Teachers as educational-social entrepreneurs: the innovation-social entrepreneurship spiral

Abstract

This article extends the ideas underpinning the concept of ‘social entrepreneurs’ to teachers who have created social value in the contexts of socio-economic and educational deprivation. Such teachers develop innovative practices that are tailored to their situations, in order to address issues like poor demand for education in the community; social barriers to enrolment, particularly of girls, social problems that spill into the educational domain; lack of resources for education and poor schooling environments. While the teachers do tend to form a new identity which is defi ned by a mix of educational and social leadership qualities, their social entrepreneurial and innovative behaviour tends to be circumscribed in its impact. A policy entrepreneurship focus that encourages diffusion processes, which are different from those of the innovation generation, allows the pooling and sharing of locally effective social entrepreneurship practices, and contributes to wider social impact.