The large-scale issue that the project addresses is growing youth unemployment and young people’s sense of disconnection from society. Latest figures show the youth unemployment ratio rose from 15.1% in 2019 to 16.8% in 2020 (Eurostat) and integration into the labour market will be increasingly challenging for many young people given the complex economic and political situations of today’s world. As a result, young people risk losing faith in their future as “growing alienation and frustration are amplified by the prospects of an insecure future and increased mistrust in public institutions.” (Pantea, Diroescu, & Podlasek-Ziegler, 2014). Against this backdrop, there is an urgent need to better equip young people with the transversal skills they need to flourish and be resilient in a fast changing world. Entrepreneurial competences have the potential to achieve this.
Educational institutions have a responsibility to increase young people's entrepreneurial skills, as it leads to personal and professional success and benefits communities. However, many vocational colleges across Europe struggle to engage students in entrepreneurship education as traditional approaches are uninspiring and theoretical to young people. The EEL’s Project partners also face similar challenges in equipping young people with entrepreneurial skills due to limited resources and a focus on business planning. Although there have been investments in entrepreneurial education in schools and universities, the models and resources are often classroom-based and do not easily transfer to informal and nonformal youth settings. Therefore, there is a need for investing in expansive entrepreneurship education that better meets the diverse learning needs of young people.
The overall aim of our project is to increase the sense of initiative and entrepreneurial competences of young people, especially those with fewer opportunities, so that they can better achieve their goals in the labour market and as active citizens. To achieve this, we aim to develop and introduce an innovative methodology known as “Experiential Entrepreneurship Labs” (EELs). EELs are an emerging methodology that develop young people’s critical thinking and solution-focused learning, helping them turn ideas into action.
