Page 164 - guidance-supporting-europe-s-aspiring-entrepreneurs-policy-and-practice-to-harness-future-potential

Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

that while most countries offer teachers some level of training on
entrepreneurship, this is generally provided by external organisations and
delivered on an ad-hoc basis and less likely to be part of a coherent, systematic
approach to entrepreneurship training delivery. Guidance professionals will also
need to be equipped with information and skills about the career opportunities
offered by entrepreneurship. It is necessary to introduce cross-disciplinary
approaches to entrepreneurship education, to integrate entrepreneurial support
activities for guidance professionals and teachers/lecturers, and to embed
interactive teaching. These changes will all require new models of working and
new policy frameworks.
The role of guidance is also limited by the fact that guidance professionals
currently have limited contacts with the business world. Also real entrepreneurs
are not adequately included in the promotion of entrepreneurship as a career
option in all IVET and HE institutions, though significant development has taken
place. Despite a growing focus on entrepreneurship and a range of awareness-
raising activities having been implemented, many students are still not always
aware of entrepreneurship as a career option. Evidence indicates that many
students still prefer more traditional employment positions rather than self-
employment. Attitudes need to change, which requires investment in promoting
entrepreneurship (and teaching children entrepreneurship for younger children as
well), especially in mentoring and role model approaches.
Significant anecdotal evidence is available to support the positive effects of
guidance-related interventions discussed in this report, but empirical and
longitudinal studies are less commonly available. This report has provided
examples of evaluation results which are mainly linked to mini-companies,
mentoring initiatives and the activities of some individual universities.
The challenge lies in demonstrating the impact of specific entrepreneurial
learning activities as well as the impact of formal guidance related to
entrepreneurship. Impact assessment and evaluation work is hampered by a lack
of commonly accepted indicators for success. Most often, entrepreneurship-
related support programmes are evaluated on the basis of academic knowledge
about entrepreneurship, academic performance more generally, business
formation and wealth generation, and personal values and aspirations (Volkmann
et al., 2009). If the guidance value is to be included, such evaluations should
investigate entrepreneurship as a broader concept, including awareness of
entrepreneurship as a career option and career aspirations of young and adult
learners. They should also explore broader entrepreneurial attitudes, skills and
competences.

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