The need for acquiring entrepreneurial competences is not limited to learners seeking careers as commercial entrepreneurs, but rather extends to all students in “all walks of life” as EU policy makers have repeatedly emphasized [1,2,3]. Consequently, the importance of entrepreneurship education (EE) for teaching professionals has been prioritised in recent years [4,5]. Despite a recognised need for entrepreneurial school teachers on the policy side, attention given to EE in initial teacher education (ITE) programmes remains rather elusive [6,7]. Ultimately, the underprovision of a profound entrepreneurial knowledge and competence base within ITE also causes a sub-optimal exploitation of entrepreneurial teaching potentials at school stage [7]. Our project “Young Entrepreneurial Teachers Initiative” (YETI) has been designed to address this deficit. It focuses on ITE senior-stage students who are gathering their first practical experiences (ISCED level 3-4) either through school internships (“practicum”) or within the in-service “induction” phase. It is our main objective to empower a 1st cohort of ITE students to teach more entrepreneurially once they start their careers at schools. To do so, we pursue a co-creational approach for the implementation of the following sequence of inter-connected activities (A), objectives (O) and intellectual outputs (IO): I. Understand teacher education pathways of ITE partners (O1): YETI develops and applies a methodology to coherently map the educational pathway aspiring teachers undergo when transitioning from ITE to autonomous teaching at school (A1). Results (methodology + 3 country cases) will be captured in the YETI Teacher Pathway Report (IO1). II. Comprehend what ITE students understand of EE (O2): YETI reaches out to ~1.500 ITE students to unveil (via survey) their terminological and conceptual understanding of EE (A2). This will prevent conceptual mismatches between YETI resources and student mindsets. All materials and results will be compiled in the YETI Conceptual Screening Report (IO2). III. Raise awareness for the educational benefits of EE (as understood by the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework – EntreComp) and capture entrepreneurial competence portfolio of ITE students (O3): YETI develops a Personal Entrepreneurial Canvas Model (PECM) and puts it to practice to profile entrepreneurial competences of 45+ selected ITE students (A3). Apart from these results, partners will provide a guide and webinar that introduces EE as much as the PECM itself (IO3). IV. Help teacher candidates to translate EE knowledge from simulative university contexts (ITE programme) into actual classroom environments (O4): YETI identifies and reflects typical challenges for teacher aspirants with regards to EE knowledge transfer from ITE to actual class-room settings. Main challenges and recommendations on how to overcome them will be compiled in the YETI EE School Transfer Strategy Handbook (IO4). V. Create digital one-stop hub for EE material (tools, activity ideas, lesson plans, etc.) to inspire entrepreneurial teaching interventions (O5): YETI select relevant EE contributions (based on EntreComp) from around the globe that prepare teaching interventions and compile them in a well-structured Wikipedia database (A5). This will become the YETI Entrepreneurial Education Hub (EEH - IO5). As a last preparatory step for actual EE teaching interventions, YETI will acquaint a 1st cohort of aspiring teacher (15+) with the EEH content. VI. Showcase YETI EE interventions to inspire other European ITE stakeholder (O6): The partners will motivate and gather successful 15+ examples of entrepreneurial learning interventions as part of regular school teaching of ITE (senior) students, who are part of the 1st YETI cohort (A6). The best performers will enter the YETI Interventions Showcase Collection (IO6). VII. Increase entrepreneurial learning interventions at school through teachers that act as “catalyst for change” in the wider education system with regards to spreading the benefits of EE (long-term objective & benefit). Methodologically, the project design of YETI is based on a backward reflection and planning process as implied by the theory of change [8]. The project will be realised within a 3-year long, interdisciplinary co-creation (4 HEI, 1 SME, 1 NGO, 1 European Network) of EE and ITE experts and is expected to unfold impact across 7 EU Countries involving 150+ ITE students and 60+ school pupils. [1] EC 2014 (p.7): Entrepreneurship Education. A guide for Educators. [2]. EC 2013: Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan. [3]. EC, OECD 2015: Entrepreneurship in Education. [4] Eurydice 2016 (p.95): Entrepreneurship Education at School on Europe. [5] EC 2016: Teaching professionals: skills opportunities and challenges. [6] see [4] (p.14, 94 ff). [7] EC 2019 (p. 92 ff): Education and Training Monitor 2019. [8] Rogers 2014: Theory of Change. UNICEF Methodological Briefs.
YETI was designed to foster entrepreneurial education. It focused on ITE senior-stage students who were gathering their first practical experiences (ISCED level 3-4) either through school internships or within the in-service "induction" phase. The main objective was to empower ITE students to teach more entrepreneurially once they started their careers at schools. YETI outlined these key points to be achieved: a) Empirically assess ITE students' understanding of EE in terms of terminology and concepts. b) Raise awareness among ITE students about the educational benefits of EE, as outlined in the EU Entrepreneurship Competence Framework. c) Familiarize ITE students with entrepreneurial intervention methods, help them build their entrepreneurial competence portfolio, and enable the integration of EE elements into their teaching. d) Assist teacher candidates in translating their EE knowledge from university contexts into real classroom settings early in their teaching careers. e) Showcase ITE students' actual EE interventions to inspire other European ITE stakeholders. f) Strive to enhance entrepreneurial learning interventions at the school level by nurturing a generation of well-versed entrepreneurial teachers (a long-term goal).
European policymakers held a strong belief in the pivotal role of entrepreneurial competencies in learning. They consistently ranked entrepreneurship education (EE) as a top priority across educational levels. This emphasis on EE derived from its perceived impact on the EU economy, making young individuals more innovative in various sectors. Consequently, it was recognized that acquiring entrepreneurial competencies should extend beyond traditional entrepreneurs, encompassing all students and individuals from all walks of life. Furthermore, there was a growing acknowledgment of the importance of EE in teacher education. Despite this recognition, EE's integration into initial teacher education (ITE) programs remained minimal, as indicated by Eurodyce Report and others. Consequently, the provision of entrepreneurial knowledge to aspiring teachers within ITE was inadequate. OECD TALIS 2018 findings revealed that less than 50% of newly practicing teachers felt well-prepared to teach cross-curricular skills, with a particular demand for training in entrepreneurial skills. This deficiency in preparing teachers had far-reaching implications, ultimately hindering the realization of EE potential in schools.