5 Key Resources to Foster Entrepreneurial Competences in Initial Teacher Education
After careful consideration, the European Commission has labelled UIIN’s research project PIETE as a Good Practice Example, a designation awarded to projects that may inspire others and have been particularly well managed during their implementation. Despite the project activities being completed, the outputs are still relevant, and the resources are to be found in lecture halls around Europe. Are you looking to develop entrepreneurial competences within your educational institution? This article outlines several practical resources that will help initial teacher educators foster entrepreneurial competence development amongst their students.
Modern societies are constantly evolving, and new challenges continuously present themselves. To turn these challenges into opportunities, individuals and organisations require entrepreneurial skills, knowledge and attitudes, which are best nurtured early in life to allow for competences to be refined over the years through practical application. Unfortunately, school-level entrepreneurial education is currently underdeveloped, and students are generally only taught entrepreneurial competences during their tertiary studies.
To ensure that entrepreneurial education is introduced as early in formal education as possible, the concept for the PIETE project was developed: an innovative and collaborative initiative that aimed to develop a new generation of entrepreneurial teachers in Europe through supporting entrepreneurial competence development in initial teacher education.
The PIETE project supports entrepreneurial development from the ground up, raising awareness about the importance of entrepreneurial thinking and acting amongst its target audience. The project actively promotes the application of the in initial teacher education curricula, and emphasises a broader understanding of entrepreneurial competences. The EntreComp framework outlines 15 entrepreneurial competences and focusses on defining what is needed to be an entrepreneurial individual (or organisation) that is able create financial, cultural or social value.
PIETE outputs as relevant and practical resources
Based on the activities and investigations undertaken throughout the 3-year duration of the project, practical resources have been developed to foster entrepreneurial competences in initial teacher education institutions. The resources are openly available and allow you to:
- Gain insights into initial teacher educators’ perceptions and definitions of entrepreneurial education through the discussion paper. This paper also investigates the relevance of chosen components of the EntreComp Framework within initial teacher educators’ work and their institutional environments.
- Map and outline the relevant assets within your initial teacher education system for developing entrepreneurial education activities through the Initial Teacher Education Framework Report.
- Develop workshops for initial teacher education institutions to teach entrepreneurial competences, guided by Entrepreneurial Education Capacity Building Compilation.
- Enhance entrepreneurial competence and mindset development within initial teacher education programs as laid out in the modular-style Teaching Compendium.
- Be inspired by good practice European and global initiatives undertaken to develop the entrepreneurial capacities of (pre-service) teachers and their students.
Each output has been developed to be user friendly and applicable to different educational contexts. Whether you want to develop activities at institutional level or the student level that foster entrepreneurial thinking and acting, take advantage of these resources and enhance your teaching practices.
It is clear why the PIETE project and its outcomes are so impactful, as it provides tangible resources for entrepreneurial competence development. The designation of Good Practice Example by the European Commission confirms the relevance of the project and its outcomes. UIIN is delighted to be a part of this collaboration, to bring the importance of entrepreneurial competences to fore and raise awareness amongst different kinds of educators.
To find out more about the PIETE project, or to gain access to the project resources, visit the following link: entrepreneurialteachers.eu
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[1] The Horizon Europe Funding Framework is the key funding programme for research and innovation of the European Commission (EC). Succeeding the Horizon 2020 program, Horizon Europe is the 9th funding programme of the EC that will run from 2021-2027 with a total budget of €95.5 billion.
