the Québec Financial Education Program (QFEP), the authors note a curricular paradox between its critical and deliberative inclinations, and the erasure of SAQ, since the program focuses exclusively on personal finance and does not consider a critical approach to financial education. They offer a portrait of what the QFEP could be if the critical paradigm based on SAQ and controversial issues were used to define financial education. Such a change in perspective could potentially influence the ability of the QFEP to meet its critical mission.