Page 62 - 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

pedagogies and cross-disciplinary content present challenges for educators and
institutions.
The next two sections briefly examine entrepreneurship learning in IVET and
HE, the two sectors at the core of this study.

2.5.2. Entrepreneurship learning in IVET
Entrepreneurship is a particularly important issue for the providers of vocational
education and training because the vocational nature of learning means that
entrepreneurship, self-employment in particular, is a very realistic aspiration for
many of their learners. This is the case, for example, for hairdressers, plumbers
and electricians; many students from those fields end up setting up their own
business.
It is not surprising that entrepreneurship plays a bigger part in the agenda of
IVET institutes than for providers of general education. It is included in the
national curricula for VET in most European countries, at least to some extent
(European Commission, 2010a): included, are Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia
and Spain. As an example, in Luxembourg, entrepreneurship education is
embedded in the curriculum for agricultural studies. In some of those countries
(such as Spain, Estonia and Poland) participation is compulsory, but in most
cases entrepreneurship is an optional subject or is compulsory only in some parts
of the vocational education system and not in others (ibid.).
France is the only country where entrepreneurship is very closely linked to
career guidance provision, though it is not included in national curriculum.
Entrepreneurship is not included in the national curriculum for VET in countries
like Italy but legislation invites schools to promote a link with the labour market
and there are many entrepreneurship programmes with a local/regional focus.
Qualification guidelines include different elements of the key competence ‘a
sense of initiative and entrepreneurship’ in some countries (for example, Finland,
Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Slovakia) (GHK, 2009).
National framework documents on VET in Lithuania state that entrepreneurship
should be integrated into all programmes; however, there are no practical
guidelines for this. As a result, entrepreneurship is not mentioned in training
programmes offered by VET schools, and students who graduate from a
vocational school normally do not posses any specific entrepreneurial
competence.
Specific modules are included in apprenticeships or other vocational
qualifications in a few countries (Belgium (Flanders), Spain, Hungary and
Finland). Methodology which promotes interaction and discovery is stressed as

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