Methodological Framework for Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

Entrepreneurship as behaviour, skill and an attitude requires an enabling environment for its integration with various scholastic subjects that is, language learning, social science, science and mathematics. Given the multi-dimensional nature of entrepreneurship, there is a need to plan a methodological framework about the content and form for cross-curricular learning and integration. Bringing entrepreneurship in the school curriculum and its progression, require a substantial understanding about educational objectives, context, pedagogy and assessment. The chapter discusses inclusive use of storytelling technique, setting up entrepreneurship clubs and other strategies for linking the school and out of school experiences as a part of school improvement programmes and quality education.

Entrepreneurship as a pedagogical medium is governed by the developmental stage of the child. This consideration includes the psychological age of a child, physical strength and the skill level. The tasks undertaken by a child do not necessarily indicate his/her future profession or livelihood. Indeed, it helps develop a wide range of skills and generic competencies from the elementary stage to the higher secondary stage of school education. Therefore, as a first step, acquisition of entrepreneurial abilities by a vast majority of students is likely to be a widespread challenge at the school level. Entrepreneurship education is a union of subjects, approached by developing core work and life skills. However, there hardly exists any apparent relationship between entrepreneurship and knowledge gained at school. So, care and caution is needed while carrying the debate on advancing entrepreneurship education, at the different stages of school education programme. Lastly, it is the collaborative partnership among the three groups where the learner comes happily to school to acquire core competencies at the hands of teachers whose knowledge, skills and attitudes are assessed against reasonable standards by educational administrators. In this collective effort, no one is superior or inferior; all are equally working towards a common goal, that is, the welfare of the nation.

3.1 Stages of School Education

At the primary stage (Classes I–V), the child is engaged in a joyful exploration of the world and in harmonising with it. The objective at this stage is to nurture the curiosity of the child about the world and help him/her in acquiring the basic cognitive and psychomotor skills through observation, classification and inference. At the upper primary stage (Classes VI–VIII), the important components of pedagogy include group activities, discussions with peers, community surveys and display through exhibitions. Systematic experimentation as a tool to verify theoretical principles, and working on locally significant projects form an important part of the curriculum at the secondary stage (Classes IX–X). At the higher secondary stage (Classes XI–XII), the core topics of disciplines, the recent advances in the field, are dealt with suitable rigour and in depth (National Curriculum Framework 2005). In this context, the proposed epistemological frame for promoting entrepreneurship education at different stages of the school education programme is discussed in the following pages.

3.1.1 The Elementary Stage of Education

The elementary stage of education (Classes I–VIII) is a part of compulsory general education in India (vide the Constitutional amendment making education a fundamental right¹). Its objectives are much more than just preparing students for higher education. Children at this stage begin to recognise the cause–effect and structure–function relationship. The teaching and learning has to be strengthened and concretised at this stage. Instead of loading children with information, efforts should be made to learn key concepts which cut across all disciplines. This causes curiosity and raises awareness and understanding of the local and global concerns in areas like health, hygiene, family welfare, environment, etc. Table 3.1 discusses the proposed epistemological frame for integrating entrepreneurship education at the elementary stage of school education in terms of derived objectives and intended outcomes.

Table 3.1 Integrating entrepreneurship education at the elementary stage in schools

3.1.1.1 Specific Initiatives

Entrepreneurship Values and Storytelling: Language learning is important for the learner’s emotional, cognitive and social development. Language teaching aims at encouraging independent thinking, free and effective expression of opinions and logical interpretation of present and past events. It motivates learners to say their way and nurtures creativity and imagination. This gives language learning a central place in the total educational process. Effective communication skills are central to business activities. The language teacher has a potential to teach about regional differences within the country about food, tradition, behaviour pattern, business etiquette and greeting, customs negotiation and telephone conversation. The teacher is also able to use current business magazines and newspaper articles about present-day entrepreneurs and share them in the class in the form of short stories, role-play and dramatisation. This enables students to learn new vocabulary in the process.

Storytelling and Entrepreneurial Abilities: Storytelling is a long known and accepted art, especially suited for student’s understanding. Storytelling is appealing at all ages. Nonetheless, beyond imagination and the power of listening and speaking is the ability to create artistic images. Storytelling and its use has been recognised as one of the powerful tools available where effects reach far beyond the language curriculum in schools. In a fast-paced media-driven world, storytelling can be a nurturing way to remind children that their spoken words are powerful, that listening is important and that clear communication between people is an art. Considering the importance of storytelling in child development, psychologists have promoted the positive effects of reading and telling stories for decades. As a learning tool, stories have a potential to show a character solve her and his problems in a practical way. These influences the way children think and behave because they like to read and hear them over and over again.

Smith (2002) pointed out the importance of entrepreneurial narratives to promote entrepreneurial spirit effectively among children. Exposure to narratives is seen as a process of social construction and reconstruction that begins during childhood. Steyaert and Bouwen (1999) elaborated on narrative approach to entrepreneurship as an emerging theme in entrepreneurship research.

Setting up Entrepreneurship Clubs: An ‘Entrepreneurship Club’ is a simple term. Given the will and the opportunities, it can become a nucleus of general education and link classroom practices within the community. The various results of advancing entrepreneurship education with vocational ambition mentioned in this book can be achieved through formal and informal activities of the entrepreneurship club. Our dilemma is not to split hairs on the objectives of the entrepreneurship club. It is to translate them into action. The general aims of the entrepreneurship clubs should be as follows:

• i. Cultivating the qualities of taking the initiative and of leadership, essential for entrepreneurship behaviours and attitudes.

• ii. Encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

• iii. Involving students in entrepreneurship activities, including social engagement.

• iv. Providing outlets for enterprising talents.

• v. Providing access to career information.

There is no fixed list of activities of the club. As far as possible, these should be based on the student’s interests and aptitudes. A teacher should throw in varied ideas off and on. In other words, the teacher should not force his/her own ideas on students. Entrepreneurship club activities are and should remain voluntary. Examples of activities which can be conducted by the club may include survey of community resources, organising exhibitions and participation in local fairs.

One of the teachers from the elementary stage can manage the club. An informal meeting of the students can be called to emphasise the importance of the club. The constitution, formation and, later, managing the club is in itself an entrepreneurial experience, which will become an innate nature of the learners in all their future endeavours.

3.1.2 The Secondary Stage of Education

The secondary stage of education (Classes IX and X) is a period of intense physical change and formation of identity and when the foundation for employability is laid. During the crucial years of the secondary stage, children begin to decide how they should channel their talents, skills and learn to assume the responsibilities of adulthood. In this context, the gradual inclusion of vocationally-oriented skills, as a part of exposure to ‘work’ is an important aspect of an inclusive curriculum. The ability for abstract reasoning and for logical thinking develop, allowing the possibility of deep engagement with understanding and generating knowledge. The courses at this level aim at creating an awareness of the various disciplines and introduce the children to the possibilities and scope of study in them. In the process, they also discover their own interests and aptitudes for the work-related knowledge and skills they wish to continue later. Table 3.2 discusses the proposed epistemological frame for integrating entrepreneurship education at the secondary stage of school education in terms of derived objectives and intended outcomes.

Table 3.2 Integrating entrepreneurship education at the secondary stage in schools

3.1.2.1 Specific Initiatives

Entrepreneurship and Social Science Curriculum: Social science is an inter-related study of diverse concerns of the society. Within school, it includes a wide range of content, drawn from the disciplines of geography, economics, history and political science. The primary objective is to help learners develop a critical understanding of their own society as well from others for informed and reasoned decisions (Table 3.3). The social science curriculum provides different dimensions of human society. Social science aims to provide learners with essential knowledge, skills and attitude necessary for personal development and for becoming a contributing member of the society. The social science teacher has a potential for inculcating entrepreneurial proficiencies by identifying key economic factors that influence business operations. For instance:

Table 3.3 Exemplar: industry and growth (understanding industrial development and economic growth)

• i. Cultural heritage and development of business and economy in the historical context; indulge in local studies of occupations, workforce, natural resources, habitats, modes of transport, sources of water and energy, biodiversity: creating biodiversity register, markets, official development agencies and their programmes.

• ii. Study the demographics of the population (for example, within a five-mile radius of the school) or take pictures of the businesses. The information so collected can be compiled in the form of a directory about types of goods and services, locations and types of businesses. Later on, the teacher can also discuss the importance of location for carrying out particular businesses.

• iii. Study of gram panchayats,² primary health centres, block or district development offices, police stations, post offices, cooperatives, banks, courts, mandis (weekly markets), etc.

• iv. Prepare a project report about the natural resources available in the community that might spawn new businesses. Nature-based entrepreneurship is an environmentally responsible entrepreneurship based on resources and experiences offered by nature. It helps the present generation to realise that it does not have to leave their community to find employment. It has to be motivated to create its own opportunities and lead a fulfilling, independent life. Nature-based entrepreneurship is regarded as an environmentally responsible entrepreneurship based on resources and experiences offered by nature. In entrepreneurship, sustainable development is a significant cause and it must be considered in an ecological way.

• v. A social science resource room set up in schools motivates students to understand the social realities to the fullest extent. Students explore the local surroundings and observe artisan communities engaged in local skills and materials. The school can also organise ‘social science day’ and students may speak on the emerging social issues on socio-economic development and critically examine challenges such as poverty, child labour, destitution, illiteracy and various measures of inequality.

• vi. To strengthen the spirit of entrepreneurship, the school may also operate a mini-bank where the school children can deposit or withdraw their mini-savings. Children can learn about the cooperative movement by running a cooperative themselves. This will build confidence in them for owning a small venture by them.

Entrepreneurship and Science Curriculum: The teaching of science includes posing problems, refining and defining productively, setting up theory with the help of controlled experiments, new solutions, discarding personal opinion in case of conflicting evidence. These initiatives are contextualised to the child’s experience and understanding, and followed up later to promote the quality of reasoning as children go up the school ladder, and should not be left to chance. Science teachers should, in fact, make a special effort to develop entrepreneurial attitudes. The exemplar on health given in Table 3.4 brings home, school and community together by finding answers to problems through direct observations, acceptable experimentation, argumentation on facts, proof in terms of cause and effect relationships and testing of knowledge. Especially in young children, these manifestations need to be further concretised with well-planned teaching and meaningful activities.

Table 3.4 Exemplar health

Entrepreneurship and Mathematics Curriculum: Mathematisation of the child’s thought processes is an objective for teaching mathematics in schools. In this sense, the role of mathematics is to inculcate skills of quantification of experiences around learners. The subject helps in developing other disciplines and vocations which involve analysis, reasoning, testing and building arguments about their vitality and for developing the art of questioning. Refer to the case of Karad and Walmikinagar, the rural schools in Maharashtra described in Chap. 2, where farmers and workers from the community were invited to teach in school. A carpenter introduced his tools one by one along with their names, explaining their functions. He took his big compass and meticulously drew a circle on the blackboard, followed by a triangle and a rectangle. Each figure was evidence of his sense of geometry. Like an experienced teacher, he encouraged children to use his tools to draw the figures themselves. He went on explaining how to cut and join pieces of wood in various shapes and sizes, mentioning the features of each joint. At the end of the session a rapid oral test was conducted. Surprisingly, every child could explain, identify and draw various geometric figures. Almost 90 % of the children responded correctly, whereas in the normal mathematics class merely 2–3 % children were able to translate the teacher’s instruction into action. Children learned to enjoy mathematics and saw mathematics as something to talk about, to communicate, to discuss among themselves and to work together on. Making mathematics a part of children’s life experience is the best mathematics education possible. This is an important goal, based on the premise that mathematics can be enjoyed lifelong, which formally addresses problem-solving as a skill. Hence, the school is the best place to create such a taste for mathematics. On the other hand, a fear of mathematics can deprive children of an important faculty of life.

As noted earlier, for majority of the students, the secondary or the higher secondary stage is a terminal stage. With mathematics, the students can use math skills to figure cost of goods and services, potential monthly profits and returns on investment. They can manage bank accounts, figure sales tax and compute income tax etc. Other business tasks that need math skills include: comparing base agreements on office space, comparing costs on equipment and supplies, and deciding about advertising and publicity.

3.1.3 Higher Secondary Stage and Vocational Education

Higher secondary education serves as a bridge between school and higher education. This stage of school education prepares students, in the age group of 16 and 18 years, for entry into the world of work. Secondary and higher secondary education are important terminal stages in the general education because it is at this point that alternatives are exercised by the youth either to enter employment or opt for higher education.

After 10 years of general education, the higher secondary stage assumes greater significance as students, for the first time, move towards diversification. By this stage, students begin to develop their own thinking and independence of mind. Their interests and aptitudes begin to crystallise and stabilise, which have the potential to shape their careers. In order to equip youths to cope with changes in life, it is essential that cultural and ethical values are appropriately stressed and carefully instilled in them. A sense of belonging to the society and the country at large ought to be nurtured to avoid feelings of rootlessness and alienation from the society. The higher secondary stage is the stage of maximum challenge. At this stage students must be fully equipped with basic knowledge, skills, attitude and entrepreneurship so that they can lead a fruitful life. Table 3.5 discusses the proposed epistemological frame for integrating entrepreneurship education at the secondary stage of school education in terms of derived objectives and intended outcomes.

Table 3.5 Integrating entrepreneurship education at the higher secondary secondary stage in schools

3.1.3.1 Specific Initiatives

Entrepreneurship as a Subject: At the higher secondary stage, entrepreneurship is taught as an independent subject, parallel to the business studies course, with the following precise objectives:

• i. To foster the entrepreneurial spirit among students and learn about entrepreneurship as a career and the role of entrepreneurship in the society.

• ii. To evaluate and develop the interest and abilities of students for entrepreneurship.

• iii. To sustain interest towards self-employment through vocational education.

Entrepreneurship Education Camps: As a part of the entrepreneurship club activities and to broaden its scope, educational camps on entrepreneurship development may be organised for real world experiences.

• i. Opportunity Guidance Fairs: Such fairs promote entrepreneurship as a career choice among students. These fairs extend awareness about various business opportunities in manufacturing, trading and service sectors under one roof. Students also benefit from interactions with experts and counsellors.

• ii Orientation Visits for Students: The school can organise orientation visits for students to vocational training centres, social entrepreneurship firms, non-governmental organisations imparting skill development training to youths, women, and other disadvantaged groups to expose them to self-employment and open career opportunities for them (Box 3.1).

Box 3.1

Entrepreneurship Orientation Camps for Youth and Children, Entrepreneurship Development Institute, India

The Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), located at Ahmedabad in India, has been successfully organising ‘youth camps’ in the age group of 16 to 22 years and Camp on Entrepreneurial Stimulation for Children in the age group of 12–16 years during summer vacations, to facilitate the development of the entrepreneurial personality and general awareness about entrepreneurship among the general population. The salient features of these camps, which started in 1994, focuses on activities like motivation and creativity exercises, puzzles/riddles, value education through specifically culled out anecdotes and stories, presentations, industrial visits and interaction with successful entrepreneurs and achievers. These camps have been successful in developing confidence and instilling positive thinking among the youth and children. ‘Summer Camp on Entrepreneurial Adventures for the Youth’ has motivated a number of youths from the country. The specific objectives of the camp are to: (i) foster entrepreneurial traits including creativity, concern for excellence, leadership, problem-solving, etc.; (ii) establish a forum of the participants for networking and to fruitfully utilise such interactions in future entrepreneurial ventures; and (v) provide them with an opportunity to interact extensively in formal and informal settings, with well known entrepreneurs and real life achievers. Consistent with the objectives, the camp focuses on: (i) entrepreneurial motivation development exercises; (ii) evaluation and development of entrepreneurial traits and competencies; (iii) visits to institutions of repute to analyse the process of creation; (iv) exposure to potential opportunities existing in industry and other occupation; (v) self-assessment through specifically designed psychometric tests and instruments; (vi) career and psychological counselling; and (vii) formal and informal interaction with successful entrepreneurs and achievers.

Source www.ediindia.com

3.2 Managing the System: Strategies

‘How can I know my effectiveness as a teacher?’ is a question quite frequently asked by those who show some concern for the teaching–learning process in schools. The answer to this lies in integrating school and out-of-school experiences, which is one of the important facets of both the educative process and content of education. For example, the following concerns in this regard may prove worthwhile:

• 1. What do we aim to achieve when children come to us at school?

• 2. What should be the organisational strategies to make the best possible use of our limited resources in order to obtain maximum of educational development at minimum cost?

• 3. How effectively can the school–community relationship be set up?

• 4. What could be the possible evaluation programme for our schools to base our educational practices on objective data?

These are, of course, difficult questions but not impossible to answer. Only then, can we avoid one-sided thinking in managing the educational system for entrepreneurship education. Children at a particular age are not at all capable of thinking at a fixed level. It is possible to change their norms of thinking because these are not at all static. By making a detailed inventory of community resources, it is possible to choose suitable learning experiences and appropriate materials from as many diverse fields as possible.

3.2.1 Home-School-Community Partnership

Links with the home and community are important at all levels of schooling. A strong body of research shows that when parents and the community support the work of a school and are involved in its activities, students make greater progress. However, effectiveness requires comprehensive and permanent programmes of partnerships by settling links between home and communities. The way schools care about children is reflected in the way schools care about children’s families. If educators view children as students, they are likely to see families as separate from school. That is, the family does its job and leaves education to the school. If educators view students as young people, they are likely to see the family and the community as partners with the school in children’s education and development.

There are many reasons for developing school, family and community partnerships. These partnerships improve school programmes and school climate and connect families and the community with their work. However, the main reason to create such partnerships is to help students succeed in school and later in life. When parents, teachers and students view one another as partners, a caring community forms around students and support learning. Thus, schools have to go into the wider community to forge new links to enable them to act as classroom helpers. The role of the school should be to support entrepreneurship and not push the child into it. It must reflect in the culture of school itself and be embedded in the school system.

3.2.1.1 Utilising Community Resources

Community resources can be used as an entry point for curricular experiences in the school. The experiential base can further be developed by evolving social and community engagements. The community resources can be used in a classroom in three ways: first, by bringing the resources into the classroom; second, by bringing the resourceful people (various specialists); and third, by making special arrangements in the form of educational trips. The results have been startling wherever efforts in the right direction have been made. The pedagogical experiences of the rural schools in Maharashtra in India (see Chap. 2) for example, depict the effective use of community resources for developing work-related competencies among school children.

• i. Rich, direct experiences facilitate verification as opposed to vicarious experiences.

• ii. Variety of approaches to learning drastically reduces the mystifying, dull and boring diet of ‘canned’ verbal learning.

• iii. First-hand experiences give them sensory impressions of feeling, smelling, seeing and hearing.

• iv. Abstractions are made concrete and real.

• v. Information purely local in nature or for any other reason, not accessible in school may be obtained from the community.

• vi. Powers of problem-solving and keen observation are enhanced in the out-of-school environment.

• vii. The use of scientific discoveries in improving community living is fully explained.

• viii. Finally, the contacts which are made in the course of using community resources result in developing good school and community relations.

3.2.1.2 School Complexes as Resource Centres

A country like India should not throw away these valuable educational resources which offer immense, exciting possibilities and opportunities. Through regular and repeated visits to the community and reproducing part of the community in the school, both school and students gain much. Students encounter first-hand natural settings and socialise themselves with the scientific skills of the community. Teachers, on the other hand, try to bridge the gap between the school and community. Blending school life with the outside world puts pupils in learning situations and provides them with the knowledge to see the real world of work which they have to enter sooner or later. With community support, the schools can become educational centres where teachers meet, interact, provide material and manpower resources for school improvement programmes and quality education.

3.2.2 Professional Support for Teacher Education

Teachers are the key agents for the success of curriculum reform in school education. This is even true of entrepreneurship education because it is a relatively new concept that demands teachers to go beyond their traditional subject specialisation. Although creative ideas for reforming education come from many sources, only teachers can provide the insights that emerge from intensive, direct experience in the classroom itself. Moreover, reforms in education cannot be imposed on teachers top–down or outside–in. If teachers are not convinced of the merit of proposed changes, they are unlikely to implement them enthusiastically. If they do not understand fully what is called for or have not been sufficiently well prepared to introduce new content and ways of teaching, reform measures will founder. In either case, the more teachers share in shaping reform measures and the more they implement the agreed upon changes, the greater is the probability they will be able to make the improvements stick. The development of desired attitudes, skills and values requires innovative planning and execution of teaching strategies, which in turn demand special skills on the part of teachers. Due the specificity of the topic and the fact that this theme is going to be introduced in school curricula in an integrated fashion, it is essential to empower teachers with desired skills and competencies.

3.2.2.1 Teacher Preparation Programmes

Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip teachers with knowledge, skills and behaviours to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and with the community. It covers three stages: pre-service education, induction programme and continuous professional development also called in-service education. Becoming an effective teacher is a continuous process that stretches from pre-service experience to the end of the professional career. Pre-service and in-service education is a seamless component of the same process, and continuity between the two is kept.

Bringing entrepreneurship into classroom requires a relook at the pre-service teacher preparation curriculum, so that new concerns and issues may be incorporated in it. This will take some pressure off the in-service education programme. In the pre-service teacher preparation programmes, emphasis needs to be laid on the content knowledge and proper integration of methods of teaching along with evaluation procedures. Besides this, continuing education and needs of in-service teachers requires attention because all their initial education and training may not remain relevant and effective with changes in content and pedagogy in the global scenario. The in-service training should not remain a one-time affair but should run on a sustained and regular basis. A cascade model and a collaborative mechanism for this purpose may be evolved among various national, state and district level agencies.

The next important support is the active involvement of teacher preparation institutions. Curriculum implementation at the national and state level cannot be left to a handful of institutions. All institutions having capacities to perform these roles will have to be involved in this task. During the past decade, a good number of teacher preparation institutions have been established and strengthened in India. These institutions will have to be involved in all the areas of curriculum development, its transaction and all forms of teacher education in new concerns, issues and strategies. Although teachers are central to reform, they cannot be held solely responsible for achieving it. They need allies. Teachers alone cannot change instructional materials, implement more sensible testing policies and create administrative support systems. They need the support of school administrators and education policy makers. It is time for teachers to take more responsibility for reforms in education but this in no way lessens the responsibility of others to do their part. Educational functionaries and administrators at the state, district and block levels are also vital for effective implementation of the curriculum. They have to be oriented to their roles and of those working with them. Headmasters and principals of schools have to play the roles of managers and functionaries in their respective roles. Nobody wishes to see them at the bottom of the pile as there is no substitute for educational imagination, no substitute for educational adventures and no substitute for hypothesis-setting and testing of philosophy.

There is a proverb that ‘money makes the mare go’. The economy cannot go far without a trained and educated workforce. Children everywhere must learn to build their own small hills of learning. They should climb them often so their sights get raised high. Throughout students’ educational progress, they should be offered an unbroken chain of educational opportunities which, when seen as a whole, would strengthen their entrepreneurial competencies. In fact, schools should consider the following possibilities for their students.

• i. Participation in local economic activities, production and services, within the school or community-based training sites for entrepreneurship development.

• ii. A generic preparation for basic human needs such as food, water, health, technology and decision-making. As well as participation in community-based activities such as literacy drive, health campaigns, agro-horticulture, care for the old, etc.

• iii. The culture in schools should create space for new ideas, initiatives and collaborations, and assessment of and willingness to take risks as well as acceptance of the fact that not all experiments will be successful. The education should be more open to the outside world. The partnership between educational institutions and the business community represents an essential link in developing entrepreneurial culture in schools.