In this paper we conduct a systematic literature review to create a theoretical understanding of how research on entrepreneurship education has emerged and developed from 1980 to 2012. We identify and review 173 articles published and reported in peer-reviewed scholarly outlets to analyse how pedagogy in entrepreneurship education has developed with respect to who is involved as instructors, what content are included, to whom entrepreneurship education is targeted, and how teaching is conducted in terms of pedagogical methods. Overall, our findings illustrate how the field has evolved from the 1980s, with a heavy emphasis on didactics and how to teach entrepreneurship, through the 1990s, where the individual learner was put at the centre stage of the discussion, and finally to the 2000s and onwards, where action and experience has become increasingly emphasized as the key to effective learning in entrepreneurship education.