The role of entrepreneurial mindset in the spread of teachers’ innovation for students’ learning

Abstract

In partnership in the design and multi-year implementation, an interdisciplinary, U.S., school-university team undertook a project to promote teachers’ innovation and collaboration to enhance K-12 students’ engagement and learning of science. The partnership was designed to explore educational entrepreneurship in a programme of research alongside the impact of the professional learning scheme. Clusters of schools in high-poverty areas were enrolled in the partnership to increase learning opportunities for teachers and students. The team developed a theoretical model, Entrepreneurial Teacher Leadership Cycles of Innovation for Student Learning, which grounded our work with teachers and guided our research. The purpose of this theoretical paper is to use the findings from three of the team’s empirical studies to instantiate key aspects of the current iteration of the theoretical model. Following an overview of the professional-learning partnership, the theoretical model will be described. The three studies will be used to explicate the roles of innovation and collaboration in teachers’ entrepreneurial thinking that promote the spread of impact on students’ engagement and learning across classrooms and schools. The first paper is a report of the school-based study from which the model emerged. Study two was designed to tap into the beliefs, values, and decisions of 21 teachers, who participated in a leadership series on teaching innovation, through their responses to scenario-based interviews. The final study is a report of 74 teachers’ responses to a questionnaire designed to measure entrepreneurial thinking in education and the correlation of risk and innovation, based on ratings of teachers’ projects.