Gender and Geographic Disparities in Entrepreneurship Education: Evidence from Nigerian Secondary Schools
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study employs a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, integrating hierarchical linear modelling of survey data from 200 students with thematic analysis of interviews and ethnographies, to investigate gender and geographic disparities in Nigerian secondary school entrepreneurship education (EE). The findings reveal a systemic crisis characterized by profound spatial inequity and intersecting gendered barriers. Multilevel analysis confirms a significant 0.71-point deficit in entrepreneurial competency for rural students (*p* < .001), a gap largely mediated by infrastructural exclusion, evidenced by a stark digital divide (0.3 vs. 4.7 computers per 100 students) and absence of business labs in 92% of rural schools. Gender disparities are critically modulated by location, with rural female students experiencing compounded marginalization due to cultural resistance, reporting significantly lower self-efficacy and 38% fewer hours of practical training. The study identifies a decolonial paradox: while students reject foreign case studies (β = 0.44, *p* < .01), localized pedagogy proves insufficient without material resources (γ resources = 0.61, *p* < .001). The research contributes an Institutional Primacy Framework, advocating that equitable EE reform must prioritize geospatial resource justice, context-coded gender interventions, and curriculum decolonization with robust material foundations to unlock national demographic potential.
Author: Babatunde Folorunso KOLAJO
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4416890657