Early Entrepreneurial Education in Preschool and Primary School: Unlocking Young Potential

Dear Colleagues,

Issue Aim and Scope

Entrepreneurial education (EE) is increasingly recognised as a powerful tool for equipping learners with creativity, problem-solving skills, adaptability, and resilience—all essential for thriving in today’s rapidly changing world. While traditionally introduced at the secondary and higher education levels, there is growing recognition that entrepreneurial thinking and competencies should be nurtured from the earliest stages of education.

Early childhood and primary education provide a critical window for cognitive, social, and emotional development, yet entrepreneurial education remains largely absent from curricula worldwide. Many existing education frameworks prioritise creativity and problem-solving but do not explicitly integrate entrepreneurial competencies such as opportunity recognition, initiative, and value creation. Unlike traditional conceptions of EE focused on business creation, early EE is about developing key competencies such as creativity, innovation, problem-solving, self-efficacy, and resilience, which are crucial for lifelong learning and future workforce engagement.

There is evidence in the literature that being able to exercise entrepreneurial skills and act in an entrepreneurial way is now seen as being important to all citizens, because society is facing constant change and uncertainty. Furthermore, the ability to develop new and innovative ideas and implement these in resourceful and ingenious ways is considered important across all sectors of society. According to the World Economic Forum (2023), abilities and skills which are now seen as ‘entrepreneurial’, such as creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, and agility, are key competencies for the future of jobs, creative thinking being the number one skill to have by 2027. This focus on entrepreneurial skills and abilities from a societal perspective now needs to be translated into our education system, particularly at the early years and primary level. However, educating students to be able to act entrepreneurially is quite different from educating them in entrepreneurship as a profession and its implications for the education system are also very different.

This Special Issue seeks to advance global discussions on Early Entrepreneurial Education (eEE) by addressing pedagogical, theoretical, and policy dimensions across different education systems, socio-economic contexts, and cultural settings. By integrating entrepreneurial education into preschool and primary school, we can equip young learners with the foundational skills necessary for lifelong success. This Special Issue will bring together global perspectives to enhance research, policy, and practise in early entrepreneurial education, ensuring all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial mindsets.

We invite empirical, conceptual, and policy-oriented contributions to advance this emerging field and shape the future of entrepreneurial education globally.

Suggested Themes for the Special Issue

We invite contributions that explore a range of themes related to Early Entrepreneurial Education (eEE), including but not limited to the following:

1. Play as a Driver of Early Entrepreneurial Learning: Examining how role-play, storytelling, and exploratory activities foster entrepreneurial competencies in young learners.
2. Pedagogical Strategies for Early Entrepreneurial Education: Investigating how educators integrate entrepreneurial education through project-based learning, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary approaches.
3. Training and Support for Educators: Exploring the role of teacher training programmes and professional development initiatives in equipping educators with the skills and confidence to embed EE in early childhood and primary education.
4. Early Entrepreneurial Education in Diverse Educational Contexts: Analysing how entrepreneurial education is implemented across different socio-economic, cultural, and educational settings worldwide.
5. Assessing the Impact of Early Entrepreneurial Education: Investigating how early exposure to entrepreneurial learning influences children’s long-term development, including creativity, resilience, and problem-solving abilities.
6. Parental and Community Engagement in Early Entrepreneurial Education: Exploring the role of families, caregivers, and local communities in supporting and reinforcing entrepreneurial learning beyond formal education settings.
7. Framing Early Entrepreneurial Education Within Global Educational Goals: Positioning EE as a key contributor to international educational objectives, such as SDG 4 (Quality Education), to engage policymakers and education stakeholders.
8. Highlighting the Future of Work and Innovation: Examining how early entrepreneurial education prepares young learners for the evolving workforce, fostering adaptability, innovation, and lifelong learning.
9. A Strong Interdisciplinary Approach to Early Entrepreneurial Education: Encouraging research that integrates perspectives from education, psychology, entrepreneurship, and policy studies to develop a comprehensive understanding of EE in early childhood and primary education.
10. Entrepreneurial Education for Sustainability and Social Impact: Exploring how early entrepreneurial education can foster environmental awareness, climate action, and social responsibility in young learners, encouraging them to think critically about sustainability challenges and the role of entrepreneurship in creating positive social change.

This Special Issue encourages a rich discussion on how early entrepreneurial education can be effectively implemented, evaluated, and scaled across diverse global contexts. Contributions from multiple disciplines, including education, business, psychology, and public policy, are welcomed. 

The due date for Abstract Submissions will be on 30 May 2025. The due date for Full Papers will be on 31 December 2025.

Dr. Trudie Murray
Dr. Kelly Smith
Guest Editors

Mr. Alan Morgan
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• entrepreneurial education
• preschool
• primary school
• educators
• pedagogy
• play
• agency
• entrepreneurial competencies
• inclusivity
• policy