Navigating heutagogic learning: mapping the learning journey in management education through the OEPA model

Innovative approaches to developing teaching and learning in Higher Education are being driven by new insights about how we learn. Heutagogy represents a significant theoretical development for those who wish to promote self-determined learning in management education. Business Schools have come under criticism for focussing on a relatively narrow curriculum that prioritises the transmission of knowledge over context and professional wisdom. This traditional approach to management education is increasingly moribund and inadequate as we search for responses to the rapidly changing world we now experience. As part of a broader paradigm shift in management education, heutagogy can offer new opportunities for learner engagement and empowerment. This conceptual paper draws from the literature on learning theory and management education to offer a model of the heutagogy learning journey. In proposing the OEPA model, this paper uses the analogy of mapping to model the learning journey and how we may practically support heutagogic learning.