In this study, we address the function of role models for entrepreneurship students. By using entrepreneurs as role models, students can get a better and realistic picture of the complexity of the entrepreneurial path. Choosing whom to interview as role model can be diverse, but it can be problematic if, as a result of that choice, the learning effect in the same group of students is different.
MULTIFILE
This paper provides new insights into entrepreneurship education (EE) for children, by combining three elements that expand the EE literature in a novel direction: (1) the content focus is on social and sustainable entrepreneurship; (2) the educational setting studied is primary education; and (3) the focus is on the effects as perceived by the participating children themselves.Explorative research was done on two programs delivered by EE provider Fawaka School of Entrepreneurship in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A one-group pre-test/post-test survey among the full population of 450 participating children was conducted in 2021. The results provide clues that a program focused on sustainable and social entrepreneurship can provide different results than more ‘general’ programs on entrepreneurship, in particular with regard to differences between girls and boys. After the program, differences in entrepreneurial intentions are significantly smaller, and a number of significant differences with regard to self-confidence disappear.
MULTIFILE
Worldwide entrepreneurship education (EE) is gaining popularity as an employability skill to prepare learners for a future of adaptability and lifelong learning. Its scholarship, however, is concerned that we have lost sight of what works, why, and how in EE. This is especially true for such novel learning objectives as preparation for lifelong learning. This quasi-experimental, mixed methods research sought answers to the question: of how EE pedagogy influences students’ self-directed learning readiness (SDLR). Statistically significant relations were found, especially between self-efficacy and SDLR. The impact of EE was found to be highly significant, which was explained by the effect of a stage-wise, mixed pedagogy approach to teaching/learning. Enhancement of self-efficacy and motivation for self-directed learning was found to benefit from a continuous cyclical teaching-learning process combining passive, participative and self-steered learning within and throughout each step of the learning process, in simulated and authentic learning contexts.
