Entrepreneurship programs and their underlying pedagogy in secondary education in the Netherlands

Abstract

Despite the increase in entrepreneurship initiatives and interventions, there is a poor understanding of entrepreneurship programs' principles and learning objectives in secondary education. This study provides insight into the current range of entrepreneurship programs and their underlying pedagogy in secondary education in the Netherlands. To structure the analysis, we used the 11 design principles of Baggen et al. (Entrep Educ Pedagog 5(3):347–374, 2022). Data were collected from three different sources: the Vecon Business Schools (VBS) application forms, interviews with VBS schools, and additional documents. The findings show that most schools are unfamiliar with the definitions of entrepreneurship education. Many of the principles of broad entrepreneurship education focus on personal growth and the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. These are not always recognizable in secondary schools' current offerings of entrepreneurship education. Furthermore, the pedagogies on which entrepreneurship programs are based are mostly traditional, despite literature showing that (socially) constructivist entrepreneurship programs lend themselves better to developing an entrepreneurial mindset.