Identifying the prospective science teachers’ understanding towards entrepreneurial skills

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the prospective science teachers’ understanding towards entrepreneurial skills. This study, which 146 prospective science teachers of 3rd grade at two state universities in Turkey have participated in, is carried out through the case study method. The data of the research are gathered with “"Entrepreneurial Approach Interview Form (EAIF)”. The acquired data are analyzed by using the content analysis method. It is observed that the relation between entrepreneurship and economy is particularly explained with several characteristics by about one third of prospective teachers, whereas the vast majority of them are unable to establish this relation or give meaningless replies as a result of the research. However, it is found out that the great majority of the prospective teachers are able to explain upon the opportunities of entrepreneurship on the basis of the cultural structure of society. It is seen that very few prospective teachers emphasize on creativity and innovation important in regarding to using entrepreneurial skill. Nevertheless, it is observed that integration of the prospective teachers’ sense of entrepreneurship with technology is inadequate. In addition, it is understood that the vast number of the prospective teachers are incompetent about how they will be able to use the nature and environment when they put their opinions into practice (in the process of business establishment). Moreover, it is revealed that very few candidates are aware of performing the operations such as determining the business idea, making a preliminary assessment of the business idea and questioning the feasibility of the business idea. Furthermore, it is determined that almost all candidates do not have information about the process and content of preparing a business plan. These results show that the prospective science teachers’ understanding towards entrepreneurial skill is quite weak.

Keywords: Science, the prospective teacher, the entrepreneurship skill