Question:

I need to write a seminar paper for(Innovation Management Major) in the field of Developing innovation capabilities..My research question is:
“The effect of education in building the entrepreneurial character\”
It must be written from an innovation point of view..(Main concern is innovation. It must be in an APA style, including an index, outline of 1 page minimum, all articles(Sources)are from (Jstore, Ebsco and Emerald), references and citation…

Answer:

The effect of education in building the entrepreneurial character

 

Outline

 

1. Introduction
   1. A general introduction of the topic
   2. Focus on the scope of the study
2. Relationship between entrepreneurship and education
3. Innovation, entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship qualities
4. Contemporary issues in entrepreneurship, innovation, and education
5. Role of education in nurturing entrepreneurship as a set of qualities
6. Identification of Entrepreneurial Qualities in educational settings
7. Teaching Entrepreneurship
8. The entrepreneurial approach to learning
9. Conclusion
10. References

 

Introduction

Entrepreneurship always plays a key role for the economic development of any country. It is seen to play a key role in nurturing innovation as well as creating jobs and growth. However, difficulties have often been pointed out whenever efforts are made to capture accurately the concept of entrepreneurship, owing to the fact that no generally accepted definition of the term exists. In most cases, entrepreneurship is associated with innovation, that is, creation of something useful that never previously existed. It is often considered the equivalent of new venture creation. As a consequence, it is seen to be closely related to business ownership.

Nevertheless, it is also possible for entrepreneurship to be present even within large organizations as well as outside the contemporary business environment. Truly, in its broad sense, entrepreneurial behavior has gained utmost importance in today’s corporate society, which is characterized by instabilities and uncertainties in the work environment. This environment is also characterized by multiple job shifts in the course of one’s career, great prospects of self employment, and tasks that require the qualities of independence, creativity, and initiative. These are the entrepreneurial qualities that enable employees to cope with and continue contributing to a very rapid socio-economic change. In this context, education undoubtedly plays a very crucial role in ensuring that an entrepreneurial character shapes up among individuals.

 

The present study explores the role that education plays in building the entrepreneurial character early on in one’s professional career. The assumption adopted in this study is that it is possible to teach about entrepreneurship through early education, that is primary and secondary education, as opposed to college and university education. The attempt here is to create an in-depth understanding of the role that entrepreneurship education plays in developing innovation and entrepreneurship qualities. Considering that most of the prevailing educational programs are founded upon unclear definitions of entrepreneurship, it becomes necessary to discuss several theoretical underpinnings of entrepreneurship education.

Relationship between entrepreneurship and education

In today’s world of emphasis on empirical approaches to problem solving, many people perceive a positive relationship between education and the level of economic growth. Particularly, there are many empirical studies that specify developmental growth as a function of one’s level of education. Therefore, from a societal perspective, there is a strong relationship between the educational system and entrepreneurship with regard to economic growth. This realization makes it even more intriguing to observe that the relationship between education and entrepreneurship has been openly acknowledged only recently. While development a framework for offering an explanation of entrepreneurship, Collins (2004) points out that education is one of the main determinants of a country’s level of entrepreneurial activity.

Traditionally, the development of entrepreneurial qualities has tended to be inhibited by the educational system mainly because of the way it taught young people how to obey and then reproduce bare facts in the process of engaging in wage employment upon completing their education. In sharp contrast, entrepreneurs are often reliant upon their own individual judgment. They learn mainly through the trial and error process in the process of creating and facilitating their own independent job environment.

Today’s educational system focuses more on analytical thinking compared to creative thinking. Creative thinking requires the entrepreneur to be open to all new possibilities while analytical thinking is mainly geared towards explaining facts that lead to fixed answers. In the old school system, focus was on creating uniformity among all students, and everyone tended to rely upon an environment characterized by a high degree of certainty. In the case of entrepreneurship, things are different; the association here is with diversity among various individuals with different opinions, interests, and qualities. It entails an individual’s ability to create numerous opportunities from uncertain environments. In most cases, these differences are considered very valuable since variety is always important in the way innovative modern societies function.

These days, both policymakers and scholars are getting into the tendency of being aware of the value of education system for innovation and entrepreneurship. The most valuable thing about an education system is that it creates awareness on different alternative career choices that one can take up. It also broadens individual’s horizon by equipping them with all the cognitive tools that enable them perceive and develop numerous entrepreneurial opportunities. Additionally, an educational system helps people develop qualities that everyone considers crucial for innovation and entrepreneurship.

It is important to note that a considerable debate rages concerning the extent to which the need for teaching entrepreneurship qualities arises, that is, the extent to which it is possible for entrepreneurship to be taught (Galloway, 2002). Some scholars agree that it is possible for entrepreneurship qualities to be developed by way of training during an early age.

Innovation, entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship qualities

It is clear that early entrepreneurship literature is ridden with different conceptions of an entrepreneur and the role of the entrepreneur in the process of economic growth. Some scholars adopt the trait perspective while others adopt the behavioral perspective of entrepreneurship (Heinonen (2006). In this debate, the important question is normally whether it is possible to teach entrepreneurship or whether it is something that one has to be born with.

Joseph Schumpeter, one of the most respected scholars of entrepreneurship, defines an entrepreneur as an individual who introduces new combinations of the various means of production. In Schumpeter’s view, entrepreneurship is achieved when innovation is used to reshape industrial structure. This reshaping process entails ‘creative destruction’ whereby disequilibrium has to be created in the economic process. In sharp contrast,  Harry (2008) is of the view that the entrepreneur’s main role entails arbitrating, that is, creating harmony between demand and supply as well as the allocation of resources such that they are put into the most productive uses. Hannon (2006) also argues that entrepreneurship is also about the ability for an individual to persistently deal with disequilibrium as a distinctive trait of all entrepreneurs.

Contemporary issues in entrepreneurship, innovation, and education

Whenever different conceptions of entrepreneurship are being reviewed, it is normal for a distinction to be made between those who focus on the behavior of entrepreneurs and those who emphasize the importance of entrepreneurial qualities. In the trait approach, the conventional argument is that individual personality traits always remain crucial ingredients for appreciating and understanding the entrepreneurship phenomenon since not all people have the propensity to end up becoming entrepreneurs under similar circumstances. From the behavioral perspective, entrepreneurship is considered a set of one’s personality characteristics. In this case, entrepreneurship entails such characteristics as creativity, perseverance, propensity to continue taking risks, initiative, internal locus of control, and self-confidence. In spite of the alleged usefulness of the trait approach, it has been heavily criticized for emphasizing that entrepreneurship research ought to focus on studies on the behavioral aspects of entrepreneurship as opposed to personality traits.

Leitch (999) is also on record arguing that it is difficult to observe entrepreneurial traits ex ante, and that these traits may not be unique to a specific entrepreneur after all. An excellent example is the scenario whereby the propensity to take risks is also present among proactive managers. Moreover, within contemporary entrepreneurship research, a discussion exists regarding whether entrepreneurs are made or born. In the school of thought propounded by Matlay (2006), an entrepreneur is considered to be an individual with a sixth sense in the form of an intuitive capability, an entrepreneurial trait that he has to be born with. On the contrary, opposing scholars argue that it is possible to develop or teach entrepreneurship.

It is imperative to note that in the present study, focus is on the development of inherent entrepreneurial qualities (as opposed to entrepreneurial behavior) in an educational setting (Simpson, 2004). In this case, the development of entrepreneurial qualities becomes the basis upon which any kind of entrepreneurial behavior is nurtured. This is mainly because personality traits or qualities are simply a manifestation of underlying behavior. In other words, personality always has a strong influence on attitudes as well as the manner in which a person interacts with or perceives the environment.

Whenever entrepreneurial qualities are incorporated into the education system, it becomes easy for a broad group of people to be reached, and this creates a situation whereby awareness on entrepreneurship as an occupational choice is created (Hynes, 1996). Moreover, people acquire or develop basic qualities that they can draw upon later on in life. This is particularly important since people it is rare for people to become entrepreneurs immediately upon completion of their education. Usually, they start businesses later on in their lives, in most cases after a relatively long period of wage employment. Moreover, entrepreneurship education may easily stimulate corporate entrepreneurship since entrepreneurial qualities are now increasingly becoming a key aspect of regular wage jobs.

Psychologists have observed that personality is not just about hereditary traits; it is also about the influence of one’s immediate environment. One of these environmental factors shaping one’s personality is the cultural setting in which one is raised. Culture in this case entails attitudes, norms, family values, as well as the social values held by friends and social groups. At an early age, the personalities of children are still malleable. At this stage, initial education may play a critical role in the development of qualities that are required of entrepreneurs. This explains why the most helpful entrepreneurial qualities may be said to be the ones that are taught early on in life, that is, during primary and secondary education. As for tertiary education, focus may be on the development of more practical qualities, for example business management. Ordinarily, entrepreneurial traits tend to correspond more with one’s personality characteristics that are developed in the course of one’s upbringing than with business management qualities. This is the reason why they tend to be more firmly embedded in an individual, and it also explains why it may be very difficult to develop entrepreneurial qualities among adults.

Role of education in nurturing entrepreneurship as a set of qualities

In literature on entrepreneurship, numerous different terms are normally used to describe the profile of entrepreneurial individuals, in terms of attitudes, skills, qualities, and characteristics. Although these concepts are not always in reference to similar phenomena, it is common for them to be used interchangeably. One of the problems with the definition of entrepreneurship has to do with the way it relates to educational exposure. It is normally considered difficult to define entrepreneurial competencies in educational terms.

Many qualities are normally considered entrepreneurial, and these include personality variables, for example entrepreneurial drive, achievement motivation, imagination, creativity, and innovation. Communication skills are also considered entrepreneurial, and in this case the issues under consideration include persuasion and negotiation. There is also managerial skills, some of which include decision making, problem solving, monitoring, and organizing. In analytical skills, the issues to mention include data presentation and numeracy skills. Under career skills, mention is on assessment and self-awareness ability, self-directed learning, and career planning techniques. Then there is knowledge, such as business-related knowledge and computer literacy. Additionally, there is the notion of attitudes, which espouses sensitivity to perception, flexibility in one’s thinking, and sensitivity to different needs and varying consequences. All these skills are taught in one or the other taught in school. They require one form of learning or the other.

A careful review of concepts relating to entrepreneurship indicates that there are discrepancies regarding the extent to which they can be taught, that is, their teachability (Henry, 2005). On the one hand, personality variables and attitudes normally take the form of underlying variables inherent in an individual, and for this reason, are expected to be rather difficult to influence in a remarkable way. On the other hand, skills are normally embedded at the surface and they can be developed with more ease through educational exposure and training.

There is a commonly held argument that educational programs ought to entail the teaching of various managerial qualities, including marketing and negotiation strategies, in addition to entrepreneurial qualities, for example opportunity-seeking, autonomy, and creativity. In most instances, managerial qualities are incorporated into educational programs over and above entrepreneurial qualities. For the entrepreneurial and innovative qualities, which constitute the focal point of the present study, they largely correspond to personality variables, especially considering that entrepreneurship-related activities can thrive outside the business sphere. In such a context, managerial qualities become less important.

It is imperative for a distinction to be made between managerial qualities and entrepreneurship qualities with regard to the role of education. Entrepreneurial qualities, as opposed to managerial qualities, are characterized by environmental- and task dependency. Moreover, it is possible to train or train people on entrepreneurial qualities at an early age compared to managerial qualities. This is because entrepreneurial abilities are easily embedded into one’s personal characteristics and they are also developed during the socialization process. In other words, they involve too many aspects of innovation, which need not be there for one to be said to have acquired managerial skills.

From an educational context, it is also possible to differentiate between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs (Fayolle, 2006). If one takes a broad conception of entrepreneur, it is clear that the characteristics that make up the entrepreneur can apply to any member of the society. It relates closely to a well-established entrepreneurial culture, as opposed to a group of entrepreneurs, that is, self-employed individuals. Indeed, it is true to say that individuals normally tend to exhibit a natural tendency towards entrepreneurial undertakings. To some degree, the entrepreneurial characteristics seem natural to human beings. The desire to innovate appears to be an inherent quality among members of the human family, be it at the domestic or commercial/corporate level. However, this observation has not prevented researchers from trying to filter out entrepreneurial traits.

Identification of Entrepreneurial Qualities in educational settings

One of the qualities commonly associated with entrepreneurship in scholarly circles is the need for achievement. The need for achievement is considered a distinguishing trait of all successful or promising entrepreneurs. Such entrepreneurs are normally a cut above the rest of the populace. The need for achievement is the tendency to set very challenging goals and to set out to reach these goals through independent means. Another trait is an internal locus of control. An individual with an internal locus of control always holds the belief that the outcomes of his innovative ideas are influence by his efforts, such that he always avoids exposing himself to the high penalties that normally accompany failure. Entrepreneurs are also said to be moderate risk takers. However, there is a considerable degree of disagreement on whether average risk-taking is a distinguishing feature of entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, all these distinctive features relate in one way or the other with the life skills and values that are normally taught in educational settings, especially early on in life.

Moreover, there is an inherent relationship between the so-called entrepreneurial spirit and education-inspired creativity. By living up to the philosophy of the entrepreneurial spirit, individuals become intrinsically inclined towards the generation of divergent ideas as well as to integrate these ideas with resources and processes so as to ensure that things happen in a certain unique way. If the essence of entrepreneurship is creative or divergent thinking, also known as lateral thinking, then education has a very big role to play in the process through which individuals end up being entrepreneurs.

The need to identify entrepreneurial qualities in an education setting arises out of the fact that educators have to conceptualize a universal definition of what really constitutes entrepreneurship. This goal is necessary in efforts to create a starting point in efforts to design relevant educational programs. The definition of entrepreneurship as a set of specific qualities facilitates a discussion on how to develop these qualities within the educational system. There is no consensus on which concepts of entrepreneurship should be included in entrepreneurship education. This also explains the situation whereby some scholars perceive a link between entrepreneurial qualities to an individual’s education while others do not. Normally, entrepreneurial core skills are regarded as those capabilities constituting the sufficient conditions for one’s pursuit of a highly effective entrepreneurial behavior independently, in a societal and organizational manner, in an increasingly globally turbulent environment.

Gibb (1998) argues that entrepreneurial skills ought to be taught, and the skills that he has in mind here include creative problem solving, intuitive decision making, ability to conclude deals, management of interdependency, project management, and strategic thinking. Other skills include persuasion, time management, negotiation, selling, and providing motivation others by setting an example. It is true that these skills are best inculcated within several underlying qualities, key among them self-awareness, self-confidence, internal locus of control, a high level of autonomy and empathy with stakeholders, particularly customers, a high achievement orientation, a hard working disposition, a propensity to become a moderate risk taker in a flexible manner.

All the underlying qualities often appear most appropriate for inclusion in educational programs designed for children than qualities that relate to business management. This is largely because they are much close to personal qualities. Moreover, these underlying qualities are much more likely to remain inherent compared to business management qualities. For this reason, they ought to be taught as early on in life as possible since it may be very difficult to develop these qualities once an individual becomes an adult.

It is common for a distinction to be made between different categories of entrepreneurial qualities, whereby they are grouped around four key components: planning, ideas, doing, and self-awareness. Planning entails both problem solving and planning while ideas entail qualities such as investigation, creativity and opportunity seeking. Doing entails the qualities of being a risk taker, an individual with autonomy, commitment, initiative, and persistence. Self awareness is all about self-confidence, motivation, and initiative. From this perspective, it is clear that the most important entrepreneurial qualities relate to the ability to cope with uncertainty, to be creative, to take calculated risks, and to be an independent-minded person who takes responsibility while solving problems.

Education provides an excellent platform for future entrepreneurs to understand the meaning of being an independent-minded person (Jones, 2004). Being an independent-minded individual has a lot to do with being able to achieve autonomy, responsibility, a problem-solving approach to life, and ultimately, an internal locus of control. The only condition here is that the earlier on these values are inculcated in one’s personality and values, the better. Indeed, there is abundance of literature on what it takes for one to possess an entrepreneurial spirit. In today’s turbulent and increasingly global business environment, it is difficult for one to navigate the corporate world without some basic form of education. In this regard, it becoming an entrepreneur entails not just having the ‘right’ personality, but also the right form of educational exposure.

With the right kind of educational exposure, a future entrepreneur is able to get achievement motivation, which is characterized by a compulsion to set very challenging goals and to strive to achieve these goals through individual efforts and innovative strategies. Indeed, it is this high need for innovation and achievement that drives individuals to end up becoming entrepreneurs. Among students, achievement motivation is normally reflected in their desire to seek recognition for the way overtly exhibit their performance skills and abilities.

When one gets the desire to gain autonomy, this is an indication of an underlying desire to remain in control and a perpetual fear of control from external forces. For people with a need for a high degree of autonomy, freedom and individualism are crucial traits. They also tend to be averse to social norms, procedures, and rules. They always feel that they want to remain independent of others all the time. This may create some problems in the educational setting, where the individual may be blinded by self-belief so much to the extent of undermining his teachers. To avoid this tricky situation, some wisdom has to come into play, whereby one maintains patience till completion of an education course.

In the case of creativity, the relationship with education is rather obvious for entrepreneurs. By being creative, individuals develop new methods rather than using standard procedures. Creative entrepreneurs are able to produce many ideas with ease and composure, to maintain originality, and to be flexible, such that they can easily switch between approaches. They also manage to be innovative, whereby they are able to define and continually perceive things in an atypical manner. Meanwhile, in entrepreneurship literature, a key distinction is normally made between the task of inventing something new, that is, creativity, and adopting it, that is, innovation. Entrepreneurs have to go beyond being creative and to adopt the creative ideas in the process of innovation.

In the contemporary education systems, there are myriads of opportunities for learners to be innovative. This exposure mainly takes the form of encouragement on the part of the teachers. For students, the challenge is normally to take the initiative by getting the motivation to start working independently, to take the first step, and to be so adventurous as to be willing to start trying out new methods. In the business sense, this means undertaking a business of the entrepreneur’s own accord (McClelland, 1961).

Teaching Entrepreneurship

It should not be denied that entrepreneurial qualities are to a certain extent embedded in an individual’s personality. Nevertheless, the best thing is to take the assumption that it is possible to develop these qualities even further through education. Regarding entrepreneurship education, there is a large gap between the ideals that are propagated in research and the way in which education programs are designed on the one hand and entrepreneurship in practice on the other. In usual cases, educational programs not found upon knowledge gathered through research. If at all they are, then choice always has to be made between different sets of an individual’s entrepreneurial qualities, and this complicates the way educational programs are designed. Some observations have also been made to the effect that it is not common for practitioners, that is, entrepreneurial individuals, to appear to be profiting from these educational programs.

Traditionally, a distinction is normally made between various levels at which entrepreneurship skills are taught. At the level of primary schools, teachers create awareness on entrepreneurship as a key contributor’s in a country’s economy. They also inform learners about the role that it contributes to the economy, and students are told that it is a very relevant occupational choice. Early on at the level of secondary education, learners are offered a myriad of opportunities to transform themselves into entrepreneurs. As they near completion of their secondary education, they are exposed to the creative and innovative aspects of entrepreneurship. At this time, students are expected to have acquired entrepreneurship qualities such as motivation and the propensity to take moderate risks.

From a scholarly perspective, it is common for make a distinction between educational programs and level of education. In literature adopting this perspective, the argument is that ‘awareness’ programs ought to be offered to all the groups that are seen to lack basic entrepreneurship-related knowledge. For all the other pupils, emphasis is on the provision of ‘readiness’ programs. Such programs need to be subjected to even young children, as long as they have some rudimentary awareness on the world of entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity. Like in the case of the conventional practice of education, the trend should involve movement towards increasing complexity, whereby awareness is first created before learners move on to the application of entrepreneurial qualities within experimental environments.

It is common for elementary school teachers to emphasize on ways in which learners can acquire entrepreneurial qualities. For middle grades, particularly in the US, focus is normally on the perception and creation of business opportunities. At high grades, attention shifts to emphasis on business management abilities. It is worth noting here that these studies tend to differ in terms of the exact timing of instruction on entrepreneurial qualities. Nevertheless, there is normally a universal agreement on the importance of teaching students about entrepreneurship as early on in life as possible.

The question of how entrepreneurship should be taught has been a subject of research interest for a long time. The answer to this question has a lot to do with the qualities that need to be inculcated in learners for them to become entrepreneurs. In this regard, there is need to introduce some theories of learning that form the basis of conventional educational programs. Entrepreneurship education may easily be pegged on the learning theory, which involves breaking down of complex components into numerous manageable components (Jack, 1999). These components are taught using a sequence of steps in such a way that there is coherence in relation to the curriculum.

Different entrepreneurship education programs are normally pegged on varying theories of learning. Some of these theories include learning by doing, theories of generative learning, theory of cognitive learning objectives, and stages of cognitive development. Each of these learning theories has far-reaching implications for the way education program, and even entire curricula, are constructed.

For the theory of generative learning, the basis of knowledge acquisition is the assumption that the human brain is always actively constructing meaningful relationships between many unfamiliar concepts on the one hand and familiar relevant experience and knowledge on the other. In this way, learning is understood to be a generative process, whereby meaning is constructed from one’s knowledge, memories, and experience.

As for the experience-based learning theory, also known as learning by doing, advocacy is for students to be personally involved in the experience of learning. They do this by making their own decisions and personally bearing the consequences of these decisions. Therefore, the learners have to actively participate in problem-solving situations in a real-life context where there is a great personal significance. This is different from the cognitive development theory, which clearly defines the path through which a child walks in the journey of intellectual growth. Cognitive development is seen to be dependent upon the ability by children to interact with their environment. In this case, four different stages of a child’s development process are identified: sensory-motor, preoperational, concrete-operational, and then formal operations. Ordinarily, the cognitive processes and perspectives vary significantly from one child to the other just as they do from one stage to the other.

The entrepreneurial approach to learning

Scholars are not in agreement regarding the particular set of entrepreneurial attributes that should be developed at the initial stages of education. However, it appears that there is consensus regarding the methods that should be used to teach entrepreneurship. This agreement arises from the universal appreciation of the fact that entrepreneurship is about qualities such as autonomy, creativity, and initiative. For some scholars, entrepreneurship ought to be taught in an experiential way so that young people are stimulated to think systematically and act in an entrepreneurial manner. This brings to the fore the need to design projects that are aimed at developing certain set-out entrepreneurial qualities. However, it is also acceptable for entrepreneurship to be taught in an indirect way, whereby more entrepreneurial modes are used in the learning and teaching process. Nevertheless, it is of utmost importance for young people to be made to ‘feel’ as well as experience the notion of entrepreneurship; they should not just learn about it in the conventional manner. They should not learn about entrepreneurship in the same way that tertiary-level students are taught about business management.

Emphasis should be specifically on pedagogies that explicitly encourage the young people to learn by doing, by experiencing, and by taking as many risks while at the same time making as many mistakes as possible (Henry, 2005). They need to get a lot of feedback, meaning that social interaction should be a key component of the learning process. The interactions may involve role-playing, exploration of role models, and continued interaction with the adult, real-life world.

In terms of facilitation, experiential learning ought to take place in a context whereby an appropriate learning environment is created. Such an environment may be rather difficult to create but the efforts are normally worthwhile considering the many experience-related benefits to be reaped. The environment should be functionally similar to the one where the learner will put the knowledge into practice. The environment should also be designed in such a way that it invites a lot of activity from learners. This means that there is need for stimulation of learners on how to the environment interactively and in an integrated manner. There should also be real-life situations, in which learners have to dialogue with the environment in their search for answers. This also enables them to apply their knowledge in different contexts. Such an environment also needs to be enriched with coaches and role models. These coaches should play the role of showing learners about ways of learning in a real-life environment, where they can easily be stimulated to take responsibility for their own progress in learning various aspects of entrepreneurship. Yet they also need to systematically pay attention to their own awareness of capabilities, so that they can perceive improvements positively.

Such a learning environment seems to be in tandem with the generating learning theory as well as experience-based learning (Garavan, 1994). It is also seen to harbor the capacity for enhancing cognitive development since learners are stimulated to start interacting with their immediate environment and then learn from the resulting experiences. This approach, nevertheless, seems to deviate from the conventional approach to learning associated with disciplines such as business management. This is largely because it is highly likely to cover a wider range of cognitive goals and objectives, namely comprehension, knowledge, application of the knowledge, analysis of alternatives, and evaluation.

Role of projects and methods designed for entrepreneurial teaching

Numerous methods have already been constructed by entrepreneurship enthusiasts for implementation in teaching entrepreneurship using hands-on approach (Kirby, 2004). Such methods normally take the form of projects, games, and adventure-related training. For games, the motivation is to create scenarios that resemble actual settings in which entrepreneurs have to find themselves. ‘Behavior simulation’ is the best term to use in reference in these methods, and truly, they contribute greatly to learners’ exposure to important aspects of entrepreneurship. In this behavioral approach, the aim is normally creating a linkage between objectives and particular roles for both learners and coaches and mentors (Béchard, 2005).

Entrepreneurship projects and games are not only enlightening, they are also interesting. They enable entrepreneurs drive their mental and physical energies towards activities facilitate creativity, independent-mindedness, autonomy, self-confidence, and innovation. Students are able to actively reflect, explore many viewpoints, and share insights and experiences. Learners acquire skills that later on make them become enterprising members of the society who trust their guts whenever they contemplate transforming their creative geniuses into innovations.

It is important for the education offered to entrepreneurs to offer an environment that is entrepreneurship-friendly. Essentially, it should not be lost on the tutors, mentors, coaches, and role models that different teaching methods are required for different entrepreneurial qualities. The same case applies with regard to different environments, which need to be in congruence with the skills, competencies, and experiences being taught. This is the best way through which learners can be inspired to be not only creative but also innovative.

In situations where initiative is simulated through facilitation as opposed to giving directions to learners, the value of persistence is appreciated more readily. This is because the learners are taught to be aware of fact that the task of controlling their learning processes is entirely theirs. Similarly, the learners should be guided towards establishing meaningful interactions with the people around them. The right environment should be created for them to learn about how to go about creating these meaningful relationships.

Entrepreneurship teaching methods have also been seen to inculcate the quality of autonomy in learners. This requires some form of training, where focus is on independent behavior. In the case of children, priority is on letting them know that they are ‘on their own’ as long as they choose to follow the path of entrepreneurship. They need to be taught that freedom comes with certain responsibilities, and that they need to explore these responsibilities. Interviews with real-life entrepreneurs greatly helps creative would-entrepreneurs understand what it means to independently set personal goals and go out of one’s way to reach them.

 

Conclusion

In summary, the qualities that define entrepreneurship are to some extent present in every individual. Nevertheless, for career entrepreneurs, these qualities are more defined, making these people stand out of the rest of the population. For these people, initial education plays a key role in enhancing entrepreneurial qualities so that they can become innovative and follow the path of entrepreneurship with confidence and unending determination.

Entrepreneurship qualities are definitely teachable, though not in exactly the same way that other disciplines, for example business management, is. Entrepreneurship education programs entail a lot of practical, real-life-situation lessons. In such an environment, learners are accorded facilitation instead of direction for them to figure out the best way of making the right decisions in contexts riddled with many sets of conditions.

 

References

Béchard, J. (2005) Entrepreneurship Education Research Revisited: The Case of Higher Education, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(1), 22-43.

Collins, L. (2004) Enacting entrepreneurial intent: the gaps between student needs and higher education capability, Education + Training, 46(8), 454 – 463.

Fayolle, A. (2006) Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes: a new methodology, Journal of European Industrial Training, 30(9), 701 – 720.

Galloway, L. (2002) Entrepreneurship education at university: a driver in the creation of high growth firms? Education + Training, 44(8), 398 – 405.

Garavan, T. (1994) Entrepreneurship Education and Training Programmes: A Review and Evaluation – Part 1, Journal of European Industrial Training, 18(8), 3 – 12.

Hannon, P. (2006) “Teaching pigeons to dance: sense and meaning in entrepreneurship education”, Education + Training, Vol. 48 Iss: 5, pp.296 – 308

Harry Matlay, (2008) “The impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial outcomes”, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 15 Iss: 2, pp.382 – 396

Heinonen, J. (2006) An entrepreneurial-directed approach to entrepreneurship education: mission impossible? Journal of Management Development, 25(1), 80 – 94.

Henry, C. (2005) Entrepreneurship education and training: can entrepreneurship be taught? Part I, Education + Training, 47(2), 98 – 111.

Henry, C. (2005) Entrepreneurship education and training: can entrepreneurship be taught? Part II, Education + Training, 47(3), 158 – 169.

Hynes, B. (1996) Entrepreneurship education and training – introducing entrepreneurship into non-business disciplines, Journal of European Industrial Training, 20(8), 10 – 17.

Jack, S. (1999) Entrepreneurship education within the enterprise culture: Producing reflective practitioners, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 5(3), 110 – 125

Jones, C. (2004) A contemporary approach to entrepreneurship education, Education + Training, 46(8), 416 – 423.

Kirby, D. (2004) Entrepreneurship education: can business schools meet the challenge?, Education + Training, 46(8), 510 – 519.

Leitch, C. (999) A process model for entrepreneurship education and development, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 5(3), 83 – 109

Matlay, H. (2006) Researching entrepreneurship and education: Part 2: what is entrepreneurship education and does it matter? Education + Training, Vol. 48(8), 704 – 718

Simpson, M. (2004) Small business success factors: the role of education and training, Education + Training, 46(8), 481 – 491.