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

should support people in their efforts to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities
available to them in their local environments.
This Cedefop study is placed in the context of increased focus on
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education in Europe. The European
Commission and Member States have been working together since the 1990s to
develop the entrepreneurial education and training agenda in Europe. The
European Commission (Director-General for Trade and Industry) has organised
several European working groups on entrepreneurship education but no studies
have been undertaken on the role of guidance in supporting the European
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education agenda. Therefore, this study
also acknowledges the wide-spread recognition of the importance of lifelong
learning guidance. The 2008 Council Resolution on better integrating lifelong
guidance into lifelong learning strategies states that guidance plays a decisive
role in the major decisions that individuals make throughout their lives (Council of
the European Union, 2008b). It can help to empower individuals to manage their
own career paths within the context of their own situation and the wider labour
market, providing support in creating a better balance between their personal and
professional lives. The resolution identifies four priority areas, one of which is to
‘encourage the lifelong acquisition of career management skills’, with a focus on
the key competences ‘sense of initiative and entrepreneurship’.
The goal of this study is three-fold:
• to illustrate and assess the role of guidance in supporting entrepreneurship
learning in initial vocational education and training (IVET) and higher
education (HE);
• to examine the availability and role of enterprise start-up guidance and support
for IVET and HE students;
• to analyse the availability of guidance and other support to develop the career
management skills of aspiring and novice entrepreneurs.

Figure 1. Study aims and objectives

Guidance

Adults; aspiring and
IVET and HE students
novice entrepreneurs

Assess the availability and role Examine the availability and role
Analyse the availability and role of guidance in supporting early of guidance and other support in
of guidance in entrereneurship entrepreneurial efforts of IVET
learning in IVET and HE and HE students (pre and post the development of career
management skills
start-up support)

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