Chapter 7: First-year student teachers’ perceptions of diversity and inclusivity in entrepreneurial learning

The South African Education Sector Plan for 2030 stipulates that teacher education must include preparation for entrepreneurial learning. Teacher preparation for enacting this Plan has received some consideration; however, the diversity of students’ prior learning negates a one-size-fits-all approach, especially in a country such as South Africa, with its exceedingly diverse population and educational contexts. In socioconstructivist learning, both educators and students contribute to the learning process, providing opportunities for inclusion and various viewpoints to support diversity. Students’ voices – in the form of their perceptions – could, therefore, contribute to scaffolding diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial learning content as part of teacher preparation for meeting the goals of the Education Sector Plan for 2030. The purpose of the investigation reported in this chapter was to explore how students’ voices could be included in the development of their entrepreneurial learning programme. This purpose was attained by exploring first-year student teachers’ initial perceptions of entrepreneurial learning and their perceptions regarding linking aspects of diversity and inclusivity with entrepreneurial learning in their future classrooms. All first-year student teachers at the North-West University Unit for Distance Learning attending the work-integrated learning (WIL) excursions in 2023 were invited to participate voluntarily in an exploratory qualitative investigation. Participants completed an online Google Forms questionnaire with 10 open-ended qualitative questions. Thematic analysis was conducted by a team of teacher educators with extensive experience in entrepreneurial learning, curriculum design and teacher preparation programmes. Two main themes aligned with the research questions were used to structure and discuss the findings. The findings contributed meaningful insights regarding first-year student teachers’foundational knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurial learning. It also shows that students can succinctly link entrepreneurial learning with aspects of inclusivity and diversity. Students made several feasible suggestions for linking these aspects to implement them in their future classrooms. Based on these findings, it was concluded that entrepreneurial learning as part of the WIL excursions positively enhances the preparation of future teachers and contributes to the attainment of the Education Sector Plan goals.