Lessons learnt & recommendations

Lisbon, 16 December 2008

Wouter Van den Berghe

Tilkon Research & Consulting - wouter@tilkon.be

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competences

Entrepreneurship education Entrepreneurship education in

Flanders Desirable learning outcomes Recommendations

For the individual• Employment and (higher) earning• Self-realisation • Usefulness in daily live

For the economy• More flexibility and innovation thanks to competitive start

ups• Better prepared for international competition• More local activity

For society as a whole• More prosperity thanks to increased efficiency in economy• More trust and confidence in the future• Constructive attitudes towards society

How desirable is it for you to become self-employed within the next 5 years?Those who answered "very / rather desirable"

50 48 48 4742 39 37 37

33 33 31 30 30 30 29 29 29 28 28 26 24 21 21 20 19 18 16

0102030

405060

perc

ent

Definition: Education & training activities • within the education system• of any form• aimed at the acquisition of entrepreneurial competences

(attitudes, skills and/or knowledge)

Important side effects• Development of young people’s personality• Reduction of negative school attitudes and unqualified

school-leavers• Development of self-confidence • Introduction of active teaching and learning methods• Understanding of added value of entrepreneurship for

society• Dynamic education institutions• Cooperation between schools and local organisations

• Increase of team work skills• Better relationships between teachers

and pupils• More friendship amongst pupils• Higher motivation to learn• More self-confidence• Etc.• Last but not least: more, and more

successfull start-ups of companies

Several “structural” elements and some widespread practice

• Some compulsory learning goals are related to entrepreneurship• Entrepreneurship education within business education at secondary

and higher education level• Hundreds of education institutions carry out non-compulsory

initiatives to promote enterprising attitudes• 20.000 pupils in secondary schools (out of 70.000) obtain a

certificate allowing them to start a business

Policy makers pay more attention:• Declaration and policy papers of Flemish Government & Ministers• Continued support for existing initiatives and support (through

different sources) for new initiatives and coordination (e.g. “Competento” knowledge centre, “Ondernemersklasseweek”, …)

All typical “formats” and types of entrepreneurship education• Attractive teaching material• Contacts with entrepreneurs• Simulation games• Pupil and student companies• Contests between students and teams of students• Organisation of events

All kind of “promoters”• Public services• Non-profit organisations• Associations of companies• Education institutions• Individual companies

There are less “structural barriers” for introducing entrepreneurship education than in secondary schools

Some general attitudes and skills required for entrepreneurs (creativity, communication,…) are part of the compulsory learning outcomes

The number of specific initiatives about entrepreneurship is limited, but increasing

“Enterprises” are hardly mentioned in the learning outcomes and course programmes

Most teachers have no affinity with enterprises and entrepreneurship

Annually over 12.000 pupils are engaged in “intensive forms” of entrepreneurship education (in particular in technical/vocational education)

7.000 pupils use simulation programmes

Over 10.000 pupils visit firms and/or are confronted with entrepreneurs

Schools do not like to deviate from the weekly course schedule

Some teachers and headmasters do not have an open mind towards enterprises and enterprising behaviour

It is often difficult to introduce entrepreneurship education in course programmes without an economic component

More “own” initiatives than in secondary schools

Accreditation criteria include the development of some relevant general competences (creativity, problem-solving, communication, …)

The number of student companies is increasing (over 500 per year)

Over 6.000 students use simulation programmes

“Hogescholen” (non-university higher education institutions) are much more active than universities

Increasing attention for valorisation of research

Within the academic thinking entrepreneurship is often exclusively linked to scientific innovations

consider problems as opportunities use and exploit opportunities develop a product or a service from an idea dare to deal with problems and solve them create networks with other young people and adults accept the implications of one’s own choices consider starting a business as a possible and valuable

career option deal with money in a responsible manner understand how different types of organisations contribute

to society know the elementary principles of marketing enthuse others for an idea, product, service, activity, …

understand what “doing business” really means

understand how the creation of enterprises contributes to prosperity

be able to estimate and assess the potential of new developments

use creativity in order to achieve useful results

be able to lead a team of people with different backgrounds

understand technology and how it is generated

be able to assess the valorisation potential of a proposal

have been in touch with different entrepreneurs

Proactive government policy• Create broad public support for entrepreneurship• Develop a coherent and integrated long term policy• A consistent learning path for entrepreneurship education• Appropriate training and support for enterprising adults

Dynamic actors• Schools that promote entrepreneurial spirit• Higher education institutions educating enterprising

students• Entrepreneurship built-in within teacher education• A strong commitment from the business community

A clear framework• Support for education institutions• Coordination of initiatives• Structural and transparent ways for supporting

entrepreneurship education • Understanding the effects and impact of entrepreneurship

education