Call for paper: Team Academy and team coaching: Holistic responses to responsible pedagogy

Entrepreneurship has emerged as a primary engine for global economic growth, driving innovation and social change across diverse sectors. As the global demand for entrepreneurship education grows, there is an increasing recognition of its pivotal role in eradicating poverty and creating opportunities for economic development. While traditional educational paradigms often focus on the individual entrepreneur, the reality of the modern business landscape is that most new ventures are founded and operated by teams. Despite this, much of the existing entrepreneurship pedagogy remains centred on individual achievement, leaving a critical gap in our understanding of how teams learn, collaborate, and succeed in authentic, real-world contexts.

This Special Issue, Team Academy and team coaching: Holistic responses to responsible pedagogy, seeks to address this gap by exploring the relationship between the Team Academy model, team coaching, and experiential learning. These three learning technologies represent a radical shift from teacher-centred education toward flexible, learner-centred environments. In the Team Academy model, students form team companies or learning organisations —cooperative structures that often engage in real-world, trade-based activities under the guidance of coaches rather than traditional lecturers. This approach emphasises learning-by-doing, where the challenges of managing a real enterprise serve as the primary vehicle for practical skill development and transformation.
Central to this holistic response is the role of pedagogical team coaching. Team coaching serves as the primary pedagogical vehicle for learning activity and is a vital intervention, supporting team members coordinate their collective resources, improve the communication essential for entrepreneurial success and develop shared learning experiences. When integrated with experiential frameworks, coaching has the capacity to generate higher levels of self-efficacy and can prepare learners for the complexities of identifying and capitalising on market opportunities. This issue also places a significant emphasis on responsible pedagogy. We are interested in how these models generate space for ethical leadership, social connectivity, and inclusive practices that address the unmet needs of diverse learners.

The evidence supporting these approaches is compelling; graduates of Team Academy programmes often achieve higher employment and start-up rates compared to those in traditional programmes. However, research remains scattered across disciplines. By providing a dedicated platform for empirical studies, theoretical papers, and rigorous case studies, this Special Issue aims to bridge the gap between students and the real-world complexities of entrepreneurship. It invites scholars and practitioners from coaching, management learning, sociology, and psychology to contribute to a coherent conceptual framework for team-based learning. Ultimately, this collection of research and practice seeks to inform practice and policy, ensuring that the next generation of business leaders is equipped with the collaborative mindsets necessary for sustainable and responsible impact.

The Team Academy model of entrepreneurship education is relatively new in the academic arena. Examples of literature that underpins this model can be found in the following:

• The Routledge Focus Series on Team Academy – this series of four texts contains research articles, conceptual/thought articles, and articles exploring practice. All of these are relevant in relation to this special edition.

In addition, the following articles are examples of relevant literature pertaining to the Team Academy model and to significant elements of it such as the heutagogical philosophy, team and group learning and working, experiential activity:

•    Armstrong, L., Waite, N. and Rosenthal, M. (2015) ‘Supporting student development through a cooperative education coaching program’. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education. Vol. (16), No. (4), pp. 255-265.
•    Blackwood, T., Round, A., Pugalis, L., and Hatt, L. (2015) ‘Making sense of learning: Insights from an experientially-based undergraduate entrepreneurship programme’. Industry and Higher Education. Vol. (29), No. (6), pp. 445-457.
•    Blaschke, L. M. and Hase, S. (2016) Heutagogy: A holistic framework for creating 21st century self-determined learners. In B. Gros and M. Maina Kinshuk (eds). The future of ubiquitous learning: Learning designs for emerging pedagogies. NYC: Springer, pp. 25-40.
•    Devine, M., Meyers, R., and Houssemand, C. (2013) ‘How can coaching make a positive impact within educational settings?’ 3rd World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership (WCLTA-2012). Social and Behavioral Sciences. Vol. (93), pp. 1382-1389.
•    Fowle, M. and Jussila, N. (2016). The adoption of a Finnish learning model in the UK. Paper presented at 11th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship: ECIE 2016.
•    Jones, C., Penaluna, K., and Penaluna, A. (2019) ‘The promise of andragogy, heutagogy and academagogy to enterprise and entrepreneurship education pedagogy’. Education + Training. Vol. (61). No. (9), pp. 1170-1186.
•    Jones, R., Napiersky, U., and Lyubovinkova, J. (2019) ‘Conceptualizing the distinctiveness of team coaching’. Journal of Managerial Psychology. Vol. (34), No. (2), pp. 62-78.
•    Kapasi, I. & Grekova, G., 2018. What do students think of self-determined learning in entrepreneurship education?. Education + Training, 60(7/8), pp. 841-856.
•    Nevalainen, T., Seikkula-Leino, J., and Salomaa, M. (2021) ‘Team learning as a model for facilitating entrepreneurial competencies in higher education: The case of Proakatemia. Sustainability 13(3), 7373.
•    Ruuska, J. (2022) ‘From six learner personas of Teampreneurship to a learner-led and co-creative entrepreneurial model? ECIE 2022 17th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
•    Smith, K., Rogers-Draycott, M. C., and Bozward, D. (2020) ‘Full curriculum-based venture creation programmes: Current knowledge and research challenges’. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research. Vol. (28), No. (4), pp. 1106-1127.
•    Tosey, P., Dhaliwal, S., and Hassinen, J. (2015) ‘The Finnish Team Academy model: Implications for management education’. Management Learning. Vol. (46), No. (2), pp. 175-194.
•    Vogel, M. P. (2024). Team Academy: Future Skills and the Future of Learning. Creating the University of the Future: A Global View on Future Skills and Future Higher Education, 215-240.
•    Widdowson, L., and Barbour, P. (2021) Building top performing teams: A practical guide to team coaching to improve collaboration and drive organisational success. London: Kogan Page..

List of topic areas

The Team Academy model and its global evolution – critical analysis of the Finnish model, its pedagogical philosophy and its global adoption across diverse formal and informal education landscapes.
The dynamics of entrepreneurial team learning – how collective knowledge creation and organisational learning theories apply to new venture teams.
Pedagogical team coaching – exploring the transition from traditional lecturing to coaching interventions that help teams coordinate resources and achieve shared goals.
Experiential real-world contexts – examining the impact of ‘learning-by-doing’ through team companies and trade-based activities on student self-efficacy and venture sustainability.
The interaction of theory and practice – bridging established frameworks like Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and Nonaka and Takeuchi’s knowledge creation with practical entrepreneurial applications.
Team coaching as a responsible intervention – the role of team coaching in supporting personal and professional understanding of the impact of the individual on the team and visa versa.
Inclusion and diversity in team-based entrepreneurial activities – addressing unmet needs and unique challenges faced by diverse learners within team based settings
Technological innovations in team learning and team coaching – researching the role of AI, virtual engagement and collaborative online technologies in facilitating team-based learning and experiential education.
Assessment of complex learning outcomes – developing and validating robust methods to measure the impact of team-based learning on entrepreneurial mindsets and leadership skills.
Longitudinal impact and sustainability – evaluating the long-term success of these approaches to learning and the sustainability of projects, businesses and ventures born from the Team Academy and team-based experiential programmes.
Interdisciplinary perspectives on team learning – drawing insights from coaching, sociology, organisational psychology, management learning, enterprise and entrepreneurship education to enrich the understanding of entrepreneurial collaboration.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: ScholarOne Manuscripts

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: Responsible Enterprise Pedagogy | Emerald Publishing

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else while under review for this journal.