University of Huddersfield Repository Higgins , David and Mirza , Mohammed Entrepreneurial education : reflexive approaches to entrepreneurial learning in / through practice

Objectives Even though entrepreneurial education is quite a new phenomenon in higher education, as a field of inquiry it is one of the most rapidly growing areas of research. However there is a wide spread consensus that traditional pedagogical methods of learning alone are insufficient to adequately develop entrepreneurs to deal with the complexities of running and creating innovating business opportunities. The paper seeks to contribute to a growing need to cultivate innovative ways of thinking, diverse skills and new modes of behaviour to fully enhance and develop entrepreneurial approaches to education. The paper sets out to address this problem by examining the role reflexivity can play in entrepreneurial education, as a method of critiquing what it means to practice as an entrepreneur. Prior Work – The paper argues that traditional approaches to entrepreneurial education tend to ignore, the ambiguities and uncertainties which surround the entrepreneurial process. The historical pre-occupation with an individualistic approach to entrepreneurial learning has continued to marginalise and de-value the broader social context in which the entrepreneur functions, (Goss, 2005). Current writing on entrepreneurial learning has shifted attention towards “learning for” as opposed to “learning about” entrepreneurship. Approach – The paper adopts a social constructionist perspective which draws recognition to the importance of inter-subjective knowledge exchange as a means of developing entrepreneurial learning. While there are numerous approaches to a social constructionist paradigm, the critical features of the perspective provide the manner by which “we” come to experience the social world. The approach suggests the development of a pedagogical approach which explores the social processes that constitute entrepreneurial undertakings and thus shift the focus away from the traditional positivist approaches to entrepreneurial learning. Implications – The paper invites the reader to consider a more reflexive practice-oriented educational agenda which involves challenging the “self-conceptions” of what does it mean to be an “entrepreneur”, inviting openness to alternative meanings. This reflexive position represents a movement away from the pre-conceptualisations of rationality, to a method that embraces introspection of critical reflection as a means of creating learning practices that enable and facilitate the exploration of alternative perspectives. Value –The paper presents a conceptual argument on the most appropriate and naturalistic way to educate entrepreneurs, by viewing learning as a practice, supported and enabled through reflexive critique of the entrepreneurs practices. There is a wide spread consensus that traditional pedagogical “instructional methods” alone are insufficient to adequately develop entrepreneurs to deal with the complexities of running and creating business opportunities. As a consequence there is a growing need to cultivate innovative ways of thinking and new modes of pedagogy to fully enhance and develop entrepreneurial approaches to education and learning.