Yvonne Costin

Practice-based learning in entrepreneurship education: a means of connecting knowledge producers and users

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a practice‐based entrepreneurship education programme which enhances collaboration between educational institutions and the small business community as a means of producing a more employable, well rounded and skilled graduates.Design/methodology/approach – A case description of the business consulting programme operated at the University of Limerick.Findings – The findings highlight how a practice‐based learning module brings real business learning into the classroom and simultaneously attends to the needs of different internal and external stakeholders by producing a more flexible and employable professional graduate. Furthermore, it creates a more meaningful relationship between education institutions (knowledge producers) and industry (knowledge users).Research limitations/implications – Educators need to evaluate the benefits of practice‐based learning programmes from the external stakeholder perspective as a basis of identifying more innovative practi...

In pursuit of growth: an insight into the experience of female entrepreneurs

Purpose – Although the climate for entrepreneurship in Ireland is positive, with female entrepreneurs making significant economic contributions, a significant weakness of female‐owned businesses remaining small is continuously reported. Achieving growth is central to how a business is run and should be viewed from a business‐owner perspective rather than a scholarly perspective, whereby the concept of growth is portrayed so frequently in a fragmented manner. Moreover, academic research on entrepreneurial firm growth has centred on growth from a non‐gender specific perspective. The purpose of this paper is to investigate, in a meaningful, practical and relevant manner, the process of growth (i.e. defining growth, growth intention, objectives, planning, and strategy) and the measurement of growth in female‐owned businesses.Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research method has been adopted, i.e. an online survey, to investigate all critical issues pertaining to growth amongst female entrepreneurs ...

Engendering Entrepreneurial Competencies in the Youth of Today: A Teacher's Perspective.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the creation of realistic, engaging entrepreneurial competencies in second-level students in the Republic of Ireland through the Student Enterprise Awards (SEA) programme. The focus of the paper will be on the interaction of teachers with the programme. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed-methods approach was adopted, with an e-mail questionnaire fully completed by 101 of the population 300, resulting in a 34 per cent response rate, which was regarded as acceptable. The qualitative approach was 29 semi-structured interviews with teachers and nine principals/head teachers. Findings – The findings suggest that there was strong endorsement by the teachers of the benefits accruing to students in all three areas of knowledge, skills and attitudes. This clearly reinforces the strength of the SEA programme which will become increasingly important for students who are facing uncertain career paths. The programme will help engender students with increased self-confidence, better communication and presentation skills. Better skilled students make them more employable. This programme was primarily delivered by teachers and completed by students who did it on a voluntary basis and have no official recognition of participation. Research limitations/implications – The research has identified a notable lack of enterprise-related teacher training in the current education system in the Republic of Ireland. Such training is necessary to ensure effective teaching of entrepreneurship and could bring consistency to the quality of enterprise education received by students in different schools. Students enjoy participating on the programme and see lifelong benefits from doing it, therefore it would be beneficial to incorporate it as a mandatory subject in the curriculum. Originality/value – Integrating the theoretical principles underpinning entrepreneurship education, which were presented in the paper, with the empirical teacher findings leads to a number of recommendations that can be adopted by the teacher, principal/head teacher and school board.