Coaching for Wellbeing in Entrepreneurial Education
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Keywords

entrepreneurship education
coaching-informed pedagogy
student well-being
PERMA 4
emerging economies

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How to Cite

Ndlovu, E., Ebewo, P., & Makwara, T. (2026). Coaching for Wellbeing in Entrepreneurial Education: A PERMA+4-Informed Framework for Higher Institutions in Emerging Economies . GILE Journal of Skills Development, 6(2), 151–169. https://doi.org/10.52398/gjsd.2026.v6.i2.pp151-169

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education in emerging economies often emphasises venture creation and technical competencies, with comparatively less attention to the psychological, relational, physical, environmental, and economic conditions that may shape students' entrepreneurial learning and well-being. This paper develops the Coaching for Well-being (C4W) conceptual framework to integrate coaching-informed pedagogy and student well-being within entrepreneurship education. The framework was developed through a conceptual synthesis of relevant literature, informed in part by findings from an earlier systematic review of entrepreneurial coaching, complementary scholarship on coaching, positive psychology, well-being and entrepreneurship education, and the authors' practice-informed experience in African higher education. C4W uses the nine dimensions of PERMA+4, Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment, Physical Health, Mindset, Environment, and Economic Security as its well-being architecture, and conceptually maps these dimensions to entrepreneurship teaching and coaching-informed activities. These include reflection, peer coaching, goal setting, networking, business simulations, values clarification, ecosystem mapping, and financial-resource activities. The framework articulates the pedagogical rationale that links these activities to the PERMA+4 dimensions and identifies the intended entrepreneurial learning outcomes. C4W contributes a context-sensitive framework that positions well-being as integral to entrepreneurial learning rather than as a separate student-support concern, with relevance to resource-constrained higher education environments. As a theoretically informed conceptual framework rather than an empirically validated intervention, its proposed relationships require testing and refinement across different institutional, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts.

https://doi.org/10.52398/gjsd.2026.v6.i2.pp151-169
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Copyright (c) 2026 Elona Ndlovu, Patrick Ebewo, Tendai Makwara