Bridging the traditional-progressive education rift through entrepreneurship
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
ISSN: 1355-2554
Article publication date: 5 September 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use entrepreneurship to bridge the traditional-progressive education rift.
Design/methodology/approach
The rift between traditional and progressive education is first deconstructed into five dualisms. Conceptual question-based analysis is then applied to determine if and how three entrepreneurial tools could contribute to bridging this rift; effectuation, customer development and appreciative inquiry. Finally, pattern-based generalizations are drawn from this analysis.
Findings
Patterns in the analysis motivate the articulation of an overarching educational philosophy – learning-through-creating-value-for-others – grounded in entrepreneurship and capable of bridging the educational rift.
Research limitations/implications
Only three entrepreneurial tools are included in the conceptual analysis, signifying a need to explore whether other tools could also help teachers bridge the traditional-progressive education rift. Entrepreneurial tools and the new educational philosophy manifesting entrepreneurship could also need to be further contextualized in order to be useful in education.
Practical implications
The tentatively new educational philosophy has been shown to be capable of bridging five dualisms in education which are currently problematic for teachers in their daily practice, and to remedy teacher challenges such as complexity, lack of resources, assessment difficulties and student disengagement.
Originality/value
An educational philosophy grounded in entrepreneurship has arguably not been proposed previously. Contrasting existent educational philosophies, this new philosophy goes beyond learning-through to also emphasize creating-value-for-others. This could facilitate bridging between traditional and progressive education, one of the most important challenges in education. It could also be used to facilitate the infusion of entrepreneurship into general education.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the colleagues Kåre Moberg, Gustav Hägg, Mats Westerberg and Eva Leffler for their helpful comments. The authors are also grateful to the editor and to anonymous reviewers who provided the authors with insightful feedback throughout the process. Finally, the authors especially thank Drivhuset and Sundsvall municipality for their generosity in sharing their data with them.
Citation
Lackéus, M., Lundqvist, M. and Middleton, K.W. (2016), "Bridging the traditional-progressive education rift through entrepreneurship", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 777-803. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-03-2016-0072
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited