The making of entrepreneurial subjectivity in adult education

Adult graduates’ negotiations of age(ing) and employability

“…The educational initiative and activity alongside other duties such as working proves -especially to the employer -that the person has adopted the well-appreciated entrepreneurial attitude towards life (e.g. Siivonen and Brunila 2014). She/ he is ready to invest in self-development and educate her/himself throughout life and at any age.…”

“…Education is viewed primarily in economic terms and the major role of post-compulsory education has switched into training appropriate workforce. However, in the growing competition for labour market positions formal qualifications are not enough (Tomlinson 2008), but so-called enterprise abilities, that is personal qualities and skills have gained increasing importance (Brown, Hesketh, and Williams 2003; see also Komulainen et al forthcoming;Siivonen and Brunila 2014;Siivonen et al in review).…”

“…As the static careers have been replaced by new boundless career structures (Sinisalo and Komulainen 2008), an individual is in a constant state of becoming, never ready but in a continual need of development and assuring her/his suitability for the job (Urciuoli 2008). She/he is to become an accountable, active, autonomous, self-directed, responsible and flexible lifelong learner and enterprising subject (Tuschling and Engemann 2006;Siivonen and Brunila 2014).…”

Economic Worries—Therapeutic Solutions?: Entrepreneurial and Therapeutic Governing of Transitions of Young People

“…A wide array of researchers has raised concern about the consequences of entrepreneurial and therapeutic discourses. They worry about education being replaced by market-oriented and therapeutic interventions, the individualization of societal problems and consideration of children, and the vulnerability and fragility of pupils, students and adults who are not capable of influencing their own lives (Burman, 2009;Harwood, 2006;Brown, Ecclestone & Emmel, 2017;Simmons & Thompson, 2011;Dahlstedt, Fejes & Schonning, 2011;Wright, 2011;Siivonen & Brunila, 2014).…”

“…The entrepreneurial self is a form of personhood; it is a discourse that constructs individuals as being responsible for conducting themselves in the business of life, as an enterprise, a project, a work in progress (Kelly, 2006; see also Mononen Batista-Costa & Brunila, 2016). In parallel, the rapid rise of a therapeutic ethos enhancing psycho-emotional vulnerabilities in the education and in the wider youth support systems has been acknowledged in several European, including Nordic, countries (Irisdottir Aldenmyr & Olson, 2016;Fejes & Dahlstedt, 2013;Brunila & Siivonen, 2014).…”