Entrepreneurship in Swedish upper secondary schools: governing active future citizens?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical contribution by exploring how secondary school students are governed and shaped when entrepreneurship is emphasised in school curricula, and if female and male students are governed in different ways through different techniques connected with entrepreneurship in school.

Design/methodology/approach

This study takes its departure in Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality. In total, 90 students in gendered focus groups from three upper secondary schools were interviewed about how entrepreneurship in school was implemented and experienced. The schools were geographically dispersed.

Findings

The analysis indicates, the three schools included in the study provide different prerequisites for students to become an active subject. This partly depends on where the individual school is geographically located, but also on the students gender. When entrepreneurship in school is implemented throughout the entire curriculum, female students tend to adopt male-coded entrepreneurial abilities. The neoliberal agenda, with an aim of fostering entrepreneurial self, appears to have permeated the awareness of students, especially female students.

Originality/value

First, the paper contributes with an empirical research regarding students’ experiences of entrepreneurship in school. Second, the paper contributes to a gender perspective on entrepreneurship in school. Third, the paper contributes to the understanding of how entrepreneurship in school is realised in a different school context.

Citation

Norberg, E.-L.L. (2017), "Entrepreneurship in Swedish upper secondary schools: governing active future citizens?", Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Vol. 11 No. 5, pp. 547-563. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEC-06-2016-0020