Entrepreneurship education: The implementation in Year 1 primary school curriculum in Malaysia. A case study of one district in East Peninsular Malaysia

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in entrepreneurship education and it has taken hold across the world, including Malaysia. In 2011, the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE) reformed its primary school curriculum and introduced entrepreneurship education into the new curriculum on a cross-curricular basis. Based on field work undertaken in one of the districts in Malaysia, this study investigates the perceptions of a selected group of respondents concerning the implementation of the government’s new entrepreneurship education programme in Year 1. It looks at respondents’ understanding of the entrepreneurship element, their views on the purpose of its implementation and the pedagogical and political issues faced during the implementation process. The research also focuses on other important theoretical issues including curriculum reform, human capital and entrepreneurship education. This is a qualitative research study using a case study approach. It was conducted based on in-depth interviews with 48 respondents from five different groups of professionals (officers, headteachers, subject teachers, expert teachers and teachers’ trainers). Respondents were selected using different sampling methods and the acquired data were analysed using Nvivo 9 software. A thematic analysis approach was used to identify themes. The findings suggest that there were relatively different views on the concept and purpose of entrepreneurship education. Specific differences between the implementers (the teachers), headteachers and curriculum developers were also identified. Nevertheless, most respondents agreed that the implementation was a positive development and most respondents had similar opinions concerning the cross-curricular approach. As expected, the findings also showed that the lack of monitoring and poor training had slowed down the implementation. Since there has been little research carried out on entrepreneurship education in primary schools especially in Malaysia, this study will be relevant for the design of future policies in the region and future academic research. It not only reveals the respondents’ perceptions and the actual practice in schools, but it also contributes to the body of knowledge on entrepreneurship education and curriculum reform for future reference.