BEYOND CLASSROOM INCLUSION: DEVELOPING ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIP COMPETENCES FOR ALL

Abstract

This paper addresses in the Italian system the relationship between school inclusion, individualised educational planning, and economic citizenship, arguing for the integration of financial literacy within the Individualised Education Plan as a structural competence oriented towards adult life. Within this perspective, special pedagogy is understood as a foundational body of knowledge underpinning the entire teaching profession, whilst the PEI is conceived as a pedagogical instrument for designing personal autonomy and social participation, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030. The theoretical framework draws upon the capability approach (Sen, 1999; Nussbaum, 2011) and self-determination theory (Wehmeyer, 2005; Shogren et al., 2015), which identify autonomous decision-making and the management of personal economic resources as constitutive dimensions of adult quality of life. The paper demonstrates how the principal international financial literacy strategies — including OECD/INFE frameworks and the European guidelines on “Pathways to School Success” (Council of the EU, 2022) — remain insufficiently oriented towards learners with disabilities and social vulnerabilities, notwithstanding that these groups are among those most exposed to the risk of economic exclusion and dependency. A pilot pedagogical proposal is advanced through an interdisciplinary Learning Unit integrable within the PEI, articulating essential economic competences across five domains: money and transactions, budget management, conscious consumption, economic security, and autonomous decision-making. Economic citizenship is thus reframed as a universal educational entitlement and an integral component of the life project, within the perspective of an inclusive school committed to fostering learners capable of participating freely, critically, and self-determinedly in adult society.