Abstract:

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), conceived as a global commitment to address, through concrete actions, the economic, environmental, and social challenges that threaten life on Earth, establish in Goals 4 and 8 the strengthening of entrepreneurial competencies and the promotion of entrepreneurship through education. Within this framework, the macro research project, approved and funded under Internal Research Call No. 13 of the National Open and Distance University (UNAD), entitled Emprende Maestro: Technological, Curricular, and Methodological Innovation for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship Skills, aimed to design a curriculum proposal for entrepreneurship. The initiative is based on the results of an assessment of pedagogical strategies recognized by teachers as key agents in promoting an entrepreneurial mindset in the classroom. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 34 secondary school teachers from two educational institutions located in Bogotá and Medellín. Participants were selected through non-probabilistic purposive sampling, focusing on teachers involved in educational processes where the development entrepreneurial competencies are particularly relevant. The questionnaire consisted of 41 items organized into four dimensions: teachers’ self-efficacy; barriers perceived; needs and preferences regarding resources for teaching competencies; and educational strategies for entrepreneurship. The fourth dimension was specifically designed to identify relevant pedagogical methodologies to promoting these competencies; it included 11 items assessing the importance teachers attribute to different educational methodologies. Responses were recorded using a five-point Likert scale, where 1 corresponds to “Not important at all,” 2 to “Slightly important,” 3 to “Moderately important,” 4 to “Important,” and 5 to “Very important.” The quantitative results indicate mean scores above 4, suggesting that, overall, teachers consider the proposed methodologies to be important or very important for promoting entrepreneurial competencies in the classroom. To assess statistical significance, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was applied. The strategies that received the highest ratings include Project-Based Learning (PBL), Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), and Problem-Based Learning (PBL), as well as case studies, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), scenario-based learning, challenge-based learning, gamification, and design thinking. The evaluations assigned to these strategies were statistically significant (p < .001), confirming their relevance in educational processes aimed at developing entrepreneurial competencies. The dialogue of knowledge established that curricular and methodological innovation for the promotion of entrepreneurial skills requires the integration of diverse areas of knowledge, so that students become active agents. In conclusion, both qualitative and quantitative results show that curricular and methodological innovation demands the incorporation of active and experiential methodologies that foster the development of key competencies for entrepreneurship. These competencies serve as the cornerstones of opportunity-centered education, as they enable the integration of learning with the development of real-world projects, including students’ life projects.

Keywords:

Education, Entrepreneurship, Educational Strategies, Innovation.