Abstract
Entrepreneurship educators can maximise the effectiveness of their delivery by having a firm grasp of the different educational philosophies and theories that underpin entrepreneurship education pedagogy and practice. A particular educational philosophical orientation underlies, directs, and drives educator practices and should align with what the teaching seeks to impart and achieve, and the roles the learners and educator play in the learning process. Whilst educators might not always be explicitly aware of their philosophical orientation, it will direct and drive their pedagogic practice and have implications for what they deliver, and how they deliver it. The benefits of bringing together different learning theories, philosophies, and approaches for entrepreneurship education has previously been posited in the literature. However, it has been highlighted that connections between educational theory and practice are limited, and that the field of entrepreneurship education could be advanced through providing links between education literature, theory, and learning. This paper advances the literature by linking educational philosophy and theory to entrepreneurship education and pedagogy in higher education. It discusses and highlights how behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, and humanism can be used to underpin and support learning in entrepreneurship education. This meets calls for the conceptualisation of how educational philosophies and theories can be integrated into entrepreneurship education to support learners.
Highlights
Whilst a rapid increase has taken place globally in the access and availability of entrepreneurship education over the last twenty years (Fayolle 2013; Neck and Greene 2011), there remains the need for intellectually robust entrepreneurship education foundations
A growing focus within entrepreneurship education is value creation pedagogy, which focuses on learners learning through creating value to at least one external stakeholder outside their group, class, or school (Lackéus et al 2016). This is in line with the definition of entrepreneurship as it involves acting upon opportunities and ideas and transforming them into value for others (Vestergaard et al 2012), and it enables learners to meet several of the tenets within humanism through designing and directing their own projects, working with communities and building relationships in the pursuit of identifying opportunities and creating value for stakeholders
Cognitivism, constructivism, and humanism, and the benefits of these and how they can be applied in the entrepreneurship classroom to underpin pedagogy, the section will conclude by presenting an overview of some of the practicalities that are involved
Summary
Whilst a rapid increase has taken place globally in the access and availability of entrepreneurship education over the last twenty years (Fayolle 2013; Neck and Greene 2011), there remains the need for intellectually robust entrepreneurship education foundations. This is in line with the definition of entrepreneurship as it involves acting upon opportunities and ideas and transforming them into value for others (Vestergaard et al 2012), and it enables learners to meet several of the tenets within humanism through designing and directing their own projects, working with communities and building relationships in the pursuit of identifying opportunities and creating value for stakeholders Such an approach can put less focus on neoliberal economic principles and could more effectively suit contexts where the entrepreneurial learning goals are more social developmental focused, potentially making it more acceptable to educators in non-business disciplines (Lackéus et al 2016) and education in socialist market economies (Bell 2020a). Cognitivism, constructivism, and humanism, and the benefits of these and how they can be applied in the entrepreneurship classroom to underpin pedagogy, the section will conclude by presenting an overview of some of the practicalities that are involved
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