High School Learners’ Perception Of The Efficacy Of Entrepreneurship Education: The Case Of Selected High Schools In The Western Cape, South Africa Cover Image

High School Learners’ Perception Of The Efficacy Of Entrepreneurship Education: The Case Of Selected High Schools In The Western Cape, South Africa
High School Learners’ Perception Of The Efficacy Of Entrepreneurship Education: The Case Of Selected High Schools In The Western Cape, South Africa

Author(s): Rylyne M. Nchu, Robertson Khan Tengeh, Salochana Hassan
Subject(s): Education, Business Economy / Management, Methodology and research technology
Published by: Naučno društvo za promociju i unapređenje društvenih nauka AKROASIS
Keywords: Entrepreneurship education; School learners; South African High Schools; Entrepreneurial intention and activity theory;

Summary/Abstract: Proactive educational institutions have introduced entrepreneurship education in their curricula to improve the employability of their learners. Using learners as the lens, the aim of this paper was to assess the efficacy of such programs in the context of South African high schools and taking into consideration the ethnic and income dynamics of such schools. We argue in this paper that entrepreneurial intention should be complemented with other measures such as frequent enterprise visits and school business projects especially in the context of junior learners. Purposive sampling method was used to select the schools for the case study. Learners (N=403) were drawn from high, medium and low income schools for the study. Quantifying and non-quantifying data analysis methods were used to interpret the data. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were implored to analyse the survey data. Thus, the data set was subjected to chi square test and multivariate analysis using SPSS software. It was revealed that an overwhelming majority (62%) of the respondents would want to start up a business after their studies. Of these numbers, the overwhelming majority (81%) were black learners. It is also worth noting that a significant proportion (73%) of those that want to become entrepreneurs actually came from the middle income schools.

  • Issue Year: 4/2015
  • Issue No: 8
  • Page Range: 507-526
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English