Teaching pigeons to dance: sense and meaning in entrepreneurship education

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the philosophical and conceptual understanding of entrepreneurship education through borrowing and applying conceptualisations of education from education theory to bring deeper meaning to approaches to entrepreneurship education in UK higher education institutions (HEIs).Design/methodology/approachThis paper identifies existing theoretical and conceptual frameworks from adult education and applies these to the phenomenon of entrepreneurship education as a sense‐making tool from which deeper insights and understanding are gained.FindingsAs a conceptual paper the “findings” relate to the unearthing of the inherent drivers and values to the design and delivery of entrepreneurship education in UK HEIs. Applying education theoretical frameworks enables presentation of a purposeful and guiding framework for effective curricula design in entrepreneurship thereby enabling coherence and cohesion of approach and achievable outcomes. Furthermore, the paper maps the purpose and role of educators against a segmented framework to draw out distinctions across contexts and to present the need for a clarification of the role of the educator in the entrepreneurial learning process. This enables a discussion of the development needs of entrepreneurship educators for the UK.Practical implicationsOverall, the paper presents implications for HEIs in how they conceive of and introduce entrepreneurship education; educators and the role they perform in effective entrepreneurship education and curricula designers in developing meaningful “fit for purpose” offerings across the diversity of the entrepreneurial opportunity environment.Originality/valueThis paper further builds on a significant gap in the extant knowledge and literature for enhancing understanding in the development of the field of entrepreneurship education within higher education in the UK.

Developing Entrepreneurial Skills. An Educational and Intercultural Perspective

“…Thus, the programs developed in higher education institutions start to focus on teaching and improving individual's entrepreneurial skills (Daniel et al, 2017;Hannon, 2006;Katz, 2008;Schelfhout, Bruggeman & de Maeyer, 2016), and take into account the fact that their graduates may become either self-employed or innovative employees.…”

An entrepreneurial self-efficacy scale with a neutral wording

“…As demonstrated in the theory discussion above, many researchers (e.g. Gibb, 2002;Hannon, 2006;Sarasvathy & Venkataraman, 2011) argue that entrepreneurship education has many positive effects other than an increased number of start-ups. These researchers argue that the changes in society and in the economy during the last decade make the capacity to act entrepreneurial a necessary ability for all individuals.…”

Attitude of university students to entrepreneurship

“…As Sredojevic (2005) stated, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education (EE) are the basis of economy and starters of economic growth. Education also plays an important role in the process of building new and wider entrepreneurial capacity (Hannon, 2006). …”