Underpinning Experiential Entrepreneurship Education with Educational Theory

What is it about?

Experiential learning has been identified as being particularly efficacious within entrepreneurship education, as it offers the opportunity for students to develop practical entrepreneurial skills and an entrepreneurial mindset. This paper brings educational theory and pedagogic practice together in a three-stage framework, highlighting how a range of educational theories inform the roles of the educator and learner at the pre experience, experience and post experience stages of the experiential learning process. In order to achieve this, the paper reviews and integrates the seminal educational theories and philosophies of constructivism, objectivism, Kolb’s (1984) theory of experiential learning, Schön’s (1983) reflection-in-action, and Mezirow’s (1997) theory of transformative learning, to develop a framework which underpins the experiential entrepreneurship learning process.

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Why is it important?

Educator narratives and practices are often based on foundations that suggest a lack in the depth of knowledge and understanding of the underlying pedagogic learning theories and practice. This paper contributes by creating a framework for entrepreneurship educators that addresses calls for a closer engagement between educational literature on the nature of learning and pedagogical theory and practice. The developed framework supports the pedagogic competence of educators in the delivery of experiential entrepreneurship education through a deeper understanding of the supporting theory that informs the pedagogic practice. This will provide consolidation to enable educators to maximise the effectiveness of their educational practice and can increase the legitimacy of entrepreneurship education. This is essential as many entrepreneurship educators have received only limited educational and pedagogic training, leaving educators to find their own way in pedagogic practice.