Digital Competences in Consumer Education Online auctions, purchases on a mobile phone, viral marketing and “free” profile applications; with the digitalisation of our everyday lives comes new structures of consumption. Today digital competences are crucial in order to be an empowered consumer.

Young people negotiate identity, social norms and roles in a space where commercial and persuasive messages are significant role-players. Thus, digital competences are crucial elements of contemporary consumer education.
Consumers' digital competences involve the ability to understand, critically evaluate, process and analyse various forms of commercial content and communication and to navigate competently and responsibly within the commercial media environment. These are for example the technical competences that provide young people with the skills to use digital products and services successfully. But it is importantly also the personal critical competences that make them capable of distinguishing between a commercial message and an informative message or that gives them the knowledge to make choices that protects their own and others’ privacy in the commercial media environment.

A number of initiatives are presently placing digital competences on the map of consumer education. The Nordic Consumer Education document “Proposal of objectives for and content of consumer education in the compulsory school and at upper secondary school level in the Nordic countries” is currently being revised.  The document was originally written on the basis of experiences and results of a project involving Nordic consumer authorities under the Nordic Council of Ministers. It has since 1995 been used widely in the Nordic countries to revise reading plans and to develop educational material. The new document will evaluate the existing curriculum objectives and among others integrate in the document digital competences in the context of consumer education.

In addition, a joint Consumer Education Conference at the OECD headquarters on the 24th of October 2008 in Paris will include digital competences in the programme. The conference that examines major issues within consumer education and seeks to identify good practices in the area will include a panel session on digital safety and consumer rights and obligations. The conference is organised jointly by the OECD Committee on Consumer Policy, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Marrakech Task force on Education for Sustainable Consumption (UN MTF). Participants at the conference are government representatives and selected representatives from the business community and society at large.

Keywords: consumer education, internet, mobile, online technologies, digital competences, awareness node Denmark, the media council