A new report published today by the European Commission examines how European countries teach and promote entrepreneurship in schools. Entrepreneurship skills involve a full range of competences needed to adapt to a constantly changing economy and competitive labour market, such as an entrepreneurial mind-set, creativity, problem-solving, teamwork, languages or communication. Whereas these skills are closely linked to young people’s chances of finding a job, but also their ability to realise ambitions and find their place in society, the report highlights that very few countries include entrepreneurship in schools’ curricula.
The Commission supports the development of entrepreneurship skills in the EU, notably through its education and training programme Erasmus+, which provides 450 000 traineeship opportunities from 2014 to 2020 that support the development of those skills. Entrepreneurship skills will also be part of a broader Skills Agenda which the Commission will present later this year to encourage the development of skills required both on today’s labour market and in the long term. On Wednesday 24 February, the Council will organise a first policy debate on the Skills Agenda between Education Ministers and both Commissioners Tibor Navracsics, responsible for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and Marianne Thyssen, in charge of Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility.
