NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ866267
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Nov
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
EISSN: N/A
Risk-Taking Abilities for Everyone? Finnish Entrepreneurship Education and the Enterprising Selves Imagined by Pupils
Komulainen, Katri; Korhonen, Maija; Raty, Hannu
Gender and Education, v21 n6 p631-649 Nov 2009
This article examines the spread of the neo-liberal educational policy in Finnish schools by considering entrepreneurship education. We examined the kinds of gendered and classed enterprising selves that were narrated in the Finnish writing competition "Good Enterprise!" written by pupils in the 9th grade of comprehensive school. In their narratives of enterprising selves, the pupils constructed the middle-class version of the self, where the person was not contingent upon external effects but an autonomous self-governing individual. Moreover, the possible selves of boys matched the culturally valued representations of the autonomous, risk-taking entrepreneurial individual more closely than the self-representations of girls did. However, it was especially the boys' narratives of modest entrepreneurship with the traditional virtues of the respectable citizen that were successful in the competition. This finding is in conflict with the educational policies of the European Union, which call for risk-taking abilities and competition as pre-conditions for achieving progress. (Contains 2 tables.)
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Grade 9
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A