Socio-educational Entrepreneurship: Expanding the Traditional Role of Teachers

Abstract

This paper explores the educational-entrepreneurial role of successful primary school teachers working in rural state schools-teachers who have attained their educational goals in spite of severely constraining social and economic contexts. A teacher’s role is formally defined as an implementer of the curriculum. However, in situations of educational deprivation, such teachers add, on their own, an entrepreneurial dimension to their role in order to achieve their educational goals and the broader purpose of socio-educational development. This dimension comprises two elements: mobilization of financial and other material resources, and identifying and using community resources and traditions as opportunities for educational practice. The study follows a multiple case study design with theoretical sampling, and draws data from 34 case studies of outstanding and successful teachers. The analysis involves the use of coding procedures, identification of role-related themes and development of a model to illustrate the expanded role definition adopted by the teachers. The findings have implications for the formal reward and recognition systems followed by the state and for teacher development. The former is necessary to sustain an expanded role definition; the latter to communicate to the wider teacher community ways of developing an entrepreneurial role in disadvantaged contexts.