Entrepreneurship education – paradoxes in school–company interaction

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper studies the role of paradoxes in the adoption of entrepreneurship education (EE) in schools.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research methods were used, and the data were collected via semi-structured interviews with Finnish teachers and principals.FindingsParadoxes are an important factor slowing the adoption of EE. Paradoxes appear to arise from teachers' misunderstandings, high personal standards of pedagogy and an unwillingness to change their routines. In schools, principals still regard EE as a newcomer that is easily abandoned should any difficulties emerge. The principals show unwillingness to take responsibility for managing EE or to establish relationships with companies.Research limitations/implicationsThe study represents Finnish practice in basic education. Due to the qualitative methodology applied, the generalizability of the results is limited. Quantitative research on the teachers' and principals' behaviour related to paradoxes in EE is needed. Furthermore, the pedagogical prioritization related to the introduction of EE warrants more research.Practical implicationsThe results suggest good opportunities exist in training to prepare teachers and principals to anticipate the difficulties of EE.Originality/valueThe study introduces a new understanding of the difficulties in the adoption of EE. Paradoxes are important factors to take into account in the promotion of EE. Paradoxes stem from teachers' misunderstandings, misconceptions and their unwillingness to change. Principals seem unwilling to assume their responsibilities in managing EE. The study highlights opportunities for managing the emergence of these paradoxes by preparing teachers and principals better on the difficulties and unexpected outcomes of EE.

Entrepreneurship Education with Companies: Teachers Organizing School-Company Interaction

“…As a result, they can develop the pedagogical practices in their schools and the embeddedness of entrepreneurship education in the school program. Furthermore, embedding partnerships in the school program supports the legitimacy of entrepreneurship education for teachers [16,58]. Our findings would seem to imply that teachers feel comfortable to continue in partnerships once they get involved in them.…”

“…School-level commitment to school-company interaction enables shared responsibility, which in turn facilitates the required planning and organizing. Additionally, owing to the need for school-level commitment as a prerequisite, the legitimacy of this method is high, which serves to enhance the teachers' willingness to engage in the activity [16,60]. We would like to regard this situation as a virtuous circle, with the different aspects affecting each other positively and leading to high-level performance on the whole.…”

“…Teachers perceive that students' limited opportunities to interacting with businesses and the low state of preparation of the business to participate in the planning of the cooperation lower the value of the experience. Moreover, entrepreneurship education resourcing is a major concern for teachers [16] and there seem to be numerous challenges: planning and organizing collaboration with companies is difficult, it is time consuming, transport is an issue, it is hard to get students out of the school, or the company could turn the visit down. Further, it may be unclear who needs to plan and organize the school-company cooperation, and what the roles of company representative, teacher, and students are.…”

“…Entrepreneurship has not reached the same status as other subjects, since it seems to be a missing element in curricula [40]. The lack of legitimacy may lower teachers' interests in school-company interaction, as the introduction of new pedagogical approaches may make teachers feel professionally vulnerable [16,60]. Teachers' enthusiasm for and skills in outside-classroom education are also influenced by their previous relevant training and peer teacher mentoring [61].…”

“…However, organizing real-life experiences seems to be a challenge for teachers [3,4,14,15]. Author et al [16] in their study on paradoxes in school-company interaction show how teachers struggle with the plans, implementation, and different outcomes of real-life experiences. They suggest that teachers' perspectives on entrepreneurship, their competencies for interaction with companies, and the high standards that teachers set for these educational practices strongly affect the solutions they choose.…”