Critiquing Playful Project-Based Learning as Pedagogy for Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

The need to expand entrepreneurship education in learners’ schooling is a growing concern globally. It is especially pertinent in countries experiencing high levels of unemployment and ways to expand and improve its implementation is continually sought. Abundant research has been published about preferred pedagogies to enable and foster entrepreneurship education. Amongst these, project-based learning has long been recognized as one of the key teaching-learning strategies to enable meaningful entrepreneurship education. Recently, publications on ‘playful’ project-based learning as pedagogy for entrepreneurship education have increased notably. Theoretical foundations for this emerging new pedagogy in entrepreneurship education appear to be underprovided. Hence, the theoretical foundations provided by Biesta’s three functions of education, namely qualification, socialization and subjectification, were used as an analytical framework to explore what ‘good’ entrepreneurship education is (or should be) and how the pedagogy of playful project-based learning can bolster it. The chapter contributes to the body of knowledge by expanding insights into theoretical underpinnings for entrepreneurship education, as well as by critiquing playful project-based learning as pedagogical choice for implementing meaningful entrepreneurship education.