Title: Effective teachers as effective entrepreneurs: results of a tri-nation professional development project

Authors: Mustafa Zülküf Altan; David McMurtry; Sanja McMurtry

Addresses: Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Languages Education, Erciyes University, 38039, Kayseri, Turkey ' The School of Education, University of Aberdeen, Room 632, The McRobert Building, King's Campus, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK ' Education and Teacher Training Agency, Donje Svetice 38, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract: This paper is based upon an international professional development project (2012-2013) involving teachers and teacher educators in three countries - Turkey, Croatia and Scotland, UK. The project involved three groups of educators (predominantly school teachers) considering the characteristics and actions of effective teachers and those of successful entrepreneurs. Generally, a significant majority of the participants (73%) expressed the view that the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs were also characteristics of good teachers. There was broad agreement amongst the participants and across the three nations about some of these characteristics. Regarding other characteristics however, there was a lack of consensus across the nations and between participants in single countries. The themes where there was disagreement include risk taking, change, and views on teacher status and power. This raises interesting questions about the stance of teachers in relation to these important themes and issues. The study also contributes towards our understanding of effective teacher professional learning.

Keywords: effective teachers; entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship; professional development; professional identity; identity formation; teacher effectiveness; school teachers; teacher education; Turkey; Croatia; Scotland; risk taking; change; teacher status; teacher power.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEI.2014.067121

International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2014 Vol.3 No.3, pp.230 - 244

Received: 29 Sep 2014
Accepted: 22 Oct 2014
Published online: 31 Jan 2015 *

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