Economics is included as a central part off all society-oriented education from early years of primary school up to upper secondary school. The school´s economics teaching has an important role when it comes to supporting students to be able to understand and deal with economic issues, which makes it relevant to investigate how the teaching enables the development of economic competence in social studies.  The purpose of this study has been to investigate how teachers enable pupils ‘development of economic competence in social studies subject for grades 4-6, what subject related priorities teachers make in social studies, what purpose teachers describe the teaching with focus on personal finance is carried out in the subject. The investigation was conducted with a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews as a method. Seven respondents participated in the survey, all who are active teachers in the subject of social studies in grades 4-6. The empiricism of the study has been used together with previous research based on the theoretical perspectives of pragmatism and the socio-cultural perspective on learning to analyze and discuss the results and the respondents statements. The results of study show that economics education and its subject content have a strong relevance in social studies, especially when it comes to developing young people´s ability to take responsibility, manage and be able to make conscious financial decisions both here and now and later as adult citizens. The results also show that the participating respondents include everyday content in their teaching where students themselves try, investigate and discover problems that need to be confronted and dealt with by reconsidering different ideas. It indicates that the participating respondents want to enable students, to become familiar with develop abilities to reflect, analyze and be critical in their thinking, which are important characteristics of an active, responsible and economic citizen. A conclusion that can be drawn based on the results of the study is that economic education in general and particularly personal finance are important parts and should be prioritized in social studies. Especially based on the school´s long-term goal, to support young people to understand, manage and make decisions about financial matters, both here and now and in the future as responsible adults with financial competence.

The purpose of this master thesis has been to investigate how private economics is taught in social studies teaching for grades 4-6 through teachers' descriptions of personal finance as part of the social studies subject's civic education assignment. The purpose has also been to investigate how and in what way teachers use teaching materials in their teaching of personal finance. The selected research and literature for the degree project deal with the subject social studies and the civic education assignment, the curriculum and syllabus, social science didactic research and teaching of economics in general and personal finance in particular. Furthermore, research and literature on teachers' difficulties with the subject of personal finance and the use of teaching aids in the subject of social studies are also presented. Little research can be found regarding the teaching of personal finance, especially for younger ages such as grades 4–6, which strengthens the relevance of investigating the purpose of this master thesis.  The theoretical perspectives used as a starting point for analyzing the empirical work of the master thesis are Dewey's pragmatic perspective and Vygotsky's socio-cultural perspective. The survey was conducted using qualitative semi-structured interviews as a method. The survey involved six respondents, all of whom are active social studies teachers in grades 4-6. The results show that the respondents see a clear and important purpose of the teaching to enable the students to become responsible adult citizens who can make wise financial decisions. Furthermore, it appears from the results that teaching materials are common in the teaching of personal finance. The respondents mainly link the concept of personal finance with household or an individual's financial planning.  A conclusion that can be drawn from the results of this master thesis and the previous research is that even though personal finance teaching is a relatively new social science didactic research area, its relevance increases when research emphasizes the importance of teaching being a part of schools’ mission to succeed in their civic education. In step with this, personal finance is given more space in the syllabus for social studies, which is an important factor in the work with a school where students are given the right conditions for adult life.