Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Behaviors that Can Help Prepare Successful Change-Agents in Education

Abstract

This article explores how the preparation of educators committed to improving education can capitalize on entrepreneurship when broadly defined as “transforming ideas into enterprises that generate economic, intellectual and/or social value.” The article reports on the case-studies of six educators who have been successful change-agents in a variety of fields and positions using entrepreneurial concepts as a lens. A cross-case analysis of these individual case-studies enabled us to identify specific attitudes and behaviors considered typical of entrepreneurs that contributed to these educators' success. The article reports on key findings from the cross-case analysis as well as some implications for the preparation of educators, suggesting the value of exposing new educators, as well as educators already in the field, to the entrepreneurial practices thus identified in order to prepare them to become more effective agents of change.