The contribution of 'world view' to pupils' attitudes on enterprise, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning

Black, Laura, Corbin, Brian, Warburton, Terry and Campbell, Anne (2003) The contribution of 'world view' to pupils' attitudes on enterprise, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning. UNSPECIFIED. Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

The recent publication of the Howard Davies Review (HM Treasury 2002), backed by government support, has heralded the need to promote entrepreneurial learning in schools as essential for economic growth on a national level. This paper will argue that this principally involves developing pupils' 'world view' to promote entrepreneurship as a viable career option Our use of the term 'world view' refers to the way an individual interprets the world according to rule-governed practice. Actions, choices and decision making structures are considered to be informed by 'world view' and we specifically relate this notion to the context of students' occupational horizons. Our data comes from the BransEn (Building Regional and National Skills in Entrepreneurship) project which has administered approximately 300 questionnaires to a wide age range of pupils throughout the North West of England. The findings indicate that a large proportion of students do not have notions of enterprise and entrepreneurship embedded in their 'world view'. This means that enterprise education programmes need to focus on promoting change in 'world views' if they are to increase the number of students who view 'business start-up' as a viable career option. Such a focus is not recognised within current provision. The paper concludes that the delivery of a specific body of knowledge which relates to entrepreneurship as opposed to other forms of business and management knowledge or generic skills (e.g. problem solving, communication skills) is essential for providing pupils with an entrepreneurial 'world view'.