Secondary school chemistry teachers’ attitudes toward developing entrepreneurial competencies in chemistry education

Abstract

Entrepreneurial competencies are increasingly recognized as important for everyone’s personal growth and future professional engagement. This study aims to provide a descriptive overview of secondary school chemistry teachers’ attitudes toward entrepreneurial competencies in chemistry education. In this exploratory quantitative research, data were collected from 132 chemistry teachers from Serbia via a structured online questionnaire comprising 21 items. Findings indicate that, although teachers demonstrate a substantial positive attitude toward the relevance and importance of entrepreneurial competencies, this understanding is not consistently reflected in classroom practice. Moreover, teachers reported limited acquisition of expertise regarding entrepreneurial competencies through initial teacher education and continuing professional development. These results highlight opportunities to enhance teacher preparation by explicitly integrating the development of entrepreneurial competencies into existing chemistry and pedagogical courses. The relatively small sample, combined with potential biases inherent in self-reported questionnaires, may limit the generalizability of the findings. Systematic and practical professional development initiatives could support teachers in linking instructional strategies with the cultivation of creativity, initiative, problem-solving, and other key entrepreneurial traits among students.