Investigating how biology teachers enhance entrepreneurship skills among students in secondary schools: a case of selected secondary schools in northern education division.

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating how biology teachers enhance entrepreneurship skills among students in selected schools in Mzuzu. Due to lack of employment opportunities which has become a very serious issue in Malawi today, the need for entrepreneurship skills to be inculcated (instilled) in the students is very important especially at secondary level where some of the students may not have the opportunity to further their education such students can use the skills which was inculcated into them to become an independent person who can now establish either a bee farm, or can go into planting flowers which in turn can be sold to provide money for him/her. Specifically, the study was guided by three objectives, namely: (i) Determine the selected teachers understanding of entrepreneurship skills, (ii) assess how teachers enhance entrepreneurship in biology classroom and (iii) establish challenges faced when enhancing entrepreneurship in biology classrooms. The study adopted a qualitative approach with a case study design. The study targeted biology teachers in selected schools in Mzuzu, and the sample size was five which depended on saturation point. Purposive sampling and convenient sampling was used to identify participants for the study. The researcher got permission from Mzuzu University Research Ethics Committee (MZUNIREC), EDM, and Head teachers to conduct the research and besides, informed consent was sought from teachers before starting interviews. Data were collected using interviews and lesson observation. After data transcription, it was kept in files created on the laptop, flash disks, and hard copies to avoid losing information. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. The study found that all five teachers demonstrated inadequate knowledge in the area of entrepreneurship skills and the predominant use of teacher centred methods accompanied by insufficient resources, hinder enhancing of entrepreneurship skills during the instruction of biology.