Towards a conceptual understanding of entrepreneurial pedagogy

Abstract

Until recently the conceptualizations of entrepreneurial learning have been dominated by economics-based

thinking and thus neglected person while emphasizing the substance. Consequently pedagogical issues

have not been the focal point when planning and conducting entrepreneurial training. However, if we

assume that we are able to influence the entrepreneurial identification process by entrepreneurial training,

as Rae (2005) and Hägg (2011) suggest, or believe that the teaching practices have impact on students’

learning outcomes, as Anderson and Jack (2008) and Béchard and Grégoire (2005) propose, it means that as

entrepreneurship educators we have to analytically consider the reasons and perceptions behind our

pedagogical choices. As entrepreneurship educators we have also found in practice that the process of

learning entrepreneurship is dependent on the applied pedagogy (See Peltonen 2006, 2008; Hägg 2011).

Gradually in entrepreneurship education we are becoming more conscious of questions of pedagogy.

However, the concept of entrepreneurial pedagogy is still vague and needs to be clarified. In this paper we

continue recent theoretical discussions of entrepreneurial pedagogy by elaborating how we understand

entrepreneurial pedagogy as a concept and propose a model indicating the underpinning philosophical

commitments of this concept. With this paper we wish to theoretically contribute to entrepreneurship

education research as well as to provide practical contribution by offering some guidelines how to carry out

entrepreneurial training practices.