The entrepreneurship competence is increasingly recognised as a competence for life, relevant to personal development and fulfilment and finding and progressing in employment, as well as initiating new projects ranging from personal initiatives, community campaigns, social enterprises to new start-up businesses.
The development of the entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens and organisations has been one of the key policy objectives for the EU and Member States for many years. There is a growing awareness that entrepreneurial skills, knowledge and attitudes can be learned and in turn lead to the widespread development of entrepreneurial mind-sets and culture, which benefit individuals and society as a whole. An entrepreneurial mindset is valued by employers, boosts educational attainment and performance, and is crucial for creating new businesses.
In 2006 the European Commission had identified a ‘sense of initiative and entrepreneurship’ as one of the eight key competences necessary for all members of a knowledge-based society. More recently the New Skills Agenda for Europe has kept the need to promote entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial learning under the spotlight.
This has led to a wealth of initiatives across Europe, to which M.O.T.H.E.R. project is contributing with our innovative strategic partnership in the youth field, and a synergetic cooperation among international partners, that is leading to the creation of M.O.T.H.E.R Social Platform for Business that will be launched in February 2022.
Throughout the courses that will be available on the online platform, a great importance is given to foster and facilitate entrepreneurial learning, including the valuable contribution of the Entrepreneurship Competence study (EntreComp) that was launched by the Joint Research Center, the European Commission’s in-house science service, on behalf of the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL).
One of the key objectives of EntreComp is to develop a common conceptual approach, which could support the development of entrepreneurship competence at European level.
The key questions EntreComp framework addresses are:
What are the elements that define entrepreneurship as a transversal competence?
How can entrepreneurship be described in terms of learning outcomes in a life-long learning perspective?
How can entrepreneurial learning outcomes be grouped into proficiency levels?
EntreComp consists of 3 interrelated and interconnected competence areas:
- Resources
- Ideas & Opportunities Resources
- Into action
Each of these areas is split in five specific competences, so a total amount of 15 competences are described in depth, along with progressing proficiency levels and correlated learning outcomes.
This initiative aims to inspire more actors from across Europe and beyond to get involved, to join a community of practitioners committed to embedding these competences for life into education, communities, work and enterprise.
Discover more on the official EntreComp website: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/entrecomp
Written by
Alessia Simonetti – Jump trainer
