Exploring the professional identity and career trajectories of undergraduates on a team-based, experiential  degree programme

Davies, Lauren; Urzelai, Berrbizne; Ozadowicz, Karolina

Abstract

Based on the pioneering Finnish Team Academy model, BA (Hons) Business: Team Entrepreneurship is an undergraduate degree programme at the University of the West of England underpinned by self-managed, team-based experiential entrepreneurial learning. The original Finnish Team Academy model was established in 1993, yet there is surprisingly little research into this innovative pedagogical approach. It is widely accepted amongst scholars and practitioners that the scope of entrepreneurship education transcends beyond enabling graduate start-ups, but few studies, particularly in a UK context, have explored the impact of this innovative pedagogical approach on students’ professional identity, career decision-making and career trajectories. The research adopts a mixed-methods methodology, encompassing documentary analysis of students’ personal development-related assignments, semi-structured interviews with final year students and graduates, an online questionnaire for graduates and analysis of graduate outcome data. Data highlights that the majority of Team Entrepreneurship graduates go into employed roles, rather than self-employment. But what types of roles do they ultimately attain and how does the pedagogical approach of Team Academy influence their professional identity? This chapter will highlight key themes regarding the impact of the Team Academy pedagogy on career ambitions and professional identity of Team Entrepreneurship graduates and final year students.

• Online Publication Date: Jan 1, 2022
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 23, 2021
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Pages: 191-210
• Book Title: Theorising Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Education: Reflections on the Development of the Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Chapter Number: 10
• ISBN: 9783030878641
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87865-8_11
• Keywords: Experiential learning ;Team learning; Self-directed learning; Professional identity; Entrepreneurial identity
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7109108
• Contract Date: Sep 18, 2020