Brussels, 13/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - European countries are increasingly promoting entrepreneurship education reveals a new report published by the European Commission. Eight countries (the Flemish part of Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Wales) have launched specific strategies to promote entrepreneurship education, while 13 others (Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey) include it in their national lifelong learning, youth or growth strategies. Half of European countries are engaged in a process of educational reforms which include the strengthening of entrepreneurship education.
“Entrepreneurship education is a driver for future growth and will help us to inspire the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. If Europe wants to stay competitive, it must invest in its people, in their skills, in their ability to adapt and in their ability to innovate. This means that we need to encourage a real change of mind-set in Europe towards entrepreneurial attitudes and this starts by instilling a spirit of entrepreneurship from early education onwards”, said Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou.
In all, 31 European countries and five regions were surveyed for the report, “Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe”. The report shows that entrepreneurship education is explicitly recognised in the primary education curricula of two-thirds of the countries surveyed. While entrepreneurship is not taught as a separate subject in primary schools, half of the countries have defined learning outcomes which relate to entrepreneurial attitudes and skills such as sense of initiative, risk-taking and creativity. In secondary education, half of the countries integrate entrepreneurship into compulsory subjects such as economics and social sciences. Two countries (Lithuania, Romania) teach entrepreneurship as a separate compulsory subject. Practical entrepreneurial skills are specified by four countries (Lithuania, Romania, Liechtenstein and Norway). The report shows, too, that a dozen countries support initiatives related to entrepreneurship education such as enhancing closer cooperation between education and business, and setting up small-scale firms run by students. However, specific teacher training in this area is available only in the Flemish Community of Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. Only one third of European countries provide central guidelines and teaching materials for entrepreneurship education.
The European Commission has designated entrepreneurship as a key factor for competitiveness. To help develop a European entrepreneurial culture, it set up a working group on entrepreneurship education in November 2011. The aim of this group is to support efforts by member states to implement entrepreneurship education and to guide the Commission's work on promoting entrepreneurship education. It will produce a policy handbook before the end of 2013. (IL/transl.rt)