Team Academy and Team Coaching: Holistic Responses to Responsible Pedagogy

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Journal: Responsible Enterprise Pedagogy

Publisher: Emerald Publishing

Submission Opens: 18 February 2026

Submission Deadline: 29 June 2026

Introduction

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 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.

Scope & Significance

Central to this holistic response is the role of pedagogical team coaching — the primary vehicle for learning activity, supporting team members in coordinating collective resources, improving communication essential for entrepreneurial success, and developing shared learning experiences. When integrated with experiential frameworks, coaching can generate higher levels of self-efficacy and prepare learners for the complexities of identifying and capitalising on market opportunities.

This Special Issue also places significant emphasis on responsible pedagogy — exploring 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. This Special Issue aims to bridge the gap and invites scholars and practitioners from coaching, management learning, sociology, and psychology to contribute to a coherent conceptual framework for team-based learning.

List of Topic Areas

Manuscripts are invited on themes including, but not limited to:

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 vice 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 coaching — 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 and the sustainability of projects and ventures born from Team Academy programmes
Interdisciplinary perspectives on team learning — drawing insights from coaching, sociology, organisational psychology, management learning, and entrepreneurship education

Guest Editors

Dr. Elinor Vettraino 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)

Odile Paulus 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)

Timo Nevalainen 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)

Christine Blais 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)

Berrbizne Urzelai 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)

Key Deadlines

📅 Manuscript Submission Opens: 18 February 2026

⏰ Manuscript Submission Deadline: 29 June 2026

Submission Guidelines

Submissions are made through ScholarOne Manuscripts, the official submission platform of Emerald Publishing. Authors must strictly follow the journal's author guidelines.

When submitting, select "Team Academy and Team Coaching: Holistic Responses to Responsible Pedagogy" from the special issue drop-down menu at the appropriate step in the submission process.

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

For author guidelines and to submit your manuscript, visit the official Responsible Enterprise Pedagogy journal page on the Emerald Publishing website and access via ScholarOne Manuscripts.

About the Journal

Responsible Enterprise Pedagogy (REP), published by Emerald Publishing, is a peer-reviewed hybrid journal dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary scholarship and practice in responsible enterprise and entrepreneurship education worldwide. It welcomes diverse submission types including research papers, viewpoints, conceptual papers, case studies, and general reviews.

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