Entrepreneurial competence as a supranational educational trend in the European Union

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. International organizations are increasingly important in the process of defining political agendas for education, and competency-based learning is a clear example of these processes of educational globalization. Out of the eight key competences established by the European Union, “initiative and entrepreneurship” is getting a lot of attention. The primary goal of this paper is to analyze and define the precise meaning given to entrepreneurial competence from both a political and aneducational perspective. METHOD. Given the conceptual approach of this research, the methodology consisted primarily of the analysis of the main European and national educational policies on entrepreneurship education. RESULTS. Entrepreneurship education is part of the European framework of key competences, together with a theoretical clarification of the educational meaning of developing this particular competence at schools. As background for this clarification, some relevant contributions within entrepreneurial studies are considered. A comparative analysis on the curricular articulation of entrepreneurship education in a total of fifteen EU countries (Spain included) is also presented. DISCUSSION. The paper concludes by discussing some of the challenges and opportunities that incorporating entrepreneurship education within our contemporary educational systems may imply.