Jörgen From

Taylorism of the Mind: Entrepreneurship Education from a Perspective of Educational Research.

The aim of this article is to explore and discuss entrepreneurship education, and to raise some critical questions inspired by the work of Basil Bernstein. The discussion is based on writings on entrepreneurship education and thereby gives one picture of the intellectual debate on entrepreneurship education. In contrast to traditional education, viewed as transformation of knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship education is said to be about changing attitudes and motives. There is a consensus in the field that students can be successfully endowed with an entrepreneurial culture, when their attitudes are changed in the desired way. The focus on fostering a certain identity in entrepreneurship education might be seen as a part of the ongoing neo-liberal oriented educational restructuring process, which is sweeping through Europe.

Are Timetable-Free Schools Possible?

This article is about timetable-free schools, the latest ‘innovation’ in Swedish educational policy, and is based on findings from an ongoing research project. In autumn 2000, the Swedish government started a 5-year trial period where a limited number of municipalities and schools were allowed to abandon the current restrictions in the national timetable for comprehensive schools. The research primarily focuses on the effects of abandoning the timetable on the inner life of the schools. Two categories of schools are followed: (two) schools with the national timetable and (four) schools without. Primary findings indicate that the use of time in school is a complex sphere of operation. In many aspects, the differences within the category schools without the national timetable are more notable than differences between the two categories of schools. How time is spent in schools is related to a wide range of interlinked factors on different levels, and the national timetable is only one of them. It seems that when the new so-called freedom increases, the instruments of individual control also increase. This may be an indication that disciplining and selection still are fundamental tasks for schools to fulfil.