Taylorism of the Mind: Entrepreneurship Education from a Perspective of Educational Research

The aim of this article is to explore and discuss entrepreneurship education, and to raise some critical questions inspired by the work of Basil Bernstein. The discussion is based on writings on entrepreneurship education and thereby gives one picture of the intellectual debate on entrepreneurship education. In contrast to traditional education, viewed as transformation of knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship education is said to be about changing attitudes and motives. There is a consensus in the field that students can be successfully endowed with an entrepreneurial culture, when their attitudes are changed in the desired way. The focus on fostering a certain identity in entrepreneurship education might be seen as a part of the ongoing neo-liberal oriented educational restructuring process, which is sweeping through Europe.