Entrepreneurship Education with Companies: Teachers Organizing School-Company Interaction
Abstract
:1. Introduction
Planning and Organizing School-Company Interaction
2. Materials and Methods
Sampling and Participants
3. Results
3.1. Partnership
Of course, we could just make company visits, but I think the students would get a less structured image of the business world or a company’s function. I think it is better to have a three-year partnership with a company to discover how it works.(Interviewee 9, principal).
I think that teamwork, that is collaboration across subjects, will increase in the future. For example, the agreement on mathematics, study counselling, and other reporting tasks when the students may need help from different teachers provides an important value add.(Interviewee 28, principal)
3.2. Mini-Company
Half of the ninth-graders every year choose entrepreneurship. There are many reasons: it is an interesting subject, has an excellent teacher, and the students know that they may realize their ideas. They start all kinds of companies; everything from car washes to bakeries. They have a café here in the school, a photography shop, and a lot of small companies.(Interviewee 5, principal)
Companies help us as much as we want.(Interviewee 33, teacher)
3.3. Company Project
The students do not just work for me, their teacher, but there are the client companies with whom the meetings are held and decided what kind of press release would be written and so on. The things must be done before the deadline. Sometimes the atmosphere is chaotic, but I as a teacher must sit on my hands and not do anything, not even make any telephone calls, because the students have to cope with the situation, and the next time it will be easier. I could do it in a moment, but students have to have the opportunity to learn.(Interviewee 40, teacher)
3.4. Company Visits
It is good to have a proficient company person plan something concrete for the students; otherwise there is no reason for a visit if we are just going to listen to a presentation about sales figures and other similar information.(Interviewee 18, teacher)
They used to tell us about what it is like to work there and so… then we do the walk-through and see the production section and the packing section if they have it. It takes a few hours.(Interviewee 13, teacher)
3.5. Entrepreneur in Class
It is much easier when we invite a person to come and tell us about their profession instead of us trying to visit a company, which is not at all easy. Companies are quite restrictive about welcoming groups and it is also difficult to motivate and persuade them.(Interviewee 2, principal)
In the entrepreneur panel, the idea is that we inform our ninth-grade students (the last year in the school) which companies are coming to participate in the entrepreneur panel. The students in small groups decide what they want to know about the companies. Then, in the auditory panel, they ask their questions. The questions can be of a general nature, but may also be directed to one particular representative. In that way, we want to bring out what the students want to hear from company representatives.(Interviewee 17, teacher)
3.6. Online Session
A little less stress with transport, because the students can stay in the classroom. And especially, no need to apply for passes and permits in the factory area.(Interviewee 22, teacher)
We sent the questions to the company in advance so they were able to answer correctly.(Interviewee 22, teacher)
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Education Technique | People Involved from School | Degree of Interaction and Teachers’ Roles | Duration of Interaction | Students’ Involvement; Depth of Learning |
---|---|---|---|---|
Partnership | Principals, all teaching staff, and students | Intense Entrepreneurship embedded in school program | Class-company relationship lasting several years | Extremely high, students at the left of the learning process |
Mini-company | Teacher with students | Intense Companies as advisors in students’ businesses | Usually one School year | High, students participating as entrepreneurs |
In-company project | Principal, teacher with students | Intense Several student- company meetings | From a few weeks to semester | High, students contributing to the company |
Company visit | Teacher with students | Medium Activity relies on the teacher | A few hours, half a school day | Moderate, possibility for discussion and questions |
Entrepreneur in class | Teacher | Medium Activity relies on the teacher | Usually One lesson | Modest, students as listeners, may have the chance to ask questions |
Online session | Teacher | Low Teacher-led | One lesson | Low, face-to-face connection via internet, possible to ask some questions |
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Sommarström, K.; Oikkonen, E.; Pihkala, T. Entrepreneurship Education with Companies: Teachers Organizing School-Company Interaction. Educ. Sci. 2020, 10, 268. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10100268
Sommarström K, Oikkonen E, Pihkala T. Entrepreneurship Education with Companies: Teachers Organizing School-Company Interaction. Education Sciences. 2020; 10(10):268. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10100268
Chicago/Turabian StyleSommarström, Kaarina, Elena Oikkonen, and Timo Pihkala. 2020. "Entrepreneurship Education with Companies: Teachers Organizing School-Company Interaction" Education Sciences 10, no. 10: 268. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10100268