Entrepreneurial Learning: Creating Value towards Social Justice

Abstract

Economic equality contributes towards social justice through equal access to opportunities for employment, income generation, or starting businesses. Entrepreneurship is often viewed as the panacea for job creation and reducing unemployment. Entrepreneurship education, therefore, supports the development and expansion of learners’ knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship. The notion is that when more learners opt to become entrepreneurs, economic inequality will be reduced. Entrepreneurship education continues to be studied for its contribution towards attaining social justice through economic equality. Recent literature, however, indicates a notable shift towards embracing a broader perspective of entrepreneurship education rather than only lauding it for its economic value creation. Numerous contemporary publications use the term entrepreneurial learning rather than entrepreneurship education. This shift emphasises the role of learners to learn self-directedly so as to think entrepreneurially or behave in an entrepreneurial manner rather than educators teaching them to “become entrepreneurs” (i.e., starting a business). Entrepreneurial learning intends to benefit not only the entrepreneurship learner but also purposefully endeavours to create value for others. The current conceptual paper focuses on this broader value-creation purpose of entrepreneurial learning and how this different view can contribute to attaining social justice if embedded in the South African school curriculum using a socio-constructivist theoretical framework. Conceptual recommendations are made for the optimal construction of entrepreneurial learning in upcoming curriculum adaptations to buttress its broader value-creation purpose in support of social justice.