On the 28th and 29th of April the second transnational meeting of the project team took place in Slovakia, Bratislava.
The main discussion points at the two-day meeting were: Wrap up of desk research & primary research activities: discussion of the issues and findings, and the development of draft train-the-trainer course and online tool box.
The research activities showed and confirmed that entrepreneurship has become an area of focus in the partner countries and at European level. However, there are still barriers in all countries that have to be faced. These are among others: the lack of inclusion of entrepreneurship related topics in the vocational education and training systems (VET), the partially ineffective teaching methods and the missing bridge to practice.During the needs analysis phase partners also explored good practice examples of how to teach entrepreneurship. The main findings are:
- One of the main weaknesses seems to be that the training on entrepreneurship does not bring the necessary motivation to the students. It is very important to exploit the behavioural aspects of entrepreneurship, as well as including a practical application of the contents learned during the training.
- It is important that the training programme provides added value to its participants in the labour market, e.g. increasing their chances of being successful.
- The teaching materials and exercises that can captivate the learners and involve them directly in the training. These would also need to contain a practical application.
The findings from the desk research were complemented by an online questionnaire targeting both trainers and learners in the VET sector. The online questionnaires aimed at exploring the perception of entrepreneurship, opinions, needs, motivation and barriers to entrepreneurship. Its results are summarised in the needs analysis report that highlights also the most relevant skills and competences in regard to entrepreneurship; the existing/missing educational content on entrepreneurship in the VET sector and in-company trainings and future expectations of entrepreneurship education.
Please find the whole report here.
Based on the analysis of the gathered information from the questionnaires in the four participating countries, an appropriate training programme for trainers in the VET and private sector will be developed, in order to foster the entrepreneurship attitude and mindset in the VET sector.
