WRITTEN QUESTION E-0828/02

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 March 2002)

Subject: Teaching entrepreneurial skills in schools

At the recent meeting in Aranjuez (Spain) of EU Ministers responsible for small and medium-sized businesses, remarks were made regarding the need to encourage entrepreneurial skills in school children, starting at primary level.

Such a suggestion should certainly be seized upon and be put into practice, even if this would require a well-defined strategy in order to ensure that the intended benefits of the initiative are reaped.

Does the Commission not therefore think that it should launch a programme to compile a list of such initiatives throughout the EU, so as to be able to present a comprehensive syllabus for the teaching in schools of basic facts designed to promote entrepreneurial skills amongst European school children who will be the EU's businessmen and women of the future?

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2002)

The Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000 stressed the need to strengthen entrepreneurship in European societies, to introduce a favourable climate for the creation and development of innovative enterprises and to make general progress in this area in Europe.

The Commission report of January 2001 on the future objectives of education systems confirmed these conclusions. The messages that are sent to most children during their education do not encourage then to consider the creation of their own enterprise as a viable alternative to being in someone else's employ. And yet, studies show that, in practice, decisions of this kind are taken at the age of 12 or 13 years already. Moreover, entreprise is more than just a commercial activity; it is also an active and reactive spirit that society as a whole should exploit to the full.

Entrepreneurship and, in particular, autonomy, the ability to take risks, to solve problems, to adapt and to work as part of a team have therefore become some of the basic skills that each and every European citizen should be able to acquire through education.

At the European Council of Barcelona in March 2002, the Council and the Commission presented a report on the future objectives of education systems in Europe, together with a detailed work programme. The implementation of this programme is based on the open method of coordination, involving, among other things, the characterisation, by means of indicators, of the basic skills that have already been identified notably entrepreneurship, including for teacher training. It also foresees the task of checking how these skills might be incorporated into school curricula, without overloading them at the same time.

The corresponding initiatives adopted will be taken by the Member States and the Commission, in accordance with their respective powers in the area of education and the principle of subsidiarity.

The notion that enterprise education should be an essential part of a lifelong learning approach is now generally accepted: the development of entrepreneurial attitudes and skills can be encouraged in people of all ages, starting from primary school.

In most Member States, initiatives exist already that tackle this issue. The Commission has collected a certain amount of qualitative information on existing good practice in Europe. There is now a need to take stock of measures undertaken, and to assess their scope and impact. This is why in the framework of the Multiannual Programme for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (2001-2005) the Commission has launched a Best Procedure project on education and training for entrepreneurship.

This project tries to identify and compare initiatives from across Europe that aim to promote the teaching of entrepreneurship in the education systems, from primary school to university. In order to achieve this objective, the Commission is working in close cooperation with experts nominated by the national administrations of 16 countries. Final results of this project will be available in September 2002, and will include an overview of existing measures and cases of good practice in Europe, a comparative analysis of the situation in the participating countries and relevant policy conclusions.