Competence and/or Performance – Assessment and Entrepreneurial Teaching and Learning in Two Swedish Lower Secondary Schools

Abstract

Entrepreneurial teaching and learning, thus entrepreneurial education corresponds well with formative assessment/assessment for learning. Both are characterised by an approach to education, teaching, and learning, which puts pupils in the centre of their own learning. Learning aims to “go deep†and generate “real learning†where competencies rather than measurable results are the focus. Both entrepreneurial education, and assessment for learning are promoted by the Swedish National Agency for Education. Entrepreneurial education has been inscribed in the national curriculum for Swedish compulsory schools since 2011. The same curriculum and syllabuses also focus on several knowledge requirements, which form the basis for assessing pupils’ performances. Thus, the Swedish national curriculum can be said to send two rather disparate messages. This research focuses on lower secondary school and the broad approach of entrepreneurial education and uses Basil Bernstein’s theory of performance and competence models to elaborate on entrepreneurial teaching and learning in relation to assessment. Observations along with interviews with teachers and pupils in two Swedish lower secondary schools provide the empirical basis for the research. The results reveal some differences between the schools but indicate that both teachers and pupils are relating to the prevailing dominance of performance models and thus encounter difficulties when trying to adopt entrepreneurial education and assessment for learning.