Entrepreneurial Drive In Elementary School Teachers In Croatia

Poduzetnička kompetencija kod djece i učenika najefikasnije se razvija na razini predškolskog, osnovnoškolskog i srednjoškolskog obrazovanja. Ona je zahtjev suvremenih nacionalnih kurikuluma zemalja EU, ali i temeljni cilj Nacionalnog okvirnog kurikuluma u RH. Ostvarenje ovog suvremenog odgojno-obrazovnog zahtjeva ovisi, među inim, o osobnoj percepciji nastavnika o usmjerenosti prema inovativnosti, stvaralaštvu, želji za uspjehom, novim odgovorima na nove izazove, novim načinima rješavanja problema. Ova su obilježja sastavnice poduzetničkog poriva pod kojim se podrazumijeva skup osobina koje pokreću osobu na poduzetno i inovativno djelovanje. Polazeći od pretpostavke da će nastavnici koji sebe percipiraju kao osobe s poduzetničkim porivom, efikasnije ostvarivati razvoj poduzetničke kompetencije kod učenika, proveli smo empirijsko istraživanje na uzorku od 466 predmetnih nastavnika u 23 osnovne škole u Republici Hrvatskoj. Cilj je istraživanja otkriti i razmotriti one dimenzije poduzetničkog poriva koje su se pokazale značajnima na upitniku formiranome u skali s 42 tvrdnje strukturirane u pet podskala koje ukazuju na pet dimenzija poduzetničkog poriva osnovnoškolskih nastavnika. Primjenom deskriptivne statistike u radu se interpretiraju rezultati s obzirom na temeljne varijable ispitanika (spol, radni staž i nastavni predmet). Posebno se razmatraju tri dimenzije poduzetničkog poriva osnovnoškolskih nastavnika s pedagoškog gledišta, a to su usmjerenost prema inovativnosti i proaktivnosti, samopoštovanje i usmjerenost prema postignuću.Entrepreneurial competence among children and pupils is most efficiently developed at the level of preschool, elementary and secondary education. It is a requirement of the contemporary national curricula of EU countries and also the fundamental objective of the national framework curriculum in Croatia. The realization of this modern educational requirement depends, among other things, upon teachers’ personal perception towards the orientation of innovation, creativity, desire to succeed, new answers to new challenges, new methods of solving problems. These characteristics are components of the entrepreneurial drive which includes the set of traits responsible in motivating a person towards entrepreneurial and innovative activity. Starting from the assumption that teachers who perceive themselves as persons having an entrepreneurial drive can more efficiently pursue the development of entrepreneurial competencies among students, we conducted an empirical study on a sample of 466 subject teachers in 23 elementary schools in Croatia. The survey aimed to discover and discuss those dimensions of the entrepreneurial drive which appeared to be most significant on the questionnaire which was created as a scale with 42 statements structured into five subscales. This indicated the five dimensions of entrepreneurial drive of the elementary school teachers. Using descriptive statistics in this procedure, the results were interpreted with respect to the fundamental variables of the respondents (gender, tenure and teaching subject). Special attention was given to the three dimensions of entrepreneurial drive in elementary school teachers from a pedagogical standpoint, and that was the focus towards innovation and proactivity along with self-esteem and the orientation towards achievement