Entrepreneurial learning in Swedish preschools: possibilities for and constraints on children's active participation

Abstract

The website of the Swedish National Agency for Education states that preschools are to promote entrepreneurial learning. Many Swedish preschools, therefore, have started to work consciously with entrepreneurial learning as a way of fostering pupils' creativity and ability to make their own decisions. This article investigates whether and how children in different preschool settings receive support and recognition in their efforts to make sense of the world around them. Nine preschool teachers and children from three preschools participated. Three video observations were conducted focusing on the work of each team of teachers. Our study challenges the assumption that an entrepreneurial learning design enhances pupils' learning, creativity, and decision-making. Even though the ambition is to encourage such abilities, our observations demonstrate that the learning design and setting do not always give children the opportunity to be creative.

Entrepreneurship in Preschool Education: Turkish Preservice Teachers’ Entrepreneurship Features, Comparison with their Lecturers’ Views and Suggestions for Development

“…To achieve these objectives and foster the entrepreneurial spirit, the researchers believe that (a) future teachers should be equipped to be promoters and initiators of change as well as local community leaders, (b) equipping teachers with such features requires a new approach and new model of cooperation between education participants, and (c) this cooperation can be achieved through teaching internships and study visits. Insulander, Ehrlin, and Sandberg (2015) investigated the ways preschool students can receive support and recognition for active participation in entrepreneurial environments. The paper aimed to increase preschool teachers' awareness of the benefits of enriching everyday practice with entrepreneurial activities on supporting early childhood education.…”

“…Entrepreneurial preschool teachers should be someone who can see through the whole process through a different prism and encourage the learning process "by doing, exchanging, experiencing, and experimenting, and through risk taking, problem solving, dramatisation, and interaction with the environment" (Senkane, 2014, p. 193, cited in Insulander, Ehrlin, & Sandberg, 2015. Such teachers can support the next generation in new possibilities both today and tomorrow, constitute values, and take responsibility for future challenges to shape someone's identity and bring up a creative person (Insulander, Ehrlin, & Sandberg, 2015). To create entrepreneurial teachers, teacher education programmes play a critical role.…”

“…A very limited number of studies are found at younger educational levels, such as preschool and primary education. Insulander, Ehrlin, and Sandberg (2015) highlighted the importance of enterprise education and entrepreneurial learning. Children's skills are developed, and awareness of the social environment is raised at early ages.…”

“…To develop students' entrepreneurial skills effectively at early ages, the primary focus of entrepreneurship in education should be shifted from content to pedagogy (Eltanahy, Forawi, &Mansour, 2020). However, there is still very little known about how this approach can be implemented in preschools and integrated into the pedagogy (Insulander, Ehrlin, & Sandberg, 2015). As teachers are the first implementers of different approaches, preservice preschool teachers' entrepreneurship features are of importance.…”

Med uppdrag att dokumentera de yngsta barnens lärande : en verksamhetsteoretisk analys av förskolors dokumentation

“…I svenska förskolan är barns tillit till den egna förmågan och självständigheten högt värderat och kan knytas till talet om det kompetenta barnet (Emilson, 2008). Om barns initiativförmåga tas förgivet och de planerade aktiviteterna, liksom de pedagogiska miljöerna förutsätter barns självständighet, finns dock en risk att barn som inte gör självinitierade val exkluderas (Insulander, Ehrlin & Sandberg, 2015). I strävan efter att kunna ta barns perspektiv blir inte bara barns yttre synliga agerande intressant, utan även deras känslor, tankar och reflektioner.…”