Research in Entrepreneurship Education (EE) has had exponential growth, and by bringing together two different scientific areas, business and education, it presents high complexity and fragmentation [25], hence the difficulty in defining the concept. Additionally, the contexts in which it is operationalised also present themselves as very diverse and with distinct objectives. We can, for example, look at entrepreneurship education at a level of personal and social development or at a professional or economic level.

In the first decade of this century, UNESCO [26], using a definition by Bechard and Toulouse, defined Entrepreneurship Education as “a collection of formalised teachings that informs, trains, and educates anyone interested in participating in socioeconomic development via a project to promote entrepreneurship awareness, business creation, or small business development”. Additionally, consider Enterprise Education (also called Entrepreneurial Education), conceived more broadly, including the promotion of self-esteem and confidence, creativity and the skills and values that might expand students’ perspectives on schooling and career opportunities.

In 2021, UNESCO, with the definition of the European Commission, considered that

Entrepreneurship education is about learners developing the skills and mindset to be able to turn creative ideas into entrepreneurial “action”. This is a key competence for all learners, supporting personal development, active citizenship, social inclusion, and employability. It is relevant across the lifelong learning process, in all disciplines of learning and to all forms of education and training (formal, non-formal and informal) which contribute to an entrepreneurial spirit or behaviour, with or without a commercial objective.

[27] (p. 10)

Therefore, it can be verified in various documents and in the literature that the concept of entrepreneurship education has evolved over time and differs according to various contexts. The first entrepreneurship class was dated in 1947 at Harvard University, but only years later, Katz [28] attested that EE was already a mature field that became an increasingly interdisciplinary field, cited in Tiberius and Weyland [25].

These authors conducted a bibliometric analysis of the EE literature in June 2021. 680 Articles of the dataset were assigned to 65 different scientific disciples by the Web of Science (WoS), 348 were assigned to Business and Economics and 319 to Education and Education Research. “The most productive journals and book series are Education + Training, Industry and Higher Education, and Annals in Entrepreneurship Education. The journals with the highest impact are the Journal of Business Venturing, Academy of Management Learning and Education, and the Journal of Small Business Management” [25] (pp. 12–13). The research themes in the top 25 most cited articles were Entrepreneurial intention, Entrepreneurial skills, Experiential teaching and learning, Course contents, Action-based teaching and learning, teaching and learning in groups, Entrepreneurial attitudes, and Entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

However, they verified that in EE research, the emphasis is not on ‘education’ yet. “Its pedagogy is still almost a black box” [25] (p. 12), and it is still necessary to open this box and think about the objectives, contents, teaching/learning methods and respective assessment.

Katz [28] considers that entrepreneurship as a discipline has pioneered the pedagogically organised use of practitioners in the classroom and that the maturity of the concept means that the discipline has come to some agreement on its identity and on what pedagogically should be taught.

In turn, Carpenter and Wilson [29] verified using a systematic review that, apart from the great potential of EE to enhance student creation skills, knowledge, and attitudes, one of the strongest consistent findings is the benefit of using an experiential/practice-oriented pedagogy that puts the responsibility on the student to construct learning over their experience learning outcomes.

The maturity of the EE concept is confirmed with initiatives such as the setting of a national standard for training in entrepreneurship education from youth to adults in the United States and a similar effort in Europe via the European Commission to promote entrepreneurship [28]. This author also noted the development of several entrepreneurship niches in colleges and universities, with the creation of formal entrepreneurship collaboration programmes between schools of business and other scientific areas such as engineering, law, or arts.

Thus, the field of EE is growing very quickly, with the potential to strengthen business education, innovation, and economies [29], but it has presented methodological limitations, including an inadequate description of EE programs. However, some studies provided evidence of the effectiveness of experiential programs within university extracurricular programs.

Entrepreneurship has been introduced as a course in the curriculum of various colleges and Universities across the world. A significant number of entrepreneurship course contents, research and new ideas have been integrated into this field in terms of content and professional skills [10]. These authors state that most of the entrepreneurship education courses embedded in the curriculum are offered not only in business schools but also in non-business schools. They are vital as they address an interdisciplinary approach relevant to students of all disciplines with contemporary socioeconomic and political challenges.

In 1985, Peter Drucker already considered that Entrepreneurship, being a discipline, like every discipline, can be learned [30], and according to Minai et al. [17], entrepreneurial education can influence and improve entrepreneurial competencies, and in turn entrepreneurial competencies can be generated from the entrepreneurship education.

Despite the debates about whether entrepreneurship can be taught or not, different schools offer various pedagogical approaches to entrepreneurship education, and there are some aspects that can encourage international entrepreneurship education [31]. First, writing about educational insights in research papers to convey takeaways to other educators. Second, bring international entrepreneurship research into the classroom, linking teaching and research. Third, make efforts to know the context of the students to be able to convey messages that they better understand. Fourth, promote curriculum development that provides tools for understanding the roles of law, culture, economics and finance, and other issues and opportunities in different parts of the world. Fifth, encourage students to learn from each other’s entrepreneurship experiences.

Lackéus [32] draws a parallel between a ‘traditional’ and an ‘entrepreneurial’ form of teaching, considering traditional teaching supported on a standardised, content-centred, passive and single-subject-based curriculum in contrast to the individualised, active, process-based, project-centred, collaborative, experiential and multidisciplinary approach in enterprise education, associating it with progressive education. It highlights the similarities between entrepreneurship education and other concepts and learning methodologies, such as experiential learning by Kolb, situated learning by Lave and Wenger, service learning by Meyers, or even problem/project-based learning, adult learning, cognitive learning, and social constructivist learning [32].

Additionally, Norberg [33] (p. 139) noted that “entrepreneurship in school contains many similarities with the ideas of progressive education, especially in the way students work and participate in activities”. However, there is a discrepancy between entrepreneurship and John Dewey’s ideas of progressive education in that we can educate enterprising citizens and develop entrepreneurial skills but risk neglecting the development of democratic values.

However, more than comparing or verifying similarities and differences between entrepreneurial education and some pedagogical approaches, it will be important to analyse the contribution of these approaches to entrepreneurship education from a perspective of valuing human and economic development, not forgetting democratic and global values.

In this sense and considering the literature found on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and experiential learning, it seems more relevant to deepen this approach and some of the most preferred instructional methods.

For John Dewey (1859–1952), one of the founders of American pragmatism, education has a fundamental role in the process of humanisation, development and growth and can have three functions: as preparation in the sense of socialising people, as potential to increase the possibility of acting creatively on reality, and as action to enable problem-solving [34].

Drawing on the work of Dewey, Lewin and Piaget, David Kolb laid the foundations for Experiential Learning, consisting of four stages: concrete experience (CE), observation of and reflection (RO) on that experience, formation of abstract concepts (AC) based upon the reflection, and testing the new concepts (AE). Kolb’s learning cycle focuses on the process and not the results, considering learning as an experiential process that progresses through experiences, reflection, conceptualisation and experimentation in a holistic perspective that involves the relationship between the individual and the environment, leading to the creation of knowledge [34].

Thus, Kolb considers in his Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) learning as a process of apprehension and transformation through experience that allows knowledge creation [13]. According to Mainemelis, Boyatzis and Kolb [35], individual learning styles are determined by how they relate concrete experience (CE) and abstract conceptualisation (AC)—and the dialectically related modes of transforming experience—reflective observation (RO) and active experimentation (AE). Three instruments have been created to assess of experiential learning theory: the Learning Style Inventory (LSI), the Adaptive Style Inventory (ASI), and the Learning Skills Profile (LSP). The LSI uses a forced-choice ranking method to scale an individual’s preferred modes of learning, the ASI uses a paired comparison method to rank learning preferences for the four learning modes in eight personalised learning contexts, and the LSP is a method to assess levels of skill development in four skill areas that are related to the four learning modes—interpersonal, information, analytical and behavioural skills. They found that ASI adaptive flexibility is related to integrating the experiencing/conceptualising learning style dialectic [35].

Another study [16] also found that experience alone is not a factor in the construction of knowledge, as theoretical and practical reflection should be added to it, as recommended by ELT. Experiential learning can be a valid possibility in teaching entrepreneurship, especially if the teacher is trained to use practical experience and theory in the classroom.

In addition to the characteristic of this theory that the different stages are associated with distinct learning styles, teachers also need to recognise their own individual learning styles as a basis for the development of effective teaching and learning strategies because learning can be hampered by the discrepancy between the learner’s style and the teacher’s approach [15].

The last ones believe that the strengths of Kolb’s theory in higher education include providing ready pointers to application, ensuring a range of teaching methods is used, providing a theoretical rationale to practice and offering suggestions on how to improve on that practice, making explicit the importance of the student’s reflection and giving them with feedback; support the developing a diverse, aware classroom; make aware of the way in which different learning styles have to be combined for effective learning; can be applied to all areas of the discipline; can be used by individuals and course teams; and can be applied in a single session or to an entire degree program.

A study has been conducted in shared five entrepreneurship project course examples in higher education applying Kolb’s experiential learning theory [14]. The authors verified that learning by doing methodology observed to deliver experiences is also a characteristic of entrepreneurship education. Thus, the instructional theme objectives included are “(a) environment (experiences are mostly delivered outside the classroom), (b) real-life projects and/or clients, (c) reflection (as an integral part of the learning process), (d) active student engagement, and (e) subject matter expertise (all instructors had industry experience)” [14] (p. 42). They concluded that it is essential that instructional themes are supported by learning outcomes and to select the instructor who can add value to the student experience.

The distinguishing feature of experience-based learning (or experiential learning) is that the experience of the learner occupies a central place in teaching and learning, whereby learners analyse their experience by reflecting, evaluating, and reconstructing that experience (individually and/or collectively) in order to draw meaning from of prior experience [18].

Research has argued that to learn the practice of entrepreneurship; individuals must engage to gain experiential knowledge, stated as ‘learning by doing’, putting the learner on centre in the process, and requiring that he take shared responsibility for learning from the experience [36].

However, in their study of entrepreneurship programmes in four European universities, they have identified experiential forms of learning that placed the learning inside the experience but not at its centre, as none of the programmes are purely experience-based. Learners can decide autonomously, by taking responsibility for their learning, which role they would like to take in their experience and how they would like to make sense of their experiences. However, these educations are in conflict or simply not appreciated within the existing educational frameworks of their universities. The pedagogical format would have to be entrepreneurial, with more external resources and appropriate learning spaces outside the walls of the schools [36].

In turn Cumming and Zhan research [31] found many studies with common pedagogical approaches in business education, namely using problem-based learning (PBL) and the “learning-by-doing” approach that provide a conducive environment for constructive sharing of ideas. And also experiential, problem-solving, project-based, and creative learning, including peer assessment; and service learning which provide students with real-life scenarios in which they can apply and examine academic.

In parallel, there is a need to use collaborative pedagogical models in entrepreneurship education to develop entrepreneurial skills, namely using design thinking and problem-based learning. Finding, framed within experiential pedagogical approaches, that the most referred pedagogical methods in entrepreneurship education are student-centred [5]. In addition, problem-based and project-based learning in entrepreneurship education enables competency building, promotes students’ personal development and can contribute to making learning more meaningful and valuable at various levels [37].

Additionally, other authors verified that project-based learning allows the construction of transversal competencies for the exercise of active citizenship and democratic participation in contemporary society. In the development of these skills, in the study conducted, the following were important: the possibility for students to choose the theme of the project; group work with incentives for collaboration between its elements; the availability of a work guide and pedagogical resources in digital format for autonomous reading, analysis and interpretation; and permanent formative feedback [38,39].

In the last few years, the adoption of service learning in higher educational institutions has emerged as a modern teaching and learning strategy in different academic disciplines, including business and economics, computer science and information systems, social studies, or teacher education, based on systematic literature review [19].

On this, service learning is recognised as an innovative pedagogy that provides an opportunity to learn from real-world application of theories and concepts, in which students gain vital skills, such as communication skills, the ability to work independently and in a collaborative environment, teamwork, critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills, social awareness and sense of civic responsibility. This experiential learning environment is very effective to capture students’ attention and to enhance their understanding of real-world problems. It can also contribute to their overall personality, character building, growth, and development.

Experiential education is key to empowering students to recognise opportunities, exploit them and succeed in entrepreneurship. Experiences facilitate the bridge between theory and practice, and experiencing something serves as the linking process between action and thought [20].

Moreover, in the global and digitalised society, we cannot neglect the importance of the use of digital technologies and online education as a complement, allowing for more dynamic and participatory classes with the use of active learning, namely flipped classroom, project-based learning and collaborative teaching [40]. Therefore, we should consider the integration of digital technologies in higher education [38,41], for example, with the introduction of films, simulations, and gamification in entrepreneurship education.

Capitalising on technological advances, film can be incorporated into entrepreneurship classrooms as an experiential pedagogical approach. Contemporary films can help extend learning, engage students more in class content and be a cognitive channel that facilitates understanding of more complex material, making them a valuable complementary pedagogical tool [20].

Simulations and serious games can be significant tool in entrepreneurship education insofar as allows students to engage in experiential learning and they provide excellent support in the subject for student education. Games place students in interactive virtual environments, allow them to test decisions, solve problems, learn by doing and encourage forms of reflective learning [21].

Additionally, the 3D virtual reality educational environment utilises pedagogical approaches that are based on gamification principles, allowing students to study in immersive ways as well as in game-based learning activities on real challenges that can be found in business environments. The game-based learning activities can help students gain the necessary skills, helping them to tackle everyday obstacles on their entrepreneurial pathways [22].

To summarise, Entrepreneurship Education is an evolving field that is complex and fragmented. Its definition varies according to context and can cover personal and social development as well as professional and economic aspects.

Despite the growth of research into EE, it is an interdisciplinary field that needs to be consolidated, particularly regarding pedagogy and ways of incorporating the subject into curricula. Other relevant aspects identified could and should be further explored in other studies, such as the relationship with skills development and the probable positive correlation with employability.

However, research has shown that EE can influence and improve entrepreneurial skills, and we can opt for different pedagogical approaches to the teaching and learning of entrepreneurship, especially using student-centred collaborative pedagogical models in technology-enriched environments.

The most common pedagogical approaches and instructional methods in entrepreneurship education include experiential learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, peer assessment, design thinking, formative feedback, and service learning.