Entrepreneurship in Teacher Education - Conceptualization, Design & Learning outcomes

• Objectives: Currently some novel initiatives in Sweden aim to introduce entrepreneurship broadly in teacher education programs. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on one of these early attempts. Specifically we will answer the following research questions: How is entrepreneurship conceptualized in teacher education programs? How is the education designed in terms of pedagogy and didactics? What are the main learning outcomes that the education strives for?Literature review: The broadening of the entrepreneurship concept where entrepreneurship is conceptualized as a general method for human development (Sarasvathy & Venkataraman, 2011) as well as the proposition by Hannon (2013) that entrepreneurism is the development of a set of individual behaviors, skills and attitudes can be applied in many societal contexts, has provided openings to work with entrepreneurship in teacher education. However in relation to entrepreneurship education we still lack knowledge on key educational and didactical issues, in terms of for instance the nature and impact of our activities (Fayolle, 2013) and in relation to teacher education programs this knowledge is even more scarce.Approach: In this mainly qualitative case study of a Swedish teacher education entrepreneurship module we apply interviews and surveys of both teachers and students to collect our empirical material. Our starting point is that entrepreneurship education activities in this setting needs to be underpinned by thoughts on theoretical concepts and practices from both entrepreneurship and learning theories. We use Fayolle and Gaillys (2008) teaching model framework as an analytic lens to help provide necessary understanding in relation to our pedagogical and didactical questions.Results: The results show how entrepreneurship education in teacher education is riddled with tensions relating to overall mission, target groups, pedagogy, content and assessments. However, there seem to be viable paths forward that might mitigate these tensions and provide a better opportunity for entrepreneurship education within the realm of teacher education.Implications and Value: First and foremost, we add to the knowledge about how entrepreneurship is introduced in teacher education programs, helping both researchers and practitioners understand the conceptualization, design in terms of pedagogy and didactic, as well as main learning outcomes. By using and building on Fayolle and Gailly’s (2008) theoretical teaching model framework, we provide structured empirical perspectives and knowledge aggregation on pedagogy and didactic in entrepreneurship education. As such we contribute to the knowledge about how entrepreneurship education is operationalized and perceived in a special case of non-business context, from both a teacher and student perspective.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

entrepreneurship education

entrepreneurship

teacher education

entrepreneurial learning

qualitative

Innovation and Design

innovation och design

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)