THE INFLUENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION ON STUDENTS ENTREPRENEURIAL PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY: Since the inception of human being, no human being come into existence fully developed with all the necessary faculties and systems that enhance adaptation. Rather, people come into existence and experience several phases of development. One of the phases of such development is the adolescent phase. According to  Weiten (2012) adolescent is a transition phase between childhood and adulthood. It is one of the major critical and most delicate phases of the human development because it is at this phase that the socialization of the individual person takes place. According to Ebenebe (2007), it is the phase a girl child learns how to be daughters, sisters, friends, wives and mothers. In addition, she learns the occupational roles that the society has in stock for her. The same is applicable to the male child. Apart from the role play, it is also the phase when an adolescents imbibe the norms of the society where they find themselves. It is also the phase when attitudes, skills, values, norms and culture of the given society are learnt. According to Okudo (2013), it is a phase when business teacher can acculturate all  socialization processes into a child which are basically achieved through education.  According to Moorhead, Johnson & Swanson, (2008). Psychosocial adjustment is the adaptive response to a substantial life change by an individual  either an adolescent or  an adult stage.

Wikipedia encyclopaedia (2015) defines education in its general sense as a form of learning through which the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through storytelling, discussion, teaching, training and or research.         Scholars are in consensus that education through formal learning constitutes one of the foremost agents of socialization. This kind of socialization is practically achieved in schools  which  have educational systems that are known to be the scaffold or buffer on which the psychosocial developments of these adolescents are based. The term educational system generally according to Sabbout (2013) refers to public schooling not private schooling and more commonly from kindergarten through high school programmes. Through these systems the adolescents are influenced towards the acquisition of skills, competences and attitudes that help them in the future. One of these systems of education is entrepreneurship education.

Omolayo (2006) defined entrepreneurship as the act of starting a company, arranging business deals and taking risks in order to make a profit through the educational skills acquired. Watson (2006) defined it as a process through which individuals identify opportunities, allocate resources and create value. While Orji (2011) referred to entrepreneurship as a specific mind set (self-reliance) resulting in entrepreneurial initiatives. Therefore entrepreneurship education is that kind of education that will dispose the adolescents towards identifying opportunities, allocating resources or creating values (as described by Watson) or the type of education that engraves a self-reliant and entrepreneurial initiative in the adolescents.

It is important to underscore the fact that entrepreneurship education has gained much importance in  Nigerian educational system, given the issues of finding solution to unemployment need for job creation, economic diversification and sustainable development. Nigerian government, in 2005 saw the need for a new functional curriculum for secondary school level of education. The old curriculum of secondary school education was found to be enamoured with some deficiencies and limitations. Orji (2012) observed that the existing secondary schools curriculum could not achieve the acquisition of functional literacy and numeracy, strategic commutation skills, and entrepreneurial skills. The old curriculum was also criticized for having no support for reducing poverty, creating jobs and wealth for graduates.

To improve the senior secondary school curriculum towards meeting the societal demand and finding solutions to the deficiencies in the old curriculum had made the National Council of Education (NCE), the highest policy making body in Nigerian education sector, to mandate the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to restructure and enrich the instant secondary school curriculum. The NERDC, therefore, developed a functional skill-oriented and values enriched curriculum for senior secondary education which was scheduled and started in September 2011 at a senior secondary level (SSS1). The introduction of 35 trade/entrepreneurship subjects was central part of the reform and restructuring of the old senior secondary education curriculum.

According to NERDC’s philosophy of the new senior secondary education curriculum (SSEC), every senior secondary education graduate should have been well prepared for higher education as well as acquire relevant functional entrepreneurship skills needed for poverty eradication, job creation, wealth generation and in the process, further strengthening the foundation of moral, ethnic, and civic values acquired at the basic education level.

Given the context above, entrepreneurship education for senior secondary school is considered as the training in any of the trade/entrepreneurship subjects which includes the ability and skill to put together all the factors of production to start and sustain a business. Based on the endorsement of NERDC (2008), all senior secondary students are to offer one of the compulsory core crossing- cutting subjects including English, Mathematics, computer/information communication technology and civic education. This implies that all students in Nigeria senior secondary schools, irrespective of their field of study, must compulsorily offer at least one trade entrepreneurship subject. The students should also register for (and be assessed in) at least one trade/entrepreneurship subject in public examinations (NECO, WAEC or NABTEB).

As a corollary to the above articulated situation, researchers and educators have started to raise questions and conducted studies regarding the effective implementation of the new curriculum. Although NERDC has embarked on sensitization programme to ensure effective implementation of the programmes, yet, the atmosphere is not yet cordial, relaxed and clement. Despite NERDC (2008) sensitization programmes, provision for strategic curriculum support and resources, people have continued to raise eye brows and to question the effectiveness of this curriculum. Significant among these, are the adolescents who apparently seem to share similar view concerning its implementation and its impact to their psychosocial life adjustments.

It is better to believe on what a person can do rather than personal judgments about one’s physical or personality attributes. It is also context-specific and varies across several dimensions, such as level, generality, and strength. The level of self-efficacy refers to its dependence on the difficultly level of a particular task, such as math addition problems of increasing difficulty; generality of self-efficacy beliefs refers to the transferability of one’s efficacy judgments across different tasks or activities, such as different academic subjects; strength of efficacy judgments pertains to the certainty with which one can perform a specific task (Zimmerman, 2012). Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia, (2015) also sees self-efficacy as the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete task and reach goals. Hence, this study is set out to assess the influence of entrepreneurship education on senior secondary school students’ psychosocial entrepreneurial adjustment in Anambra State.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There are speculations in Nigeria that the nature of education offered at secondary school level produces students for whom there are no market demands (Modesty,2012). Students are seemingly grounded in theoretical knowledge but the skills and resourcefulness for applying the knowledge for creation of goods and services are apparently lacking. Unemployment of graduates from Nigerian educational institutions have become a major national problem. The period between graduation from school and employment of graduates in the labour market have continued to lengthen and this has become a source of frustration for graduates. In this kind of circumstance, it is projected that part of the viable remedial option is self-employment and self-reliance schemes.

Entrepreneurship education is believed to have the capacity to bring about an attitudinal change from being job seekers to job creators among students of Nigeria educational institutions. This is part of the rationale behind the introduction of entrepreneurship education in senior secondary school in Nigeria (with the objective of equipping of students with the training and skills necessary to start their own businesses). Some of the setbacks in secondary school prior to the introduction of entrepreneurship skill is the grounding of students in theoretical knowledge which makes them lack necessary skill needed in practical jobs and labour market/societal demand. The resultant effect is that many secondary school graduates roam the street without being employed. The poverty level, unemployment rate and inability of graduate to  meet the demands of the labour market and society in general has led to the establishment of  entrepreneurship education in schools, hence the is need to examine business teacher’s assessment of  the  influence of entrepreneurship education on senior secondary school students in Anambra state.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this research is to ascertain business teachers assessment   of the influence of entrepreneurship education on  students entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments. Specifically, the study tend to determine the opinion of business teachers:

1. On their level of awareness of the benefits of entrepreneurship in senior secondary schools in Anambra state.

2. On the extent introduction of entrepreneurship education in senior secondary school curriculum heightens entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of secondary school students in Anambra state on the basis of their self-esteem.

3. On the degree to which entrepreneurship education influences entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of students on the basis of self-efficacy.

4. On the extent to which entrepreneurial education influences entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of students on the basis of their self-perception.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What s the level of awareness of the benefits of entrepreneurship in senior secondary schools in Anambra state?

2. To what extent do introduction of entrepreneurship education in senior secondary school curriculum heightens entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of secondary school students in Anambra state on the basis of their self-esteem?

3. To what degree do entrepreneurship education influence entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of students on the basis of self-efficacy?

4. What is the extent to which entrepreneurial education influences entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of students on the basis of their self-perception?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study will be of significant benefits to Nigeria government, educational policy makers, principals of schools and business teachers.

It will enable educational policy makers, school principals and teachers to evaluate the effects of the new Nigerian Senior Secondary School Curriculum (SSEC) that makes entrepreneurship education a compulsory cross-cutting subject with the view to making secondary school education functional to the extent that school graduates acquire vocational, technical and entrepreneurial skills and competences necessary to generate jobs, create wealth and be economically empowered.

The findings will give school principals and teachers a positive frame of mind towards the introduction of the trade/entrepreneurship subjects given its potential of unlocking the students’ entrepreneurship resourcefulness and consequently encourages them to work adequately in implement the entrepreneurship education curriculum.

Business teachers and students will hugely benefit from the findings of this study because the findings of this study will be a source of motivation for them towards self-reliance attitude and entrepreneurial activities given the positive influence of entrepreneurship education.

Parents and guardians will find the results of this study useful since the study will provide them with informed disposition of encouraging their children/wards towards pursing entrepreneurial activities suitable to their skills and circumstances.

The study will be adding to existing knowledge on entrepreneurship and will be serving as a source of research material and referencing for fellow researchers.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study will cover business teachers assessment of the influence of entrepreneurship education on secondary school students’ entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustment in Anambra state. The study will also  cover; Business teachers’ opinion of the level of awareness of the benefits of entrepreneurship in senior secondary schools in Anambra state. The introduction of entrepreneurship education in senior secondary school curriculum heightens entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of students in secondary school in Anambra state.

Entrepreneurship education influences entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of students on the basis of social status. The scope will also cover the  which entrepreneurship education influences entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments of students on the basis of self-efficacy, the extent to which entrepreneurial education influences entrepreneurial psycho-social l adjustments of students on the basis of their self-perception and how  it influences their entrepreneurial psychosocial adjustments on the  basis of their social status, their self-efficacy and their self-perception.

1.7 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint - Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is defined as the process that involves idea generation, opportunity identification and business planning, which results in busness creation or product innovation.

Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur is defined as an individual, who can successfully and efficiently organise resources in search of an opportunity to create value.

Entrepreneurship Education: Entrepreneurship education is defined as any program or process of education targeted at motivating entrepreneurial actions and behaviour.

Entrepreneurship Curriculum Content: Entrepreneurship curriculum content is defined as information and experiences contained in the curriculum of an entrepreneurship program.