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

high failure rate of new businesses and SMEs is the lack of experience and
competence of new entrepreneurs (St-Jean and Audet, 2008; Wikholm et al.,
2005). The development of entrepreneurial skills and capabilities, as well as
career management skills of both would-be and new entrepreneurs, is essential
to business formation and the development of successful businesses in the
future. Each aspiring or new entrepreneur has a unique skills base and individual
strengths and weaknesses; their willingness to learn and awareness of these
strengths and weaknesses and support available are crucial to their personal
development and business growth.
It is thought that individuals who feel they have the confidence, skills and
knowledge to start a business are more likely to do so (Martínez et al., 2010).
Although some resistance remains, more and more practitioners, academics and
researchers argue that entrepreneurship is a discipline and, like any discipline, it
can be learned. Education, inclusive of entrepreneurship education, has a central
role in shaping attitudes, skills and culture. Consequently, entrepreneurship,
together with a sense of initiative, is classified today as one of eight key
competences for lifelong learning, and is seen as a mindset (rather than a purely
technical skill) that can be usefully applied in all working activities and in life
(European Commission, 2006b).
The development of entrepreneurship education in Europe has, so far, been
mainly ‘bottom-up’, with fairly minimal state intervention. This means that there is
a significant degree of diversity in entrepreneurship education practice in Europe:
between and within countries, at the level of individual providers and among
teachers (McCoshan et al., 2010). One of the key reasons is that education and
training systems and guidance services have traditionally focused on equipping
young people with skills, knowledge and tools that enable them to identify and
secure jobs, not on teaching students to set up a business and become
entrepreneurs. This traditional approach to careers is no longer deemed suitable
as fundamental changes take place in the world of work: there are fewer (if any)
‘jobs-for-life’ and work places are more dynamic with altered working patterns
(e.g. occupational changes, shorter periods of employment) and rapid changes in
skill requirements as economies diversify. Overall, the employment environment
is less stable and more people are working at least a part of their working life as
a contractor or self-employed entrepreneur. Education and training systems and
guidance services must adapt to the new working environment by promoting an
entrepreneurial and innovative culture, providing the necessary skills to set up
and grow businesses, and increasing the awareness of entrepreneurship as a
career opportunity. Guidance services aimed at both young people and adults

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