Critical Pedagogy and Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation in Brazilian Primary Education

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education research has generally focused on formal programs for adult entrepreneurs and university students in the Global North, while this research is in its infancy in Latin America. To add to this nascent body of research, we present an abductive study of Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy in primary education in rural northeastern Brazil. Combining interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, we explore how critical pedagogy can engender individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) in children. Our study makes three contributions to entrepreneurship education in Latin America. First, we show how principles of Freire’s philosophy affect entrepreneurial dispositions and behaviors in primary education, particularly in the cultural context of rural Brazil, in which entrepreneurs were seen by some of our informants as capitalist oppressors. Second, we study the antecedents of an IEO, which is rare given that most studies explore IEO’s outcomes. Finally, we present practical implications for educating future entrepreneurs in Latin America that go against the grain of present educational approaches in this context.