Irish and Turkish pre-service teachers understanding and perceptions of enterprise education

Peter Tiernan,İsa Deveci

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07591

Peter Tiernan, İsa Deveci

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07591

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Abstract

While many of its roots are derived from business contexts, enterprise education is evolving, and interest in its impact on initial teacher education is increasing. While common goals exist across regions, practices tend to differ. The perceptions of pre-service teachers who have been exposed to enterprise education in different countries can provide important clues about developing entrepreneurial teachers through their initial teacher education. This paper examines the perceptions of Irish and Turkish pre-service teachers who are exposed to enterprise education. The research data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with three main categories and 14 open-ended questions. The data collected from interviews was analysed using the constant comparative method. Findings show that enterprise education has a positive impact on pre-service teachers regarding content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and future intentions. Findings also indicate that exposure to enterprise education may affect pre-service teachers' perceptions of its role in education.

Highlights

The development of an enterprising mindset has been advocated by high-level European policy documentation for many years
Data was gathered through participant interviews, around the key areas of content knowledge of enterprise education and entrepreneurship, pedagogical approaches to enterprise education, and entrepreneurship activation and the likelihood of embedding enterprise education in their future teaching
Findings suggest that when exposed to enterprise education in an initial teacher education context and encouraged to experience enterprising skills and behaviours as they relate to their future profession, preservice teachers from both cohorts can identify a range of transferable skills which are valuable in a multitude of life scenarios, shifting their association of terms such as ‘enterprise’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ away from solely business contexts

Summary

Introduction

The development of an enterprising mindset has been advocated by high-level European policy documentation for many years (for example: European Commission, 2000; European Commission, 2003; European Commission, 2011). Employers and professional bodies advocate for the development of enterprising skills and behaviours in university graduates (Finch et al, 2013), recognising that an entrepreneurial mindset can improve organisational adaptivity (T€aks, 2015), creativity and problem solving (Birdthistle et al, 2016), risk taking (Edwards et al, 2014), and initiative (Bell, 2016). In Turkey, the entrepreneurship action plan 2015–2018 sought to promote an entrepreneurship culture by increasing the knowledge and skills of teachers with regard to entrepreneurship. Recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reviews of institutional support of entrepreneurship across member states recommend increased participation and engagement from students across the subject spectrum, arguing that enterprise education should be expanded across all subject disciples and move away from a solely business focus (OECD, 2017a; OECD, 2017b; OECD, 2017c; OECD, 2018; OECD, 2019a; OECD, 2019b). Studies by Tiernan (2016) and Deveci (2016) have looked at pre-service teachers' attitudes and perceptions of enterprise and entrepreneurship, findings indicated that while pre-service teachers did display an understanding of these

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