Browsing by Subject "yrittäjyyskasvatus"

Aims. This study aims to find out what kind of views vocational teachers working on second level have about their job, entrepreneurship education and actualizing entrepreneurship education. Previous research has shown many changes in vocational teaching during past decades. Changes in labour market have made entrepreneurship education more significant in education. Research questions are: 1) What kind of challenges does vocational teaching include?, 2) What kind of views do vocational teachers have on entrepreneurship education? and 3) How is entrepreneurship education part of vocational teaching? Methods. Data for this study was collected by semi-structured interviews during spring 2010. Five second level vocational teachers working in South Savo were interviewed. One of the interviewees no longer worked on second level education. Research material was analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. Teachers experienced two kinds of challenges in their work. Firstly challenges rose from heterogeneity among students and big role of "raising" the students (e.g. good behaviour). Secondly challenges were caused by changes in work and lack of resources. Entrepreneurship education was viewed as necessary and beneficial, and it was part of teaching in forms of learning contents, teaching methods and learning environments. As a term entrepreneurship education was viewed problematic since it is often misunderstood as entrepreneur education (how to be an entrepreneur). For entrepreneurship education to be implemented in all teaching, should the aims and practices of entrepreneurship education be clarified to all teachers.

Aims. Previous research on entrepreneurial education has mainly been driven by economic interest. It has been based on quantitative approaches focusing on learning outcomes. Entrepreneurial competencies have been observed as learnable and teachable, although there has been contradictory evidence about effectiveness of entrepreneurial education. Process perspective on entrepreneurial education has left as a minor viewpoint. By now, researchers’ have recommended socio-constructive and experiential approaches to pedagogics. The objective of this study is to bring together previously separate research traditions on educational outcomes and process, introducing more profound picture of learning entrepreneurial competencies especially from the students’ perspective. Methods. The study was conducted by interviewing 18 fifth-year engineering students, who had started their studies on August 1, 2013. The interview invitations were targeted based on study register data for reaching participants from diverse backgrounds on entrepreneurial studies. The research instrument was built on directions of narrative research, critical incident technique and lifeline approach. The data were analyzed with content analysis combined with abductive reasoning and data quantification. Results and conclusions. Consistently with the previous studies, entrepreneurial competencies were shown possible to learn. All students recognized learning of business competencies. However, competencies needed in early-phase entrepreneurship were emphasized by students, who had accomplished several entrepreneurial courses. Results concerning learning process indicated that combining formal learning environments with elements of informal learning resulted as a wide spectrum of learned entrepreneurial competencies. Learning was located especially in problem-solving and project working environments where students co-worked in inter- or multidisciplinary groups. However, other than entrepreneurial courses did not directly support learning of entrepreneurial competencies. Thus, the findings set base for further actions in integrating the elements of entrepreneurial courses into project courses.

Entrepreneurship education has been a part of the national curriculum since the 1990s, but attitudes tend to be hostile and the inclusion of objectives in teaching are yet to be developed further. Previous studies show that clear definitions and common practices are needed to support entrepreneurship education in practice. The concepts of entrepreneurship and education are ambiguous making the definition of entrepreneurship education challenging. This study examines the student’s role and the achievement of entrepreneurship education objectives in the co-creation process from the teachers’ and the company representatives’ perspective. The co-creation projects were part of the DIT-Heureka and 6AIKA EduDigi projects aimed at developing a continuous operating model that supports innovations and entrepreneurship education. The aim of this study is to find out how co-creation projects can be utilised to meet the broad entrepreneurship education goals in schools. The data was collected by a semi-structured thematic interview of six teachers and 11 company representatives from seven companies. All of the interviewees had taken part in a co-creation project. Four of the interviews were conducted as pair interviews and the rest as individual interviews. The interviews were analyzed following the principles of thematic analysis.  The teachers and company representatives emphasised the student’s role as a learner, influencer, experiencer and future builder. In addition, the role was seen as an innovator, interactor, and producer of benefits. The achieved objectives of entrepreneurship education were divided between experiences, knowledge, skills and attitudes. The co-creation process gave the students an experience of working with external stakeholders, as well as a different learning environment and versatile ways of working. Overall, the experience strengthened the students’ self-esteem. They learned about entrepreneurship, working life and opportunities of entrepreneurship. Co-creating improved the students’ co-operation, interaction, emotional and self-direction skills. The project succeeded in creating positive attitude towards work and entrepreneurship, and in motivating the students. Experiences of creating value play a key role in assuring the objectives of entrepreneurship education are broadly met. In addition these experiences support the development of both internal and external entrepreneurship within the co-operation projects.

Neoliberalisms influence is growing in today’s society and responsibilities are moved from the state to its citizens. Individuals own capabilities are now more important than ever. Financial capabilities are especially important. Before responsibilities can be transferred to individuals, it must be ensured that citizens have sufficient capabilities. At the moment this is not so. Finnish basic education is a great place to teach necessary financial capabilities with the help of financial education. Financially capable individuals want to and can operate actively and responsibly in different financial environ-ments. The current knowledge on the effects of financial education or the level of financial capabil-ties of our youths is not sufficient. In this thesis I studied the effects of ten Me & MyCity lessons on financial capabilities. Financial ca-pabilities were narrowed to informational level. I tried to find out how financial capabilities improve and are there differences between genders. With help of some earlier tests I constructed a survey con-sisting of 30 objective multiple choice items to test my research questions. 207 students from 11 dif-ferent school classes answered my survey. 171 students answered the survey both before and after Me & MyCity lessons and 170 answers were eligible for further analyses. All students participated in the Me & MyCity in Helsinki-Vantaa in the spring of 2016. To test the suitability of my test I did item analysis and IRT analysis. The result was that my test was sufficient in the scale of this research. The test should be improved if used in forthcoming research. Three items that were not functioning correctly were removed from the test. The test was slightly easy and therefore didn’t differentiate better students as well as it could have. The development of fi-nancial capabilities was tested with paired samples T test. The differences between genders were test-ed with a T test. Financial capabilities improved by 15,6%. The progression was varied between sub-factors. Gender did not affect the results. Answers stating ”I don't know” decreased by 52% in the se-cond questionnaire. The increase of correct answers was significantly lower. Me & MyCity improves financial capabilities at least on informational level. The progression was low level, although this may be partly caused by the incorrect calibration of the research instrument. Education is transforming from teaching singular skills and subjects towards teaching holistic capa-bilities. Effective methods are required both for this transformation and to supervise its results. Me & MyCity is in part specialized to financial education and is therefore a good place to start improving financial education and the measurement of financial capability.

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills are recognized as an important asset in the transition phase of society that we are living in. The attitude climate in entrepreneurship education is mainly positive and has developed significantly over the past decades in Finland. The importance of entrepreneurship education as part of the Education Curriculum has been strengthened since the 1990s. Despite this, the role of entrepreneurship education in the everyday life of elementary schools is small. In my research, I wanted to find out why entrepreneurship education does not appear in basic education according to POPS (2014)? The goal of my research was to form an understanding of the current state of entrepreneurship education in basic education based on the views of entrepreneurship education experts, and thereby define measures that support the future of entrepreneurship education in basic education. I approached the research question through three sub-questions: "What kind of role does entrepreneurship education have for the individual and society?", "What kind of opportunities and challenges are associated with entrepreneurship education?" and "What kind of views do entrepreneurship education experts have about the future of entrepreneurship education in basic education?" My research was based on the theory of entrepreneurship education (e.g. Seikkula-Leino 2018, Lackéus 2017) and guidelines defining entrepreneurship education. The research was carried out as a qualitative case study by interviewing seven expert teachers of entrepreneurship education and was analyzed using content analysis methods. The research results showed that entrepreneurship education has a significant role for the individual and society. The main influencing factors of entrepreneurship education were the attitude climate, financial resources and the role of teachers. The most important challenges were the lack of teacher training and teachers' skills, as well as the school's marginal conditions and lack of resources for multidisciplinary learning that crosses subject boundaries. In their views, the experts criticized the division of subjects and knowledge-based nature of the current school and emphasized that the school should serve the student's interests more strongly than it currently does. As conclusions, POPS should provide a stronger backbone for entrepreneurship education than at present, which forms an integral learning path for basic education. POPS should strengthen its concreteness and clarity, as well as the importance of multidisciplinary and broad competence skills. So that in the future every student has equal opportunities to receive entrepreneurship education, the Board of Education must use financial resources and training to support the realization and implementation of POPS in elementary schools and university teacher training more strongly than at present. School curricula should include an annual calendar of entrepreneurship education, and the management should provide sufficient resources for teaching that crosses subject boundaries.

According to national and international educational policy objectives, entrepreneurship education should be a cross cutting component of all sectors of education, including higher education. The goal is to not only teach entrepreneurial skills but also to raise individuals towards the ideal of enterprising self. At the same time, universities are expected to operate more and more like private companies. This study examines this phenomenon called entrepreneurial ethos from the perspective of university students. Educational policy and university practices are examined in the frame of governance and knowledge capitalism that describes the transformation of education and work in our time. The study examines how the entrepreneurial ethos appears in students’ discourses and how students perceive the ideal of a good student in the context of entrepreneurial ethos. The data consists of interviews by fourteen Aalto University students from a technical field. The data was analysed in discourse analytic view. In the study, the discursive approach extends beyond the analytical method: It shows how discourses are produced and managed, what the consequences are and how social reality is built on them. The results of this study showed that entrepreneurship appeared to students mainly as startup entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education as practical project work as opposed to theoretical study. The aim to become entrepreneurial was seen as an important goal of every individual. A good student was described as an entrepreneurial individual, with an emphasis on social skills and study interests, but partly as an individual in the midst of conflicting demands. Mostly, the students committed themselves to discourses of entrepreneurial ethos, but criticism was directed towards over-emphasizing the startup culture in the university. Governing through university practices shapes students’ subjectivities towards entrepreneurial self.

Self-efficacy is an important performance factor. Self-efficacy is more than knowing what to do and being motivated to do it, it reflects ones' beliefs about ones' capabilities in different situations. Teacher self-efficacy has been a popular subject of research, and it is having been shown that novice teachers typically suffer from lower and weaker self-efficacy compared with more experienced teachers. It would be important that during teacher education teacher students could have possibilities to develop their self-efficacy and gain experiences that emphasize it. A forthcoming study has been found that future teachers do not express high levels of self-efficacy in entrepreneurship and working life skills as a cross-curricular competence even though entrepreneurship education has been a part of Finnish schools since the 90s. Many teachers have a narrow and insufficient understanding of the phenomenon. The present study aims to understand what affects self-efficacy in entrepreneurship education, and what kind of impact does teacher education has on it. This study has been conducted with a qualitative approach and the research materials have been acquired by interviewing 16 class teacher students. Analysis has been done using the thematic analysis method. Future teachers seem to comprehend entrepreneurship education consisting mainly of skills and knowledge and their attitudes towards it seems to be mostly positive or critical. Self-efficacy has been described mainly in a relatively positive way or as relatively weak. Former mastery experiences as a teacher had the greatest impact on self-efficacy with entrepreneurship education. Personal interest seems also to be a meaningful factor, teacher students who expressed interest in entrepreneurship education also seemed to comprehend the phenomenon more positively and they also expressed higher levels of self-efficacy compared to others. Teacher education doesn't seem to be important in future teachers’ expertise and self-efficacy with entrepreneurship education. Skills learned are described as insufficient and narrow, focusing mostly on a few ways of teaching and a few skills to be strengthened within pupils. Future teachers would like to have more experimental learning and possibilities to develop one’s skills and knowledge during teacher education.

Purpose. The aim of this study is to describe the factors that determine whether entrepreneurship education in basic education is equal and consistent with objectives, as well as the impacts of these factors. Outside Finland, the research on the topic has been conducted mostly in the field of economics. In Finland the research has been interdisciplinary. Hence this study approaches the topic through research done in pedagogics, sociology and economics. Methods. This study was conducted as a literature review, more specifically as a narrative overview with critical analysis. The method enables description of a broad, interdisciplinary phenomenon. Results and conclusions. The research concluded that whether entrepreneurship education is equal and consistent with the objectives, or not, is determined by social stock of stories and an individual’s opportunities to find their inner narrative constituents to support entrepreneurship. Other determining factors are schools, teachers, parents and their attitudes and educability on entrepreneurship education. The social stock of stories and the interpretation of various instances portrayed mainly two types of entrepreneurships, both of which are masculine: the virtuous working man and the prosperous middle-class male. The political premise of entrepreneurship education adheres to the talent profile of the prosperous middle class male. This entrepreneurship profile that has become the norm in the western society is characterized by power, independence, prosperity, rivalry, risk-taking and heroism. The teachers’ perceptions created a portrayal of a new kind of prowess specifically related to entrepreneurship that the school is not able to enhance. This was considered as having specific significance on equality since the school has the authority to make interpretations regarding educability. In addition, the research focused on the ambiguity of entrepreneurship education in the name of objectives and equality. There is a struggle over broad themes related to the definition of citizenship, economic policies, learning theories and theories of childhood. However, public discourse and discourse among the educators over values is minimal.