PERCEPTIONS OF BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS ON THE RELEVANCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

ABSTRACT

The researchers empirically investigated the perceptions of Business Education Students on the relevance of Entrepreneurship Education at the Colleges of Education in Edo State. In order to investigate this study, the researchers raised three (3) research questions and one hypothesis. Related literaturewas reviewed and the Entrepreneurial Event Model (EEM) developed by Shapero and Sokol in 1982 was adapted as the conceptual framework for the study. The framework showed at a glance the various stages and processes that eventually climaxed into business formation. The survey design was used in the study. Eight hundred and ten (810) Business Education students from both Colleges of Education in the state formed the population of the study out of which a sample size of one hundred and sixty two (162) students was selected using the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used was the questionnaire titled: Business Education Students’ Perceptions of Entrepreneurship Education Questionnaire (BESPEEQ) and it was divided into two sections – A and B. Section A consist of the demographic information of the respondents while section B consist of thirteen (13) opinion statements structured in a 4-point rating scale. The instrument was validated by three (3) experts and the test re-test method of reliability was used in obtaining reliability co-efficient of 0.78. The instrument was administered to the respondents with the help of research assistants and the data collated was subjected to statistical analyses. The descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used in analyzing the data. The findings revealed that entrepreneurial have relevance in entrepreneurship. It also revealed that skills and entrepreneurship education have influence on economic development; and that there was no significant difference between the perceptions of male and female business education students on the relevance of entrepreneurship Education. One of the recommendations advanced by the researchers was that there should be conscious efforts by educators to properly transmit the entrepreneurial skills to the learners with ease. 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The teaching and learning of Entrepreneurship Education in tertiary institutions is of paramount interest to all stakeholders. The National Policy on Education describes Education as an instrument ‘par excellence’ for effecting national development (FRN, 2004). It is conceived that education is capable of bringing about the desired socio-economic and political changes in the country. The recent call for the inclusion of Entrepreneurship Education in tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria is an indication of its importance to employment creation; as Nigeria continues to churn out graduates from our various institutions that are hardly self reliant but solely dependent on white collar jobs for sustenance because they lack adequate skills that will make them function effectively and efficiently towards the development of the economy.