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

Foreword

It is widely acknowledged that new companies and entrepreneurs are important
for innovation, job creation and economic development in Europe. However,
traditional education and training systems in Europe have not been supportive of
entrepreneurship and self-employment. As attitudes take shape at an early age,
education systems should contribute more to the development of entrepreneurial
skills and mindsets.
This Cedefop report indicates that, across Europe, education and training
programmes in entrepreneurship have a positive impact on developing
individuals’ entrepreneurial qualities, raising awareness of self-employment as a
career option, and creating a positive attitude towards entrepreneurial activity.
Entrepreneurship should not only be considered as a means for setting up a new
business, but as a general mindset that furthers innovative, entrepreneurial
behaviour, which can be useful in daily life as well as in different working
environments.
Information, advice and guidance should be embedded in the learning
process to support the occupational choices of individuals and their acquisition of
entrepreneurial skills. The report shows that the current education and training
provision in VET and HE is increasingly strengthening entrepreneurial attitudes in
young people. There are also successful guidance initiatives in the Member
States that support the career management of entrepreneurs during business
start-up.
In this setting, the professional capacity of guidance practitioners and
entrepreneurship educators will have to be further developed to equip them to
support learners pursuing entrepreneurial studies and those individuals considering
self-employment. Even with the best possible guidance, teaching and learning
opportunities available, many other factors influence individuals to take the decision
to become self-employed. These include a wide range of legal, financial and
business advice related instruments supporting entrepreneurial activity.
Current education/training, employment and enterprise development policies
promote entrepreneurship and are setting a strategic framework in which
education and training providers can better implement related programmes/
activities in national, regional and local contexts. We hope that this report will
inspire future policy and strategy action in the Member States, improving
guidance services to support entrepreneurial activity in Europe.
Christian Lettmayr
Acting Director of Cedefop

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