Entrepreneurial Education Makes Its Debut in Israel: New Curriculum in an Ideological Shift

ABSTRACT

The introduction of entrepreneurial education (EE) in the Israeli education system is discussed in this article as an example of the introduction of new curriculum. We argue that this introduction should be construed as a consequence of major ideological changes in Israel and its education system, a change from collectivist to individualistic values. We open with an analysis of a Ministry of Education publication that introduces the EE program and find that it is loaded with references to Zionist myths. We suggest that relying on references to these myths in promoting EE reflects a need to disguise the discontinuity between the social values behind the new curriculum and the traditional collectivist values of pioneering Zionism. We note that the Israeli programs exercise EE in groups, whereby the responsibility for the new ventures is shared by the group members. We suggest that adopting the group method indicates a compromise between a completely individualistic and competitive approach to entrepreneurship and a collectivist approach to coping with new tasks—which is more in line with traditional Zionist values. We argue that the change of atmosphere from collectivism to individualism is a result of demographic and economic processes that have occurred since the establishment of the Israeli state, and that these processes may be exposed through observing the Israeli youth movements and the public discourse. We believe that the gradual shift from collectivism to individualism is a central factor in explaining the timing of EE's introduction in Israel.