An Impact Study on the Professionalisation of Small Tourism Enterprises through Problem-based Learning.

A major objective of national policy is the enhancement of the tourism industry’s professionalisation, thereby ultimately contributing to the innovativeness and the overall competitiveness of Ireland’s tourism sector (The National Development Plan, 2007-2013; The Tourism Policy Review, 2003).  Specifically, attention needs to be focussed on how the sector’s professionalism can be enhanced through the training and development supports provided to this sector’s micro/small owner-managers, in order to ensure that the most effective means are employed to enable this cohort to assist themselves.  Ensuring the foregoing is achieved is centralised in this PhD study as one dimension of this support is encompassed in the new Bachelor of Science in Small Enterprise Management under development in the School of Business, Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) - This national degree has been developed in collaboration with Fáilte Ireland.  Its design was informed by the specific needs of the micro/small tourism owner/manager, as identified in previous research completed by Fáilte Ireland on Irish micro/small tourism owner-managers (education must be focussed, relevant and flexible).  Further informed by a recent OECD report which found that small tourism businesses are commonly lacking “rigorous professionalism” (Decelle, 2004, p.12), consequently, a key objective of the programme is to enhance the levels of professionalism in this sector. 

Guided by an andragogical philosophy, the programme recognises the value of the accumulated experience of the students - as recommended by Augier and March (2007), the aim is for the participants to achieve a balanced integration of new academic knowledge with prior experiential knowledge, through the application of both sources of knowledge to real-life problem scenarios (through the use of problem-based learning (PBL)).  The PBL approach is central to this proposed research, and specifically its evaluation, as while PBL has been utilised as a teaching approach in medicine since the 1960s (first developed By McMasters University medical school in Canada) – in the business discipline it is in its infancy.  In addition, a review of the literature highlights that most academic papers focus on the development and implementation of PBL courses with little reporting on its evaluation as a technique.  Savin-Baden (2003, p.342), a leading author in the PBL field, acknowledges that “problem-based learning is an approach that remains contested ground” with disciplinary differences in its implementation which require further research to confirm its merit.  This study responds to this call for further research, by seeking to evaluate the BSc. programme and its PBL approach.  Although, there is an awareness of the potential benefits to professionalism that the PBL approach may offer, the extant literature has not established this link empirically.  In addition, little is known about how the micro/small tourism owner-managers as non-traditional learners will respond to the process-oriented PBL techniques.  Hence, t his study seeks to track changes in the managerial behaviour of participants due to their involvement in the new BSc. in Small Enterprise Management, with a view to informing theory and future education/ development practice.