The construction of “a systematic entrepreneurship education path” in entrepreneurship education strategies
Keywords:
discourse analysis, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education strategy, systematic EE pathAbstract
Although the spreading of entrepreneurship education (EE) onto different levels and fields of education has been considered positive, problematic issues are also related to promoting entrepreneurship. In this article, I take up on the need identified by critically oriented scholars to study the assumptions within EE. One such assumption within developing the field of EE is the idea that there needs to be continuity in EE aims and activities from one level of education to another – a “systematic EE path.” I take part in the conversation on the effects of language use within EE by studying language use regarding the idea of such a path within regional and local EE strategy and other development related documents. I lean on Critical Discourse Analysis to study language use assumptions within in 12 documents. I also interpret how these produce different meanings of entrepreneurship. The results of this study highlight the assumption that entrepreneurship is important for everyone and self-evidently results in positive effect. The idea of a systematic EE path appears as a tool for luring different actors to join the mission of entrepreneurship education. The tendency to use entrepreneurship discourse as all-encompassing and ambiguous is thus reproduced within talk about a systematic EE path. This helps in legitimating the field of EE, but the different interpretations of entrepreneurship might not be open for all and the effects of entrepreneurship might not be unambiguously positive. Scrutinizing the idea of an EE path also raises the questions of how innovative the field of entrepreneurship education itself is.
