Nurturing Social Entrepreneurship and Building Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

Abstract

For the development of social entrepreneurs it is imperative that educators embrace the concepts and process of social entrepreneurship (Dees, 1998). Exploration of these concepts in education could prove beneficial to the community (Haugh, 2005). This chapter focuses on the positives of introducing social entrepreneurship education at the primary and secondary levels of education. Specifically, its central focus deals with building children's entrepreneurial self-efficacy at a young age. Several benefits, of increasing self-efficacy at a young age, are outlined. Benefits, such as entrepreneurship training, not only training students, but it helps to prepare them for the new knowledge-based economy. Further, entrepreneurship education should help increase the success and survival rates of women and minority entrepreneurs. Essential to this process, a new curriculum needs to be devised including its means of assessment. Lastly barriers to an entrepreneurship program are discussed; this includes financial, legal, political and negative perceptions of entrepreneurship education.