Abstract:
Self employmnet in small and micro businesses is a major form of employment in Australia. Equally significant is the education of people in this sector. By and large however, this education is informed by practice in and literature from much larger business, it attends to expertise of existing businesses, traditionally with an emphasis on what is taught. Flowing on, little education research is tailored to small and micro business, less still on a purpose of the education: what is learned, and less again on learning to start a new small business, despite the total number of people in the sector and entry and exit numbers. This paper briefly looks at aspects of this paradox, before exploring some emerging images from the hitherto largely hidden world of people learning to start new micro businesses.