Author ORCID Identifier
Lucia Walsh 0000-0002-1176-5944
Olivia Freeman 0000-0002-7538-370X
Document Type
Conference Paper
Disciplines
Business and Management., *pedagogy, Teaching and Learning
Abstract
Questions We Care About: The question we care about is: How can we recognise and leverage our privilege and relational power to drive efforts in entrepreneurship education responsibly to foster a systemic change that will support a good life within planetary boundaries for all? Entrepreneurship is about creating value and by reframing what ‘value’ means, we can begin to shift our own mindsets and those of our students. Adopting regenerative approaches that focus on achieving good lives for all within planetary boundaries (Raworth, 2017) can transform business-as-usual. We posit that a crucial first step is to turn inward, developing awareness of the intersectionality of our own privilege and the power it carries.
Approach: We draw on Sterling’s (2010; 2024) conceptualisation of three levels of transformative learning that allow the learner to become aware of their existing paradigms, re-evaluate deeply held values and reconstruction of their world views through paradigm shift leading to action towards systemic change. Our approach is also informed by an understanding of the intersectionality of privilege (Crenshaw, 1991, Stephens, 2024), relational power (Foucault, 1980), and spheres of influence (Loach, 2024; Williams, 2021). By recognising this, we can gain courage and intentionality to apply our influence through academic practice and transformative pedagogies.
Through a reflective case study, we share our own practice of facilitating workshops with over 800 participants and reflect on how we empower them towards a paradigm shift and action. We do this through three steps: 1) we engage in active-based learning activities related to doughnut economics (Raworth, 2017) such as ‘stepping into the doughnut’, ‘people, people, planet’, ‘four lenses’ and ‘take your stand’ (DEAL, n.d.) ; 2) we then prompt reflections and explore questions such as: ‘Where am I going to stand?’ What will I do now that I know?’; and 3) where possible, trans/cross-disciplinary collaborations are explored and everyone commits to at least one specific action. Our guiding questions for the reflection in this paper include: how have people responded to the workshops? How and to what extent has participation in these workshops moved participants outside of their comfort zone? What thoughts, feelings and experiences have been shared with us through reflective prompts and activities?
Results
Findings indicate that participants initially struggle with recognising their agency in addressing climate and social justice issues and experience discomfort in confronting the extractive nature of business but demonstrate increased awareness and willingness to act.
Implications
We reflect on how we can enact ecosystemic change and empower others to look inwards and questions their underlying worldviews as they engage in transformative learning and action (Sterling, 2010; 2024). We explore the ‘wheel of privilege and power’ model and suggest that entrepreneurial educators, need to recognise the intersectional nature of our privilege and use it responsibly to provoke systematic change of the ‘education as usual’ and ‘business as usual’ paradigms by starting with our own inner transformation and then outward within our sphere of influence.
Value/Originality:
This paper contributes to the discourse on EE in the era of polycrisis by bridging transformative learning, privilege and power within the context of achieving inclusive and just lives for all within planetary limits. Through a reflective case study, we provide a framework that can be further explored and applied by others in their practice.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/6967-v741
Recommended Citation
Walsh, L. and Freeman, O., 2025. From Privilege to Purpose: The Role of Entrepreneurial Educators in Building Good Lives within Planetary Boundaries for All. Presented at 3E ECSB Entrepreneurship Education Conference, 21 - 23 May, 2025, Munich, Germany.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Publication Details
ECSB 3E Conference, Munich, 21 -23rd May, 2025
https://ecsb.org/3e/
doi:10.21427/6967-v741