First Results

More support from Ministries of Education would push entrepreneurship education faster forward in Europe

Teachers, parents and business people agree: Lack of support from the national government is a main bottleneck for implementing entrepreneurship education.

The Innovation Clusters for Entrepreneurship Education (ICEE) is a three-year research project/policy experiment. It analyses drivers and hindrances related to reaching the European goal of offering every young person a practical entrepreneurial experience before leaving compulsory education (Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan). Starting from an analysis of existing national strategies, different institutions were identified as relevant to increase the distribution of entrepreneurship education (EE).

In surveys, 1000 teachers, 3500 parents and 400 business people reported that “lack of support from the national government” was a main bottleneck for implementing entrepreneurship education. At the same time, educational reforms based on a more competence-oriented way of learning and EE strategies are major drivers at the national level. The teachers, parents and business people, also considered lack of “teacher training at universities and university colleges”, little “support from the local government/municipality”, and little “support from the local community (business, NGOs)” to be important obstacles to EE. Whilst teachers and parents find the school management to be supportive towards EE, business people were more critical to the support from school management.

There were some cross-country differences as regards hindrances to EE. Lack of support from the national government was particularly important in Estonia and Latvia. Lack of good-quality teacher training in EE at universities and university colleges was considered important in Estonia and Finland. Lack of support from the local community was important in Finland and Italy, and lack of support from teachers was also important in Italy.