Is entrepreneurship education reproducing social inequalities among adolescents? Some empirical evidence from Israel

• Impact of entrepreneurship education on high school pupils in Israel.
• The program was effective in schools in middle-high socio-economic environments.
• In low socio-economic environments entrepreneurial attitudes decreased post-program.
• Universal entrepreneurial school programs are less effective.
• Tailor-made programs adapted to needs of low socio-economic groups are needed.

Evidence of the impact of entrepreneurship education on adolescents, as distinct from general education, on attitudes or perceptions of entrepreneurship has remained relatively inconclusive. Moreover, very little research has been conducted regarding the question whether socio-economic background has an impact on effectiveness of entrepreneurship programs in general and in schools in particular. In this paper we focused not only on the general efficacy of teaching entrepreneurship to adolescents, but we also examined if socio-economic status has a moderating effect on this process.Longitudinal data were gathered from 19 schools located in different socio-economic environments in the center of Israel, sampling 630 matched pairs of students half of which participated in the “Doing Business” program operated by Junior Achievement Israel, and the other half that functioned as a control group.Findings showed that when controlling for socio-economic school environments, the program was very effective for pupils in schools located in middle and high socio-economic environments. For pupils from low socio-economic environments, on the other hand, the program seemed to change their entrepreneurial attitudes in the wrong direction. In terms of self-efficacy, perceived feasibility and perceived desirability, participating pupils actually ranked lower after having taken part in the program. Thus, the data show that while the program is very effective for middle and upper class adolescents, encouraging them to become more entrepreneurial, it is detrimental to pupils from lower socio-economic environments, which value themselves with less self-efficacy and see entrepreneurship as less feasible and desirable when they finish the program. Moreover, even their business knowledge does not seem to have improved significantly.We recommend creating entrepreneurial education programs that are geared specifically to the needs of pupils from lower socio-economic environments.