<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper examines the dominant approach to entrepreneurship education in the South African education system regarding the crisis of youth unemployment. It draws on the case of the public-school sector, in conjunction with the technical vocational education and training (TVET) subsector of the post-school education sector. The comparison of the entrepreneurship education sector plan for public schools with the discourse on TVET reform shows that entrepreneurship education similarly follows the čskills perspective’ with a dominant focus on the formal economy, which is informed by a human-capital based and productivist approach to education. The authors argue that this understanding of entrepreneurship education employs a too narrow perspective on youth unemployment as it overlooks individual capabilities and agency and can contribute to an experience of youth unemployment as individual failure. The authors expand this argument by suggesting a critical entrepreneurship education approach, which is outlined based on two programmes at primary-school and post-school education (TVET) level in a poor urban area. The authors argue that a critical entrepreneurship education approach contributes to learning for capabilities, social justice and democratic citizenship.</p></abstract>

This paper examines the dominant approach to entrepreneurship education in the South African education system regarding the crisis of youth unemployment. It draws on the case of the public-school sector, in conjunction with the technical vocational education and training (TVET) subsector of the post-school education sector. The comparison of the entrepreneurship education sector plan for public schools with the discourse on TVET reform shows that entrepreneurship education similarly follows the čskills perspective’ with a dominant focus on the formal economy, which is informed by a human-capital based and productivist approach to education. The authors argue that this understanding of entrepreneurship education employs a too narrow perspective on youth unemployment as it overlooks individual capabilities and agency and can contribute to an experience of youth unemployment as individual failure. The authors expand this argument by suggesting a critical entrepreneurship education approach, which is outlined based on two programmes at primary-school and post-school education (TVET) level in a poor urban area. The authors argue that a critical entrepreneurship education approach contributes to learning for capabilities, social justice and democratic citizenship.

Critical Entrepreneurship Education in General Education and TVET: Two Concepts of Practice in a South African Township

Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This paper examines the dominant approach to entrepreneurship education in the South African education system regarding the crisis of youth unemployment. It...

Critical Entrepreneurship Education in General Education and TVET: Two Concepts of Practice in a South African Township

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 65 - 84

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/dcse-2020-0019

Keywords
critical entrepreneurship education, capability approach, South Africa, school, TVET, entrepreneurship education, youth unemployment

© 2020 Matthias Forcher-Mayr et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Critical Entrepreneurship Education in General Education and TVET: Two Concepts of Practice in a South African Township

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 65 - 84

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/dcse-2020-0019

Keywordscritical entrepreneurship education, capability approach, South Africa, school, TVET, entrepreneurship education, youth unemployment

© 2020 Matthias Forcher-Mayr et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
critical entrepreneurship education, capability approach, South Africa, school, TVET, entrepreneurship education, youth unemployment