Title: Entrepreneurship education in policy and practice

Authors: Karin Berglund; Carina Holmgren

Addresses: Stockholm University School of Business, Stockholms Universitet, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden ' Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Society Development, Mälardalen University, SE-721 23 Västerås/Eskilstuna, Sweden

Abstract: This article pays interest to the intersection between policy and practice when implementing entrepreneurship in the educational system. Taking a point of departure in Mahieu's (2006) call for knowledge of the interplay between different policy levels and Backström-Widjeskog's (2010) conclusion about tensions occurring when teachers are introduced to the concept, the intention is to develop knowledge about conflicts and tensions at the intersection between policy and practice. From analysing policy documents and narratives from entrepreneurship education implementation projects during a time when entrepreneurship education started to be promoted in Sweden three figures of thought are found (economic/humanistic, biological/social, and individual/collective) which are proposed to be involved in creating tensions and conflicts in the intersection between policy and practice. Theoretically, these figures of thought can be seen as a contribution to understanding processes in which the concept of entrepreneurship education has deliberately been moved, by way of policy, to the educational practice. Reflecting on these thought figures may enhance teachers' translation processes when starting to work with entrepreneurship education in practice.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education; educational policy; educational practice; discourse; figures of thought; Sweden; narratives.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2013.051669

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2013 Vol.5 No.1, pp.9 - 27

Published online: 30 Jan 2014 *

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