To investigate the entrepreneurial attributes and competencies of female Chinese educators within an international context

Abstract

The Confucius Institute at Ulster University (CIUU) opened in 2012 and gained a reputation for excellence in the delivery of teaching Mandarin and the promotion of Chinese culture across schools in Northern Ireland. This success has been largely dependent on the efforts of the body of Chinese educators, almost exclusively female.

The aim of this research was to investigate the entrepreneurial attributes and competencies of these female Chinese educators within an international context. The research was essentially cross disciplinary in that it sought to build at the interface between education research and entrepreneurship research. This led to the identification of the research gap in that there was no evidence of research into the use of entrepreneurial attributes and competencies in the teaching of subjects other than entrepreneurship.

The key finding of the research was that in the case of female Chinese Mandarin teachers, in an international context, the greater the level of entrepreneurialism of the teacher, the higher the level of teaching performance, as demonstrated in the refined Conceptual Model, produced from the analysis of the qualitative and quantitative research data.

A number of contributions to knowledge have emerged from this research, together with practical implications for policy makers and practitioners relevant to the fields of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, as well as mainstream education. New perspectives on recent work have been proposed, together with new definitions and a new concept model to assess teaching performance relative to the degree of entrepreneurialism of the teacher. It extends the theoretical base for the exploration of the function of the entrepreneurial mind-set in the wider educational context, not only in the teaching of entrepreneurship but of other subjects in the education mainstream, proposing the concept of Entrepreneurial Teaching in identifying and developing the entrepreneurial attributes of teachers with the aim of improved teaching across a wider spectrum other than entrepreneurship education; it proposes accordingly the definition of the 'entrepreneurial teacher' as describing the educator who teaches in an entrepreneurial fashion, employing entrepreneurial attributes and competencies in their teaching methods, regardless of the subject. It extends the research into the profile of the 'entrepreneurial educator' and what entrepreneurial attributes and competencies enable them to 'teach' entrepreneurship.

This research has also demonstrated that entrepreneurial attributes and competencies can contribute to increased performance outputs in areas other than business, providing a rich area for policy makers and practitioners to explore and for entrepreneurship educators to positively exploit, devising means not only to better foster entrepreneurial skills but also to devise better methods of testing and identifying entrepreneurial behaviour.

For the Confucius Institute, the findings and contributions can influence the Mandarin Teaching Programme, in the area of recruitment, selection and training of future applicants to the programme, and also to appreciate the potential of these highly entrepreneurial females upon their return to China.

Given the limitations of this research, this study should be considered as an important foundation step to the growing body of research in entrepreneurial education and teaching. The research focused on a specific cohort of educators, who have sacrificed much to fulfil an ambition to do something exceptional and not without risk. They have challenged the status-quo in terms of expectations within Chinese society and also to challenge prevailing perceptions of China, Chinese culture and the Chinese language, to make a difference and to add value to their lives, to the lives of their students and to the lives of other people. This study is a tribute to these women.

A curious woman is capable of turning around the rainbow just to see what is on the other side. (Chinese Proverb)

Date of Award	Aug 2022
Original language	English
Supervisor	Pauric Mc Gowan (Supervisor), Mark Durkin (Supervisor) & Paul Humphreys (Supervisor)