Entrepreneurship education in teacher professional development is of paramount importance as teachers are a critical success factor in the entrepreneurship development. However, little attention has been paid to burstiness as a predictor of performance. The aim of the manuscript is to analyze the relationship between burstiness of entrepreneurship education in teacher professional development and teachers' entrepreneurial performance underpinning implementation of an empirical study in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). The meaning of the key concepts of “burstiness,” “performance,” “entrepreneurship education,” and “teacher professional development” is studied. The findings of the empirical study allow drawing the conclusion that a level of frequency, as a criterion of burstiness, of entrepreneurship education in teacher professional development does not reflect a level of teachers' entrepreneurial performance. The novel contribution of this manuscript is the newly formulated research question on burstiness as a predictor of performance.
TopIntroduction
The Baltic states that include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania among other European Union countries are aimed at achieving a sustainable future in 2020 via smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (European Commission, 2010).
Within Europe 2020 Strategy (European Commission, 2010), entrepreneurship is considered to be the effective strategy for development and growth of societies since it facilitates the prosperity of the modern society in general and the sustainability of contemporary economics in particular as entrepreneurship has been adopting a two-fold role such as
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From the social perspective, entrepreneurship promotes the innovative and competitive development of society, and
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From the individual perspective, entrepreneurship contributes to the individual’s employability and career option (Ahrens & Zaščerinska, 2014).
As sustainability remains the key concept within Europe 2020 Strategy (European Commission, 2010), it should be noted that
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On the one hand, the prosperity of the modern society and the sustainability of contemporary economics are inter-dependent, and,
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On the other hand, contemporary economics is closely inter-related with education in general and entrepreneurship education in particular, namely both types of education in general and entrepreneurship education in particular are parts of economics.
The principle of sustainable development is identified as the interaction of past experience and social, economic and environmental contexts in planning and implementing problem solving (Grabovska, 2006, p. 40). Therefore, sustainable personality in general and sustainable teacher in particular is a person who sees the relationships and inter-relationships between nature, society and the economy (Kaivola & Rohweder, 2007, p. 24).
For the increase of entrepreneurial efforts and their efficiency, entrepreneurship education is integrated into all the levels of modern education within lifelong learning such as
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Pre-primary,
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Primary,
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Basic,
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Higher education and
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Adult education.
Some research activities were carried out to analyse integration of entrepreneurship education at all the levels of modern education within lifelong learning.
At preschool level, preschool teachers’ attitude to entreprise in preschool institution is analysed (Seņkāne, 2014).
At vocational level, a conceptual framework on entrepreneurship education in vocational teachers’ training is shaped (Melnikova, Zaščerinska, & Glonina, 2015).
At higher education level, research on entrepreneurship education is widely represented by such areas of research interest as
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Development of students' enterprise in study process (Oganisjana, 2010),
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Use of e-technologies in entrepreneurship (Ahrens, Bassus, & Zaščerinska, 2013a; Ahrens & Zaščerinska, 2014),
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Bi-professional identity (Zaščerinskis, Aļeksejeva, & Zaščerinska, 2013; Aļeksejeva, Zaščerinskis, Zaščerinska, & Andreeva, 2013),
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Bi-professional curriculum (Ahrens, Bassus, & Zaščerinska, 2013b),
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Engineering students’ needs in entrepreneurship education (Bassus, Ahrens, & Zaščerinska, 2014).