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Economic Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Master thesis)

Παπαδόπουλος, Κωνσταντίνος/ Papadopoulos, Konstantinos

The present dissertation addresses the perceptions of economics teachers of secondary schools in regard with the education in entrepreneurship, innovation and economics in the Greek educational system. The main focus of the study is to investigate the views of economics teachers about entrepreneurship, innovation, teaching of economics, economic literacy, the ideological aspects of economics and the economization of education. In the first part of the dissertation, we examine the literature about theoretical aspects regarding the impact of entrepreneurship and economics education and we highlight the role of economic literacy. We also probe into the economic discourse about the economization of education, skills-based education and the role of ideology in teaching of economics. We are also taking a glance in the economic education in Europe, USA and Greece. The second part of the study, the research section consists of the qualitative data analysis about the perceptions of the economic teachers. In particular we interviewed 10 secondary school economics teachers from Greece about the state of economic education. Some of the findings are the essential nonexistent economic education in Greece and the negative impact it has, not only in entrepreneurship skills and competencies but also the overall financial literacy of the Greek secondary school students. We also found that all the interviewees believe that economic education has a great capacity to enhance the well-being of the people, support the economic growth and could address social and economic inequalities.