Education for Entrepreneurship – A Challenge for School Practice

Introduction: Education for Entrepreneurship can be seen as one of the contemporary themes of current school and out-of-school education and has also become one of the priority topics of the European Union’s education policy. In this article, we focus on the definition of entrepreneurial education and the context of the terms liminality and in-betweenness that are closely related to entrepreneurship. In the theoretical part, we focus on broader context and complexity of entrepreneurial education and characterize the competence as a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship (Malach, 2008). All defined terms are related to the implementation of entrepreneurial education in the process of school education. Purpose: The aim of the article is to analyse the ways and methods of applying the main ideas of entrepreneurial education in school education. We concentrated on finding the context and characteristics of innovative methods and strategies through which the objectives of entrepreneurial education are achieved. Methods: To describe and understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurial education, the qualitative content analysis of the examples of good practices was used in this article. We developed codes in relation to the causes, conditions, opportunities and environment of entrepreneurial education. Conclusions: The aim was to determine the degree of implementation of entrepreneurial education/skills in the learning process in schools. By using the Content Analysis method, we determined the following questions: 1. What is entrepreneurial education? 2. What are the aims of education for entrepreneurship? 3. Why do we learn entrepreneurship? 4. Who and where teaches entrepreneurship? 5. How to learn entrepreneurship? Four main categories have been identified for the analysis of the complex concept of entrepreneurial education: Category 1: The roles of teachers and pupils in entrepreneurial education Category 2: Teaching methods and activities of pupils Category 3: The diversity of the aims of entrepreneurial education Category 4: Competences for entrepreneurship At the end of the article, we summarize the content analysis of the phenomenon of entrepreneurial education. There is a complexity of issues, goals, methods and social relationships that lead pupils/people to qualitative transmissions for/to create an excellent life. It involves preparing the pupil for practical everyday life, developing self-efficacy, self-confidence, independence, and support for critical thinking, flexibility, creativity, risk taking and problem-solving abilities. In addition, we provide an overview of inspirational methods and effective strategies used by entrepreneurs in entrepreneurial education. Given that entrepreneurial education is a comprehensive discipline, a sufficient team of people needs to be provided to put its ideas into practice. In this education, both the whole society and individuals such as teachers, social educators, parents, family, pupils/students, environment outside school, inside school/class find the place and purpose. The KEY TOPICS to turn ideas of entrepreneurial education into action are discussed in the conclusion of the article.