Explaining the phenomenon of school as accelerator

This paper is a research report that aims at conceptualizing a new generation of the entrepreneurial schools with the functions of an accelerator. This study was conducted with a qualitative phenomenological approach. The research sample consisted of 10 experts who were engaged simultaneously in both the theoretical and practical activities in the field of entrepreneurship and school systems. They were selected through a purposeful sampling method and they participated in the study until getting the theoretical saturation. Due to the diverse range of schools, the focus of study was on the technical and vocational schools. Data were collected through the semi-structured interview and they were analyzed by the thematic analysis. The final findings were encoded in the form of 29 open, 13 axial, and 5 selective codes. The results showed that the constructs of "launching the within-school accelerator committed to innovation development", "establishing the entrepreneurship developer network", "the integrated individualization of all school programs in the shared spaces", "inclusive and practical commitment of all school accelerator stakeholders to the entrepreneurship development," and "the school accelerator risk-taking with specific inputs and the value-added stakeholders" can together explain the school phenomenon as the accelerator.