Teaching Social Entrepreneurship in Higher Education: Active Pedagogy in a Deweyan Perspective

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship education has achieved academic recognition as a subject matter and field of research. However, there is no consensus about how this subject should be taught. The paper explores the potential of active pedagogy for social entrepreneurship education, presenting a Deweyan perspective focussed on reflection and ownership of learning. It draws on a three-year interinstitutional project that aimed at disseminating active pedagogy among in-service teachers in Latin America, and it presents the case of a Brazilian university, where the project was implemented. Findings show that reflecting on concrete cases regarding local social issues triggered students’ empathy and fostered proactive attitudes. By using reflection-based active pedagogy, participant teachers developed a higher level of awareness about their need for constant self-assessment. The paper concludes that social entrepreneurship education can benefit from a stronger focus on empowerment, as a first step for social change.