New report puts teachers at heart of entrepreneurial learning developments

A newly released European Commission report concludes that teacher training is critical if the entrepreneurial learning agenda is to pay off.

The report 'Teacher Education for Entrepreneurship: Towards a Development Agenda', is the result of a pilot action run by the European Commission. It culminated in two international symposia involving high-level policy officials and representatives of the world of business from 46 countries. The first event in Budapest in April 2011 involving EU member states was followed by the second symposium in Istanbul, organised by the ETF in July 2011. It involved countries from the EU pre-accession and Southern Mediterranean regions.

The report assesses the readiness of the teaching profession to accommodate the wider entrepreneurship agenda. One of the main findings is that the development of entrepreneurship, in both pre- and in-service teacher training, needs to take place within the context of a national policy framework. Secondly, the report highlights the concept of the entrepreneurial teacher, with wide-ranging implications for the school.

Finally, a comprehensive agenda for action is laid out around four key areas: pre-service teacher training; national policy framework; in-service teacher development; and school-based support systems.

European Commission et al.: Teacher education for entrepreneurship: Towards a development agenda: A report and evaluation of the pilot action on training teachers for entrepreneurship education initiated by the European Commission http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/promoting-entrepreneurship/files/education/teacher_education_for_entrepreneurship_final_report_en.pdf

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