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The aim of this paper is to examine the perceptions and attitudes towards enterprise education at secondary level[1] in Ireland from a multi‐stakeholder perspective. The key stakeholders involved in enterprise education are teachers, principals, pupils and parents. The examination encompassed profiling the Irish educational system and the evolution of enterprise education, appraising the role of the teacher in enterprise education and the identification and evaluation of the various programmes for enterprise at secondary level.

The research methodology adopted for this study was a subject‐specific questionnaire personally administered to 95 respondents comprising teachers, principals, pupils and parents.

The research findings suggest that tangible and intangible learning is obtained from such programmes, which create awareness of the possibilities for self‐employment, encourage more enterprising behaviour and result in important personal skills and competency development. It also indicates very positive feedback for the need and continued development of such programmes as an important intervention in creating a more entrepreneurial mindset in students.

The research findings add value to the empirical base of research at secondary schools by addressing a number of stakeholders. The findings highlight and provide the rationale for the need by policy makers to consider the mainstreaming of enterprise education at secondary level. Furthermore, commitment by the Irish government to the provision of increased resources, the development of programme material and teacher training are fundamental to the effectiveness of these programmes. To encourage greater participation by teachers and pupils, there is a need for formal recognition and accreditation of such programmes within the curriculum. Finally, greater awareness of the benefits of the programmes needs to be communicated to parents for them to encourage their children to participate in such programmes.

This article aims to report on a Department for International Development (DFID) funded enterprise education programme in Ukraine, managed by the University of Durham. It seeks to offer a description and explanation of the programme along with an analysis of its rationale, operation and workings. The focus is on the method used to transfer, adapt and apply a programme for the introduction of enterprise education from the UK to Ukraine.

A partnership‐based framework of analysis that underpins the actual workings of the programme is detailed. Issues affecting societies and economies in transition are explored with a specific focus on Ukraine. The programme rationale and its operational workings are discussed before revealing the key findings and their implications for theory and practice.

In the transition economies of Eastern Europe, enterprise education can help bring about peaceful social and economic transformation. Enterprise education helps to establish the principle that in a free society starting a business is not just a right of all citizens but it is within their capabilities. The concept is liberating and liberalising and is a tool that encourages, advocates and advances freedoms and opportunities. It can help stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship and as a tool of empowerment it can help people cope with and adapt to an uncertain economic future.

The paper shows that in recognising the educational value of “positive mistake making” a more “can do”, calculated risk‐taking attitude can be fostered to encourage enterprise and entrepreneurship. It also illustrates that the development of teaching resources is essential and needs to be done in context making it relevant to local conditions and circumstances.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of social interaction on participants' learning experience in enterprise education.

On a sample of 420 high school students who participated in an enterprise activity in Hong Kong, two questionnaires surveys were conducted to collect data on them at the beginning of and after the enterprise activity. Hypotheses were tested on the impacts of two particular aspects of interactive learning – interaction with facilitator and interaction with team members in the enterprise activity.

The results support the hypotheses that both types of social interaction are positively correlated to students' affection on the enterprise activity and the change in their perceived level of personal competencies before and after the activity.

Although two types of interaction are identified in this study, it is possible to extend the scope of interactive learning toward a broader range of social interaction. Also, the impacts of social interaction on other learning outcomes may be considered in further studies.

It is necessary to maximise social interaction and develop participants' interpersonal skills for achieving effective enterprise education. More guidance and supervision on social interaction should also be provided in enterprise programmes and activities.

The studies help to address the importance of the social interaction aspect in enterprise education, as the majority of the focus has been centred on the uses of experiential learning approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of enterprise educators working collectively to develop a unique scholarship of teaching. The authors argue that the time is right for educators in this domain to secure the future of enterprise education. Acknowledging the debate between “entrepreneurship education” and “enterprise education,” the authors set out to develop a unification model through which educators can act collectively to demonstrate the leadership required to secure the autonomy of the domain.

The authors bring several pertinent ideas (pedagogical content knowledge, heutagogy and academagogy) to the attention of academics/researchers involved in the design, development and delivery of enterprise education. The innovative approach to combine these ideas with prevailing thinking in this domain has facilitated a model for collective action.

It is at the level of the shared philosophical positions that the authors can best cooperate to shape the future direction of enterprise education. The authors argue against dwelling upon how the authors differ in terms of context and process issues. Such matters can only fragment the theory and practice of enterprise education. The authors need to develop greater appreciation of shared philosophical positions and leverage this understanding into a unique scholarship of teaching, specific to enterprise education.

As enterprise education becomes more global, it is also likely to become more attractive to business schools that long for a new positioning tool in the increasingly overcrowded markets that they compete in.

This paper encourages enterprise educators to reflect upon the knowledge they hold of their own practice, and that of other enterprise educators.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes and impressions of pre-service Further Education teachers towards enterprise education. It also looks at the potential impact on their future teaching practices and aspirations. This study builds on the literature in this area by bringing a teacher education focus and by providing views from the underserved further education sector.

A qualitative research approach was used to evaluate pre-service further education teachers' understanding of and attitudes towards, enterprise education. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 students in their final year of an initial teacher education degree.

Findings emerged through constant comparative analysis of interview transcripts. These findings indicate that exposure to enterprise education greatly increased understanding of its importance and relevance, while also encouraging pre-service further education teachers to recognise the benefits of incorporating enterprise education into their classrooms of the future.

While there is an array of literature on entrepreneurship and enterprise education outside of business contents, very few studies exist, which examine enterprise education in an initial teacher education context. Fewer still examine enterprise education from the perspective of further education. This study provides a unique qualitative view of pre-service further education teachers' impressions of enterprise education and their aspirations for the future.

This paper states the case for adopting a comparative method of analysis to the study of enterprise education. Adopting a comparative approach can provide fresh insights and opportunities for researching from different perspectives. It develops understanding of the concept by reexamining its origins and history. By default its purpose, development operation and rationale are also briefly discussed through reference to literature and policy.

This paper draws on the literature around enterprise and entrepreneurship education. It argues that comparative analysis of enterprise education is an important methodological tool that can enrich, deepen and inform research processes, findings and outcomes. Comparative analysis can take a number of forms and can include within country, cross-country, historical, temporal, longitudinal, spatial, pedagogical, policy or other types of comparison.

This paper unpacks and teases out some of the points of difference and similarity between enterprise education concepts, policies and practices; and the way they are introduced to, applied and operate in different contexts. The main focus and point for comparison is the UK. Enterprise education is distinct from and should not be confused with business and economics. Teacher training in the techniques of enterprise education and resources designed to suit social and cultural requirements is crucial to achieve successful project outcomes.

The comparative analysis of enterprise education programmes and policies advocated here adds value and provides additional insight to these concepts and practices.

The purpose of this paper is to explore current entrepreneurship and enterprise education policy in the UK. The way is which such education is defined and conceptualised in current policy discourse is discussed. The key question addressed in the paper is whether policy makers are expecting too much from current entrepreneurship provision in UK HE.

This is a conceptual, perspective style paper, drawing mainly on entrepreneurship and enterprise education policy documents in the UK as well as related reports and academic literatures mainly published within the last decade. As such, its main intention is to prompt further debate and research in this area.

The paper helps further our understanding of entrepreneurship and enterprise education as portrayed in current policy documents, and suggests that expectations of outcomes from its inclusion in higher education (HE) may have spiralled beyond what is both realistic and possible. The author argues for a more realistic and measurable perspective of the expectations of entrepreneurship and enterprise education in HE, particularly in non-traditional discipline areas, and suggests that policy in this regard is in need of realignment.

The paper is based mainly on UK entrepreneurship and enterprise education policy documents published within the last decade, as well as related papers.

The paper has implications for educators and policy makers in terms of curriculum design and expectations.

The paper should be of value to researchers, educators and those involved in curricula design in the area of entrepreneurship and enterprise education. The paper should be of particular value to policy makers in the context of helping them to be more realistic in relation to their expectations of such education.

This article aims to report the results of a complete survey of enterprise education in all higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, undertaken in 2010 by the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ISBE) on behalf of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE). The survey builds on prior work undertaken by the NCGE in England in 2006 and in 2007.

The survey aimed to establish a complete picture of curricular and extra‐curricular enterprise and entrepreneurship education. The survey uses a similar structure to the previous survey, enabling comparison to be made with enterprise provision over the 2006‐2010 period, as well as with the 2008 European survey of entrepreneurship in HE.

The results provide a stock‐take of enterprise education provision in participating HEIs and highlight the connections in institutional strategies between enterprise education, incubation/new venture support, graduate employability, innovation and academic enterprise. The paper reveals “hotspots” and gaps in enterprise provision and offers “benchmarks” for the sector.

The article offers a summary of the implications for the future development and sustainability of enterprise education in HE, in relation to policy, funding and other changes in the sector. It also considers these issues in relation to recommendations from professional educators and government policy for future development of enterprise in HE and comments on the policy impact of this work.

The timing of the survey, in May‐July 2010, was important as it reflected the end of a period of over ten years of sustained investment in enterprise in higher education by the previous Labour government in the UK, through a range of funding initiatives. As major public expenditure reductions in support for HE and enterprise activity followed, this represented the “high water mark” of publicly funded enterprise activity in the HE sector, and raised the question of how enterprise education and support activities would become sustainable for the future. The report analyses existing provision, assesses its development over the 2006‐2010 period, and provides conclusions and recommendations covering future policy, development, resourcing, and sustainability of enterprise and entrepreneurship provision in higher education.

This paper aims to examine the variety of approaches to curriculum development for enterprise education developed for schools, further, and higher education under an Entrepreneurship Action Plan in Wales and to consider the sustainability issues for delivery in these sectors.

This investigation adopted a case study approach that obtained post‐development information obtained from stakeholders in curriculum development in the three sectors based on semi‐structured interviews. The paper presents an analysis of the curriculum development initiatives in schools, further and higher education based on a three‐stage categorisation model: inspiration, information and implementation and activities involving cross‐sector approaches.

Stakeholders generally provided positive feedback toward the curriculum development material from each sector. Curriculum development applied to fostering enterprising qualities and practical support produced a broad span of diverse actions across Wales covering inspiring, information and implementation. There are consistent threads in enterprise content of attitude, creativity, relationships and organisation. Curriculum content needs to be maintained and updated in a sustainable way and a sustainability framework is proposed together with a set of recommendations for each sector.

Suggestions on how to further strengthen and develop the sustainability of enterprise education programmes are provided for the three sectors: schools, further, and higher education, for example, through centralised curriculum support, the extension of credit‐based courses and structured staff development for stakeholders.

Enterprise education is acknowledged to have an influence on the knowledge, skills and attitudes of students and can contribute to entrepreneurship. Curriculum development in enterprise education enables educational institutions to stimulate interest of students and to foster entrepreneurial qualities among potential entrepreneurs in society. Approaches to curriculum development for three educational sectors are examined, categorised and recommendations advanced for sustaining such enterprise education programmes over an extended period of time.

The aim of enterprise education is to develop in individuals (particularly the young) a set of skills and attitudes that will allow them to be both job creators and job seekers, and help them contribute to the “knowledge economy”. In New Zealand there is heightened interest in the potential contribution of enterprise education to these goals and the promotion of self‐employment as a legitimate work option. At the same time, participation levels in enterprise education programmes for secondary school students such as the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) are increasing. There are also moves to expand the types of enterprise education programmes available. However, there is little empirical evidence in New Zealand that demonstrates the impact of programmes like the YES, or which looks at the different ways in which such programmes are delivered. Deals with one of the objectives of an evaluation of the YES programme, where the researchers sought to identify attributes of effective programme delivery from the perspective of the key stakeholders. Concludes that “best practice” in this context is inappropriate as it implies that a single model of practice exists.