Creation and Management of Pupil Enterprises: Opinions of Participating Students and Teachers on the Entrepreneurship in the School Program

Abstract

The Entrepreneurship in the School Program is an educational program aiming to promote the development of skills in the area of entrepreneurship through the creation and management of “Import/Export” pupil enterprises, operating in commercial partnerships and exchanging products that later were sold in the local community. Conducted under the Strategic Program of “Network of Cities and Urban Competitiveness and Innovation of the Blue Corridor” it was implemented in 12 schools in 7 counties of the Alentejo region, Portugal, involving 281 students and 27 teachers from the primary and secondary education levels, organized into 18 pupil enterprises and 9 commercial partnerships. Using a random sample of participants including students and teachers, we aimed to know their opinion about the development of the project, as well as their views of their participation using a questionnaire developed for the purpose. The results demonstrated that the establishment of interpersonal relationships was very important to the participants and should be maintained and encouraged in similar programs in the future. In addition, the bureaucracy of the Program should be reduced, allowing the pupil enterprises to start selling their “imported” products earlier.