Title: Entrepreneurial Education as a means to increase students’ motivation
Contacts / CATEGORIES / TAGS (key words)
Primary target group: #School leader#,
Country:# Netherlands
Tags: #entrepreneurial education
Contact person’s contact details
photo
Mr. KoosNeuvel
Chairman
Gerard Doustraat 13, 7944 HD Meppel
The Netherlands

/ Abstract
Short introduction to raise attention
Lead paragraph outlining the main problem, the target group, the solution and the results with the core element of the good practice (main aim, participants, activities, results)
Please provide keywords which summarize this part the best: ……
(eg.: strategic change, heterogeneous classes, conflict handling) / Nowadays, information can be found anywhere. All our learners have internet access and use the internet for their studies. Because of this access to information, the role of the teacher is changing from a knowledge provider to a competences coach.
At least, in theory. In daily practice, our pedagogic approach has not significantly changes over the past decades. Most of our teachers still transfer knowledge that is readily available on the internet.
This has lead to disengaged learners.
The association ‘ScholenvoorOndernemendLeren’ have developed and implemented an entrepreneurial pedagogical approach that enables students to at least partially control their learning paths. Entrepreneurial education is not about starting a new business but instead is about making students more creative, opportunity oriented, proactive and innovative, adhering to a wide definition of entrepreneurship relevant to all walks in life.
This innovative pedagogic approach consists of open ended projects and includes options for students to influence their learning paths. In our schools, all students are enabled to develop their entrepreneurial and creativity competences. They can specialize in the areas they are interested in and negotiate the time they spend in their regular classes with their teachers.
As a direct result, we noticed that the students became much more involved with their studies and show ownership and commitment within the classroom and during the time they spent on projects.
This increased commitment and ownership has resulted in decreased truancy. This is in line with the research done by Surlemont(Surlemont, 2007) that showed a significant increase of students’ perceived relevancy, engagement and motivation when being exposed to an entrepreneurial pedagogical approach.
Other research perceive entrepreneurial education as a means to achieve more interest, joy, engagement and creativity among students (Johannisson, 2010,Lackéus, 2013). A few scholars have recently put forward the potential of entrepreneurial education to spur increased perceived relevancy of subjects taught among learners, increasing motivation and school engagement and alleviating problems of student boredom and dropout (Deuchar, 2007,Surlemont, 2007,Mahieu, 2006,Nakkula et al., 2004)
More information about our pedagogical approach can be found on:
Involvement of students, commitment of students, perceived relevance, creativity, scientific proof, truancy, disengaged learners / Links related to the example:

Introduction - context
Contextual factors,
Short introduction of the organisation and its main features
Please provide keywords which summarize this part the best: ……
(e.g: poverty, rural school, medium-size) / Basic information about the school and its environment at local / regional level (size of the school in terms of students, staff, short description of the local circumstances and its main characteristics, unemployment rate,
The entrepreneurial pedagogical approach has been implemented in 17 large secondary schools. Most school employ over 120 teachers and have at least 1500 students of ages 12 to 18.
Some schools are located in large cities, others are based in more rural parts of the Netherlands.
The reasons for the individual schools to implement entrepreneurial education are:
-To implement a pedagogical approach to develop 21st century skills
-To increase the motivation and commitment of students
The decreased truancy and dropout rates are welcome side effects. And perhaps for new members of our associationit has become the main reason.
In general , unemployment rate in The Netherlands is quite low, although some rural parts are dealing with high unemployment rates among young people of lower social classes. There are no real disadvantaged areas in The Netherlands, just regions with low (or no) economic growth.
Large secondary schools, affluent regions
WHY – causes behind the challenge
Roots of the problem at school level
Please provide keywords which summarize this part the best: ……
e.g.: under-motivation in learning, learning as value /
  • What were the main characteristics, outlines of the challenge
Nowadays, information can be found anywhere, as a result, teachers have become less relevant if they primarily focus on knowledge transfer. This has lead to disengaged learners that felt bored during regular classes. Our challenge was to inspire and challenge students.
Inspire students, challenge students
WHAT – measures taken
Description of activities if possible with step-by-step approach
including the pedagogical, professional elements and methods
Please provide keywords which summarize this part the best: ……
e.g.: leadership, teamwork, change in mindset /
  • Detailed, transparent and practical description of preconditions, success factors, resource requirements, processes, involvement of colleagues, guides for users and related literature.
In the Netherlands, school have a high level of autonomy, as a result, school themselves decide whether to implement a pedagogical approach or not. The teachers are responsible for the academic achievement of their students and are reluctant to change their classroom practices. In order to successfully implement entrepreneurial education, school need a whole school approach. The school needs to rethink its identity (what kind of school do we want to become) and choose a strategy that suits their objectives. We have experience reluctant teachers in almost every member school. However, even the most reluctant teachers will adopt the entrepreneurial approach in due time because students prefer the entrepreneurial approach
Resistance to change, reluctant teachers, whole school approach
  • Who was involved in the challenge? Please describe the target group
The primary target audience are the principals. In the Netherlands, most innovations are lead by the pedagogical manager of a school. Most of the time, the principal performs this role. The association engages each school on an individual basis.
After the school has decided to implement entrepreneurial education, The principal sets up a core team to establish the program of change, and the association drafts a short implementation plan.
The second major target audience are the teachers. In each school 2 or 3 change agents are assigned, Their role is to inspire other teachers to innovate their pedagogical approach. The association organized teacher days for teachers to learn from other school about their good practices.
The final and most important target audience are the students. They show commitment and enablechange with in their schools. Implementation of entrepreneurial education starts in the first grade (12-13 year old).
Implementation plan
  1. Description of the main activities & the pedagogical approach used (necessary tools, timeframe, links to documents)
During their first year (age 12/13) all students of all our schools start working on a charity challenge. This project has no clear guidelines but a lot of challenges. Students work in small groups and they select the charity they prefer, draft and execute the activities. During the project, the students are coached by the teachers and local entrepreneurs. ;The project is concluded with a presentation to the staff of the school their parents and local business people.
The association now offers projects for all classes and ages. It is the intention of our schools hat all students will participate in at least one project in every year.
Next to the projects, teachers are encourages to implement a Flipping Classroom approach and cross subject projects. Learners are encourage to negotiate their learning path with their teachers.
For flipping class rooms please visit:
  1. links to documents)
In order to use the program, mindset change was necessary. Teachers and principals need to be open minded and interested in lifelong learning. They themselves should develop their entrepreneurial competences and work on their ability to deal with uncertainty.
To reach this change, teachers participated in special trainings and studying new techniques that they shared internally too. This well documented course on entrepreneurship for teachers and principals, can be found on:
  1. What is the appropriate timeframe of the implementation? Is it a quick solution or a long-term investment? When it is advised to carry out (e.g.: how to fit it into the school’s calendar)
E.g.: As it is an overall program, it’s advised to plan 6 months forwork on the identity and the strategy of the school. The teachers are being trained by coaches on the job. During the second year, the projects can be implemented. The best way to implement entrepreneurial learning is to start doing it as soon as possible. Each teacher will need to develop an approach that suits his / her personality. This can only be tested and improved in a real life classroom situation. It does not have to be perfect as long as the persons involved a willing to learn and share their experiences.
Impact of the measures taken /
  • Highlighting the main changes and its target groups
The school become a learning community where teachers become learning coaches and learners own parts of their learning path. Learners are engaged and can influence their learning path
Lessons learned
Risks, failures (if relevant) /
  • Recommendations: possible risk, decision-making points, possible scenarios
The risks are related to resistance to change. Some people just do not want to change. In some cases, these teachers were replaced by others.
Resources needed /
  • Necessary resources in terms of financial, human resource and time, working hours’ aspects
Costs and HR of the teachers’ trainings – about 5.000 Euros /10 day-long training / teacher
Any other relevant information / Recognised by the OECD as a best practices for entrepreneurial education in Europe

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