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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of collaborative learning in the development of teachers’ entrepreneurial competences in the school context at primary, secondary and vocational levels of education.

The research is based on an interpretative and collaborative learning approach to teachers’ entrepreneurial competence development. The empirical work relies on teachers’ written learning reflections collected during the chosen training programme and applies an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method to analyze the data.

The findings demonstrate that collaborative learning can help teachers to adopt a more entrepreneurial teaching approach. The findings highlight that social interaction and collegial support are important “drivers” for building self-confidence, further showing that conceptual and pedagogical renewal leads to an in-depth understanding of the work role and its meaning in society.

The study is of an explorative nature and bound to a specific contextual setting in Finland. Therefore further empirical research is needed to affirm the study’s suggestions on the effects of other collaborative learning interactions.

The research findings provide new insights for teacher trainers and policy makers on how to enhance entrepreneurial teaching competences. The study concludes with new directions for designing and managing teacher training programmes.

The paper enhances the understanding of teachers’ entrepreneurial competences, the role of collaborative peer learning in this process and thus bridges the gap between teacher research and entrepreneurial competence literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate inhabitants of Finland and their continuing efforts to narrate a national identity within the constraints imposed by discursive meanings of Finnish culture through the experience of sauna.

Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews with Finnish local residents and entrepreneurs; these were supplemented with secondary data including books, articles, advertisements and documents referencing sauna in the context of Finland.

The analysis and interpretation by the authors show that the symbolic resource of sauna constitutes the legitimation of Finnish nation branding discourses at three levels: regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive; we label these sauna governance, communal identity creation and mythmaking, respectively.

The research contribution reveals that nation branding discourses are also forms of legitimation work. Finnish nation branding discourses are interwoven with sauna as the symbolic resource of “Finnishness” and become conduits for the expression of discursive meanings. This demonstrates that institutional legitimacy is an intrinsic aspect of the ways place branding discourses can be used as a mode of governance (i.e. a policy instrument).

This study investigates teachers' perceptions of how school conditions influence their motivation for opportunity recognition. It uses discovery theory as a theoretical lens to understand the dynamics of entrepreneurial teachers' knowledge and alertness in responding to school conditions.

Using a multi-case study approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with participants in three schools highlighting similarities and differences in their conditions of empowering entrepreneurial teachers to discover opportunities.

The results indicate that four school conditions facilitate entrepreneurial teachers to discover opportunities, namely, a rigorous working environment, a trusting and opened culture, extensive communication networks and rewarding work conditions.

These findings further underscore the use of discovery theory in educational contexts showing that entrepreneurial teachers are in an active mode of searching for opportunities. Specific ways through which teachers can better recognize opportunities for school improvement are included.