The implementation of entrepreneurship education through curriculum reform in Finnish comprehensive schools

Abstract

How has entrepreneurship education been implemented in Finnish comprehensive schools. A two‐part survey was undertaken in 43 municipalities with different educational and socio‐economic backgrounds. The first part, in 2005, dealt with the local curriculum reform with a focus on the development of entrepreneurship education. The second part, in 2006, dealt with the implementation of entrepreneurship education. Questionnaires were sent to the representatives of the education and business sectors in the municipalities. The research questions were: (1) What is the sense of responsibility for implementing entrepreneurship education? (2) What kind of knowledge is there about entrepreneurship education? The results indicate that an atmosphere of responsibility for implementing entrepreneurship education is developing, although teachers do not possess knowledge of how to implement entrepreneurship education in practice. To develop such new curricular fields, such as entrepreneurship education, one could develop partnership forms of curriculum reform in order to develop teachers’ learning, school/work partnerships, and local curriculum work. Reforms need to be framed in practice‐oriented terms, thus strengthening the realization of aims and contents.