The Role of the University in Supporting Teachers in General Education to Develop Learning Environments Related to Working Life and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

For a number of years and in several policy programs, entrepreneurship education has been considered a core part of the educational system in every European country. However, teachers in general education seem ill-equipped to incorporate entrepreneurship in their daily practices. The present study examines how universities can support teachers’ professional development in creating learning environments in general education related to working life and entrepreneurship, highlighting design-based research (DBR) as one model of continuing education. The continuing education process in question was a university-school collaborative partnership in a regional project coordinated by the university and involving teachers (N = 8) in comprehensive schools and upper secondary schools. Each teacher was observed and supported by a university lecturer (one of the authors) in their natural learning environments while developing their practices. The university lecturer working as project leader is a researcher in entrepreneurship education and has previously worked as a teacher at the educational levels in question. Despite some challenges, the findings encourage further development of the model, especially for scheduling of the supporting research.

Citation

Hietanen, L. and Kesälahti, E. (2017), "The Role of the University in Supporting Teachers in General Education to Develop Learning Environments Related to Working Life and Entrepreneurship", University Partnerships for Pre-Service and Teacher Development (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 10), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 57-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120170000010004