Entrepreneurial Learning/Implementation

A school can choose to implement entrepreneurial learning as a business school. So entrepreneurial learning skips the key factor of freedom in learning, but instead focusses primarily on learning entrepreneurship. At the other end of the spectrum a school may focus on the freedom of the learner and sees entrepreneurship just as an extra bonus.

Another dimension of the implementation is the number of students involved. Is the school implementing entrepreneurial learning to a small suitable group of entrepreneurial students or to all the students of the school?

Strategy

There is a clear line dividing learning business with entrepreneurial learning. When a school wants to introduce entrepreneurial learning, it is important in the mission to be clear whether content (entrepreneurship as a subject) or form (entrepreneurship as an attitude) is more prominent. In the latter case, entrepreneurial learning in its true sense applies. One can opt for a growth in the number of pupils or for a growth in the size of the educational program that has entrepreneurial learning as an educational form. The following actions can facilitate both choices

Provide training for subject teachers and school leaders to enable entrepreneurial learning during regular lessons. Time can be freed up by, for example, recording instructions on film (the Flipping the Classroom concept) or on another medium and offering it via an Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
School-wide entrepreneurial projects that run for a period and together form a continuous learning track.
A separate school department for the most entrepreneurial students and teachers who take on the above actions.

Change management

The following phases can be recognized in implementing a change such as entrepreneurial learning at a school:

Collecting data (during workshops, for example) with those involved on the questions below, ultimately leading to conditions that a school must meet or will meet and support for the change
1. Who want the change and who are involved?
2. What does the school want to achieve through the change and what can one expect from the school?
3. Why will the change produce this?
4. Which things are needed to implement the change and which training?
5. How does the change take shape?
6. What requirements must the school meet to realize the change?
Making an implementation plan (and tools for making it) on the basis of the first phase, which in any case answers the following questions
1. Who is responsible for what? In other words, how are the responsibilities, tasks and powers distributed among those involved? And who directs the implementation and the evaluation thereof?
2. What are the principles, expectations and performance with regard to the impact of the change on the (culture of) the school?
3. Why is it necessary and important that the change be implemented?
4. What goals are ultimately achieved?
5. How is the change communicated and how is it embedded in the school organization?
6. When are the checkpoints set?
Further elaboration of the change by further detailing the various components to be realized and their mutual relationship and formulating the necessary actions.
The actual implementation can start when the implementation plan is sufficiently specified. In particular, everyone must always be clear where they want to go and how to get there. These expectations need to be clarified and adjusted during the process over and over again. Communication, reducing uncertainty and constantly measuring the process, measuring adjustments again and adjusting again are the keywords. Always check whether the energy of the design process does not get bogged down because people no longer connect with the organization itself. One must watch out for being too far ahead of the troops. Take everyone with you and train and train where otherwise you can not keep up. Every step needs to be anchored but also further improved.
Until one reaches the end point and then one has to complete and evaluate the change project concretely and visibly.

Certification

Test

Available talents have a positive contribution to acquiring skills, knowledge and attitude (competences). For the possible selection of entrepreneurial students based on a personal profile, an entry level test can be useful. Subsequently, the development of these competences will have to be monitored so that the student receives effective feedback about his learning process. Afterwards, the school is accountable for the quality of the education by evaluating the student's development. These tests are also individual due to the individual learning paths. This requires goals that have been formulated SMART for each individual student, which, apart from the differences in content, can also differ in the way of evaluating.

Portfolio

The more the learner determines the learning process and learning goals, the more the existing school subjects are in line with entrepreneurial behavior, the more suitable a portfolio is for recording and monitoring the learner's development. The school will make demands on the minimum learning objectives that are demonstrated by the portfolio. Learning entrepreneurship and learning to learn entrepreneurially will have a permanent place in this. It depends on the implementation (see implementation) where the accent will lie. Any ceetification that follows will be the sum of the 'regular' diploma - obtained on the basis of the regular assessment - and the portfolio.

Affection

Emotional events play a crucial role in how entrepreneurial people learn. They give meaning to the learning experiences. Although not very common in mainstream education, it is therefore important in entrepreneurial learning to make these affective learning objectives explicit. By regularly letting the learner reflect on his learning process, one can monitor the development of those affective learning goals and support them with feedback.

References