Lenita Hietanen

Contextualizing entrepreneurial learning in basic and vocational education

Purpose - – The purpose of this study is to examine and model entrepreneurial learning processes as a continuum from non-business basic education to vocational education. Previous studies and policy programs in Europe suggest that entrepreneurship education should be a core part of the education system. Design/methodology/approach - – This is an action research piece of work in which two researchers (the authors) have first studied each other’s own data independently, and then combined these two sets of data. One data set has been collected in a non-business, basic education setting, whereas the other focuses on business studies in vocational education. Here, the entrepreneurial learning process is seen as a synthesis of experimentation with discovered and created opportunities and managing knowledge and competences through reflective practices and decision-making processes. Findings - – The main finding is that entrepreneurial learning can be enabled and may manifest itself as a useful process both in non-business and business school contexts. Another related essential finding is the importance of developing learners’ reflective practices. Practical implications - – This research aims to provide scientific evidence that different school levels should cooperate to establish entrepreneurial learning as a continuous process. This case has been researched in the Finnish educational system, but it may also prompt teachers at different school levels in other countries to enable their students’ entrepreneurial learning. Originality/value - – Although entrepreneurial learning has been researched frequently, there is still a lack of investigation concerning lower educational levels, especially non-business basic education. In addition, the point when growth to become entrepreneurial could begin has not been studied in depth. This research focuses on demonstrating how entrepreneurial learning can be planned and executed as a continuum at lower educational levels.

Entrepreneurial learning environments: supporting or hindering diverse learners?

Purpose – This study focuses on the implementation of entrepreneurship education in non-business education at the basic education level and in class-teacher education in Finland. The subject to learn was music, which did not include any entrepreneurial content. Accordingly, this study looks closely at the way learners behave when studying music. The purpose of this paper is to see whether entrepreneurial behaviour is appropriate in non-business education. Design/methodology/approach – The study used the action research approach; in particular, it used the special teacher-as-researcher method. The analysis was based on content analysis. Findings – In this study, the teacher-researcher looked at entrepreneurial learning as experimenting with alternative learning methods and different learning contents. To ensure that every learner received the support they needed in their self-chosen tasks, peer learning was encouraged. Learners got the support they needed both from each other and from the teacher-researche...

Facilitating employees’ and students’ process towards nascent entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate a model for facilitating employees’ and full-time, non-business students’ entrepreneurial capabilities during their optional entrepreneurship studies at one Finnish Open University. Design/methodology/approach – The case study investigates the course in which transitions from employees or non-business students to nascent entrepreneurs are presupposed to happen. The examined phenomenon is the lecturer’s (the author’s) facilitating process. The key method is to support the ES students in developing their daily practices and reflecting on these from an entrepreneurial view. Findings – For the ES students identified as latent nascent entrepreneurs, the development period facilitated by exploiting small-sized entrepreneurs’ attributes, skills and behaviour mainly awakened intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship was an unexpected phase because the lecturer did not offer it as an alternative. This necessitated the lecturer to investigate her instructions during th...

Awakening students’ entrepreneurial selves: case music in basic education

Purpose – Entrepreneurship education is recommended for implementation throughout the entire educational path. However, there have been challenges in implementing entrepreneurship education for many kinds of students, especially in non-business education. The purpose of this paper is to ask how 15-year-old students in Finnish basic education are able to find their “entrepreneurial selves” by looking at their musical activities through an “entrepreneurial lens”. Design/methodology/approach – This case study examines an intervention carried out among music students in basic education. The music teacher interpreted the enterprise approach as guiding the students to experiment with different styles in singing and playing instruments, to seek various opportunities to sing and play both individually and as a group, and to reflect upon their activities. To awaken their entrepreneurial selves, the students were guided to assess their musical activity using 12 enterprise concepts. Findings – The study shows that s...

Educational and business co-operatives: the channels for collective creativity and entrepreneurial teams

One tendency among co-operatives is to establish co-operatives not only for the purposes of business but also for the purposes to teach collaboration practices in business education. This study investigates and compares traditional business co-operatives and educational co-operatives as the environments of entrepreneurial learning communities. The data, which consist of interviews with members of both types of co-operatives, have been analyzed using the content analysis method. The main outcomes show that in both types of co-operatives sense of community and creativity are manifested as the parts of the entrepreneurial learning process. When considering if the learning processes were manifested as singleand double-loop learning – and the development of collective creativity – some differences were observed between educational co-operatives and business co-operatives.

Enhancing Primary School Student Teachers’ Psychological Ownership in Teaching Music

Despite the recent growing research interest in psychological ownership (PO) in various organisations, research on PO in the educational sciences remains scarce. This study attempts to fill this gap in the context of primary school teacher education. In many countries, e.g. Australia, England, Finland, Spain and Wales, primary school teachers as ‘generalists’ are supposed to teach various subjects including music. Although primary school teachers cannot be high-level experts in every subject, they should feel sufficient PO towards these subjects. The impacts of musical experiences in early childhood modify student teachers’ attitudes towards teaching music. This study focused on one intervention carried out in a music course under a Finnish primary school teacher education programme. Focusing on the students’ feelings of PO towards teaching music, the study found that 18 student teachers increased their PO towards teaching music while 19 maintained a low PO level. The strength of PO seemed connected to how the teacher educator organised the music learning environment, including the pedagogics. Additionally, student teachers’ musical background seemed to affect PO to some extent. The implications are useful for developing primary school teachers’ education, especially in music and in other arts and skills subjects. The findings may also be applicable to other primary education subjects.