Finnish student teachers’ critical conceptions of entrepreneurship education

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to reveal and investigate differences in how Finnish student teachers understand entrepreneurship education and how critical they are of it. The research question is: what kind of critical understanding do student teachers reveal in their conception of entrepreneurship education? Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research approach termed content analysis was used to investigate student teacher’s conceptions. The data were collected from essays written by 257 student teachers at the University of Turku’s, Rauma teacher education department during 2010-2012. Findings – The conception of entrepreneurship education is, in many ways, related to how much one already knows about entrepreneurship education or how one reacts to it. It seems that most student teachers’ conceptions of entrepreneurship are positive, but even those in favour of it, in principle, do not necessarily want to see entrepreneurship education included in the basic education curriculum. Nevertheles...

[1]  J. Cope,et al.  Learning by doing – An exploration of experience, critical incidents and reflection in entrepreneurial learning , 2000 .

[2]  Alex Maritz,et al.  Enterprise education: For all, or just some? , 2012 .

[3]  Seija Blomberg.  Noviisiopettajana peruskoulussa : Aloittelevien opettajien autenttisia kokemuksia ensimmäisestä opettajavuodesta , 2008 .

[4]  Timo Pihkala,et al.  Teachers implementing entrepreneurship education: classroom practices , 2013 .

[5]  Maija Suonpää.  Constructing an opportunity centred collaborative learning model through and for entrepreneurship , 2013 .

[6]  Mats Alvesson,et al.  ORGANIZATIONAL SYMBOLISM AND IDEOLOGY , 1991 .

[7]  Matthias Pepin,et al.  Enterprise education: a Deweyan perspective , 2012 .

[8]  Lee S. Shulman,et al.  Taking Learning Seriously , 1999 .

[9]  Liisa Remes.  Yrittäjyyskasvatus pedagogisessa toimintatehtävässä , 2001 .

[10]  Yvonna S. Lincoln,et al.  Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds., The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005. , 2005 .

[11]  Lasse Lipponen,et al.  Learning Bridges – Toward Participatory Learning Environments , 2009 .

[12]  S. Venkataraman,et al.  Entrepreneurship as Method: Open Questions for an Entrepreneurial Future , 2011 .

[13]  Paul Hannon,et al.  Philosophies of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education and Challenges for Higher Education in the UK , 2005 .

[14]  Paul D. Hannon.  Teaching pigeons to dance: sense and meaning in entrepreneurship education , 2006 .

[15]  S. Shane,et al.  The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research , 2000 .

[16]  Markku Ikävalko,et al.  Promoting entrepreneurship education: the role of the teacher? , 2010 .

[17]  Shanan G. Gibson,et al.  Examining the entrepreneurial attitudes of US business students , 2008 .

[18]  J. O. Ogbor.  Mythicizing and Reification in Entrepreneurial Discourse: Ideology‐Critique of Entrepreneurial Studies , 2000 .

[19]  Katri Komulainen,et al.  Risk‐taking abilities for everyone? Finnish entrepreneurship education and the enterprising selves imagined by pupils , 2009 .

[20]  Luke Pittaway,et al.  Assessment: Examining Practice in Entrepreneurship Education , 2012 .

[21]  Jaana Lepistö,et al.  Teacher students as future entrepreneurship educators and learning facilitators , 2013 .

[22]  Colm O'Gorman,et al.  What is “enterprise education”? An analysis of the objectives and methods of enterprise education programmes in four European countries , 2004 .

[23]  A. Fayolle,et al.  Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes : A new methodology , 2006 .

[24]  P. Julien,et al.  Defining the field of research in entrepreneurship , 2001 .

[25]  D. Kuratko.  The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education: Development, Trends, and Challenges , 2005 .

[26]  S. Vosniadou.  The Framework Theory Approach to the Problem of Conceptual Change , 2009 .

[27]  Harry Matlay,et al.  Researching entrepreneurship and education: Part 2: what is entrepreneurship education and does it matter? , 2006 .

[28]  S. Vosniadou.  Capturing and modeling the process of conceptual change. , 1994 .

[29]  Christopher Miller,et al.  Attitudes towards entrepreneurship education: a comparative analysis , 2010 .

[30]  Klaus Krippendorff,et al.  Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology , 1980 .

[31]  J. Cope,et al.  Toward a Dynamic Learning Perspective of Entrepreneurship , 2005 .

[32]  J. Cope,et al.  Entrepreneurship Education , 2007 .

[33]  Olivier Giacomin,et al.  Entrepreneurial Perceptions and Intentions: The Role of Gender and Culture , 2012 .

[34]  Jaana Seikkula-Leino,et al.  Facing the Changing Demands of Europe: Integrating Entrepreneurship Education in Finnish Teacher Training Curricula , 2012 .

[35]  Harry Matlay,et al.  Understanding the heterogeneity of entrepreneurship education: going beyond Gartner , 2011 .