This paper examines professional growth of a STEM teacher from the entrepreneurial frame. Using a personal narrative together with a STEM/science lesson package developed by the participant teacher, we unpack a teacher’s professional growth by interpreting her beliefs and actions using characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking. Our analysis and interpretations revealed that risk-taking forms of behaviour manifest as willingness to take calculated risks to make ‘cold’ calls to different organisations to request sharing or learning opportunities. The motivation to succeed stems from a belief that STEM education can improve the lives of students and that all students can learn. Passion for the discipline of STEM and personal beliefs to uplift students propel the teacher to persevere in her professional development despite busy schedules and conflicting demands of school and home. This study and its findings bring a fresh perspective to the idea of teacher agency from an entrepreneurial lens positioning teachers as self-empowered as compared to individuals who depended on the system to provide enablers for professional growth in the teaching profession. While self-empowerment to enact a curriculum is catalytic, teachers’ capacity for change is circumscribed by teachers’ capacity to act and accumulate practical knowledge. These entrepreneurial actions of successful STEM teachers could be used to facilitate teacher reflection on their professional journey. As the narrative approach sought to present an in-depth examination of the relationship between entrepreneurial thinking and teacher professional growth, the generalisability power of the assertions made is limited. The entrepreneurial thinking framework together with narratives from successful teachers enable teachers to locate where they are in their personal professional development and where they can aspire to move towards in their personal goal settings. Future research can examine teachers’ levels of entrepreneurial thinking and compare them against narratives of their professional growth to distil the behaviours that could lead to growth of entrepreneurial thinking. Curriculum leaders can also use the ideas of entrepreneurial thinking for professional growth to counsel and coach their team.

本文从创业框架审视STEM教师的专业成长。通过使用个人叙述以及参与教师开发的 STEM/科学课程包，我们通过利用创业思维的特征来解释教师的信念和行动，从而了解教师的专业成长。我们的分析和解释表明，冒险行为形式表现为愿意承担经过计算的风险，向不同组织发出“冷”电话，请求分享或学习机会。成功的动力源于这样的信念：STEM 教育可以改善学生的生活，并且所有学生都可以学习。尽管日程繁忙、学校和家庭的要求相互冲突，但对 STEM 学科的热情和提升学生的个人信念促使教师坚持专业发展。这项研究及其发现从创业的角度为教师代理的理念带来了新的视角，将教师定位为自我赋权的个人，而个人则依赖系统为教师职业的专业发展提供推动力。虽然制定课程的自我赋权具有催化作用，但教师的变革能力受到教师行动和积累实践知识的能力的限制。成功的 STEM 教师的这些创业行为可以用来促进教师反思他们的职业历程。由于叙述方法试图对创业思维与教师专业成长之间的关系进行深入研究，因此所做出的断言的普遍性力量是有限的。 创业思维框架与成功教师的叙述相结合，使教师能够确定他们在个人职业发展中所处的位置，以及他们在个人目标设定中可以向往的方向。未来的研究可以检查教师的创业思维水平，并将其与他们的职业成长叙述进行比较，以提炼出可能导致创业思维成长的行为。课程领导者还可以利用创业思维的专业成长理念来为团队提供咨询和指导。