An investigation on the role of team work to improve current entrepreneurship module used in vocational and technical high schools based on a constructivist approach within the North Cyprus context

The objective of this study is to conduct an investigation in order to develop a new entrepreneurship module for vocational and technical high schools in North Cyprus. Based on a review of the relevant literature on entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, curriculum development and the experiences and the views of the target audiences, this action research study examines how to improve the current entrepreneurship module in order to develop a good framework for vocational and technical high schools in North Cyprus. The research paradigm of my research is interpretive. Action research has been used as a research approach because of its distinctive characteristics of combining theory and practice, giving the opportunity to work collaboratively with the partners of the project and improving education by positively changing it. Data has been collected through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and documents. I have also used a diary and recorded my experiences and the actions throughout the process which enabled me to be more reflective. The data analysis includes both qualitative and quantitative methods; content analysis was used for the semistructured interviews and a statistical program was used to assess the data collected from the questionnaires. In addition I have carefully analysed documents. In my research process, semi-structured interviews demonstrated that there is a lack in the current module of issues of relating to ‘North Cyprus and Entrepreneurship’, feasibility studies, information about an entrepreneur, presentation of the role and the importance of entrepreneurship, CV writing techniques, professional development and know yourself. Inviting entrepreneurs to the classroom and organizing visits to work places has also been suggested. EU practices are also presented to be used as activities. The results of the questionnaires showed that the module should incorporate more information about the three skills of an entrepreneur; the ability to telescope, future orientation, opportunity and goal oriented. With these results, the relevant documents have been reviewed in order to provide the necessary information and knowledge. In the end, the results have been combined, so that by adding sections about those issues identified and leaving out ones which do not correspond to the analysis of data, I have redesigned the current entrepreneurship module. I have used a module-writing guide in order to use the right structure while re-designing the module, as suggested by an expert from the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth. A curriculum development expert suggested that a philosophical base should be considered while re-designing the module. The new module has been used at vocational and technical high schools for one semester by the teachers who took part in the project and those who have chosen the subject of entrepreneurship for that semester. Therefore, in total, eleven teachers were interviewed at the end of the semester, and I have made the last changes to the module based on the analysis of these interviews. Recommendations are also presented in the project which focus on areas for further study and the actions that could be taken to increase the awareness of entrepreneurship and maintain the sustainability of improvement in entrepreneurship education in vocational and technical high schools in North Cyprus. The research concludes with a reflection addressing the objectives of the study, a contribution of the project to the knowledge base and suggestions for future research in this area. The project consists of two documents as evidence of its achievement: the new (revised) module.