Page 14 - Future Educators: Wisdom of Teacher Entrepreneurialism

Teacher Entrepreneurialism

The new normal:
Age of teacher entrepreneurialism

What’s happening in schools?
The competitive environment increases the need for innovation. Traditionally, not all school leaders
have explicitly focused on initiating and supporting innovation or risk-taking in schools. In days gone
by they tended to emphasise communication and coordination processes rather than innovation.
In order to promote innovation, school and teacher leaders now understand much more clearly the
importance of helping teachers make sense of change, particularly as it impacts their teaching
practice. In short, school leaders in Hong Kong are now acutely aware of the need to innovate across
the school and for their teachers to be innovative both in and outside of the classroom.

Teacher entrepreneurialism
As awareness of the need to innovate to build successful schools has grown, so has interest
in teacher entrepreneurship. This interest targets how teachers both learn and practice
entrepreneurialism. In this regard, Maxwell Ho’s research has found that entrepreneurial teachers
play a pivotal role in enhancing cross-subject alignment, building trust and collaborative
relationships, and scaling up school innovation (Ho et al., 2020). They promote a reflective
learning process among peer teachers, guiding individual teachers to engage in meaningful
and explicit self-assessments of their professional experience. Ho’s work demonstrates clearly
the importance and feasibility of school-based professional development approaches and
the important place of teacher entrepreneurialism in innovations.

What’s happening in Hong Kong?
Rapid local, regional and global changes combined with the need to maintain Hong Kong's
competitiveness have led to the need for ongoing curriculum renewal and development
(innovation) across the Hong Kong education system (Tam, 2016; Ho et al., 2020). In 2019, the
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Hong Kong Government implemented the ‘T-standard ‘ developed by the Professional
Development Committee for Teachers and Principals (COTAP) which emphasised the role of
teaching professionals as ‘edupreneurs’ (entrepreneurial teachers). The policy aims to encourage
teachers to be entrepreneurial (edupreneur) in schools to respond to social expectations and
reinforce the need for continuous school improvement (innovation).

To align with this goal, the Government has implemented pedagogical training, financial
incentives and awards to encourage and facilitate teachers’ engagement in innovation-related
initiatives. Teachers are provided with a variety of pedagogical training and projects to acquire
new competencies to promote innovative teaching and learning. Teachers can also apply for the
Quality Education Fund (QEF) to pilot and implement innovative ideas. However, the term
"Edupreneur" (entrepreneurial teacher) has not been explicitly clarified. Principals and teachers
have no concrete ideas for becoming ‘Edupreneur’. We also note that there is no relevant teacher
leadership training for teachers in this important area.

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