Acceso usuarios
Valeria Caggiano, Deranor Gomes de Oliveira, Antonio Ragusa
Purpose - The aim of this paper is to analyse whether and how entrepreneurial competencies can be effectively taught and learned, specifically when young students are involved. More specifically, the research aims at identifying the best teaching method to teach entrepreneurship to school students, by showing the activities and results of a didactic program carried out in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach - The methodology is based on a case study approach and is qualitative in nature, because it involves gathering data from statements made by individuals and the researchers’ own description of their observations.
Findings - The paper shows that an effective way to entrepreneurship education can be represented by a method that carefully blends thinking and acting, and is based on a set of assumptions that goes beyond understanding, knowing, and talking and requires using, applying, and acting. At the core of the method is the ability for students to practice entrepreneurship and we introduce a portfolio of practice-based pedagogies.
Practical implications - The paper highlights how the adoption of a mainly experience-based didactic approach can greatly improve the teachability of entrepreneurial skills.
Originality/value - The paper presents a valuable approach to entrepreneurship education for school students, a conceptual perspective that scholars could adopt to study this topic in greater depth and a didactic project that other trainers could apply effectively.
