Session Information
ERG SES D 05, Special Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Special education is offered to pupils who either do not or are unable to benefit satisfactorily from ordinary teaching, and about ten per cent of pupils in the Norwegian lower secondary school receive special education. The lack of systematic evaluations means that we know very little whether the resources and teaching methods applied have significant impact for the affected pupils. This paper asks whether the “Pupil enterprises program” is a suitable teaching method for improving school motivation and effort among pupils with special needs. Approximately 15% of all pupils participate in pupil enterprise project during lower secondary school, and its goals are to promote general and specific entrepreneurial abilities and to improve subject specific learning and basic skills.
In Norway the government has published The Government Action Plan from 2009-2014, Entrepreneurship in Education and Training – from compulsory school to higher education 2009-2014. In addition to promote knowledge and skills concerning business development and innovative processes, the education includes general entrepreneurial abilities formulated as development of personal qualities and attitudes through the use of entrepreneurial working methods. In both national and international policy papers it is presumed that entrepreneurship education (EE) will increase student motivation, prevent school drop-out and raise the amount of students completing high-school. Increasing learning outcomes and motivation, and preventing school drop-out is a particular concern regarding students with special needs. Research shows that this group of students has a relatively low motivation and a poor performance in academic learning. The Governmental Action Plan aim to make the education more realistic and practical by offering a more practical learning method – hence it might benefit pupils in need of a more practical learning situation. Focusing on the goal of the Action Plan, the question raised in this paper is: Can EE be beneficial to students with special needs in terms of increasing school motivation and effort? And secondly, is EE an inclusive method for students with special needs?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
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