Discover 7 opportunities in teaching economics

In 2019, the University of Bristol became the first UK university to formally declare a climate emergency. In the following year, a further 36 institutions in the UK followed suit. Beyond their own climate research and agendas to achieve carbon neutrality, universities play a key role in educating their students and the public about the climate crisis.

Given the increase in data availability worldwide and the surge in demand for data literacy in the labour market, more and more economics courses are including data analysis skills in their intended learning outcomes. As a result, helping students to develop these skills in the classroom is increasingly important for economics educators.

The higher education (HE) sector is under increasing pressure to embed employability skills within the curriculum to prepare students for the real world and create responsible graduates and citizens. This article reflects on how (and why) we, as educators, can better incorporate highly-demanded employability skills into the economics curriculum.

Real-world data in their varied forms are the authentic artifacts through which we observe economic phenomena. Such data can be used in economics courses as part of learning and assessment activities to help students construct economic meaning and develop important employment skills in organizing, interpreting and presenting quantitative data.

The following article first appeared in the INOMICS Handbook 2022. Download the INOMICS Handbook While every generation claims its problems are the most formidable and pressing in the annals of humankind, our generation certainly has a strong case: a global pandemic that has already taken five million lives, and a world seemingly headed toward catastrophe, unable to keep global temperatures from rising and thus contain climate change.

This article was produced in cooperation with the Economics Network, the largest and longest-established academic organisation devoted to improving the teaching and learning of economics in higher education. Learn more about the Economics Network here. When you enter the job market for teaching economics, the institutions that you are applying for may well have different characteristics. Therefore, you may need to tailor your application to the type of institution and the role specifications in the job advert.

Teaching in any capacity, let alone in economics, can be a daunting prospect: the prepping, marking, not to mention the actual teaching. It’s hard work. This reality is most acutely felt when you are starting out or moving institutions and having to settle in somewhere new. In both instances, the pressure and workload can feel intense. That is why it's useful – if not essential – to be aware of all the support that's out there, most of which – conveniently – is free and accessible online. So, without further ado, here are ten of our favourite tools for helping teach economics.