Entrepreneurship: Bridge to the Future

By some estimates, 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in

completely new job types that don’t yet exist. If young people will occupy positions that cannot even

be defined today, it is hard to imagine that existing school curricula alone can equip them with tools

for “real life”. In this context it is increasingly important that we as educators introduce young people

to tools and mindset that will enable them to reflect on themselves, spot opportunities, move flexibly

throughout their careers and create their own job opportunities. Entrepreneurship is a competence

that young people can apply to different areas of their personal and career development, thus

tackling the above mentioned challenges. At the same time they need to be able to recognize,

measure and present the skills they have learned and that are not supported by official certificates.

Digital open badges are an example of tools that youth can use to this end.


To address these issues, we have designed a week-long seminar for 28 youth workers from 14
countries will exchange good practices in entrepreneurial education with young people with the focus
on updating content/methods and learn how digital open badges could enable validation, recognition
and certification of competences developed in such programmes.

In particular, the seminar will focus on two approaches:
1. Entrepreneurial education - to exchange good practices and discover new methodologies.
2. Digital open badges - a tool for easily recognizing and meaningfully communicating what people
achieve and can do.

After the seminar, the participants will conduct knowledge transfer in their organizations and together
with their local teams develop prototypes for upgrading their existing educational activities or
developing new ones.

The project’s objectives are:
• to inspire and share good practices on how to conduct entrepreneurial education with young
people, be it in formal, non-formal or informal settings;
• consequently, to enhance the competences of youth workers present at the seminar and working in
the fields of entrepreneurship education and recognition of competences, and learning how to apply
them in their daily work;
• to transfer knowledge after the seminar by creating and testing prototypes of entrepreneurial
programs with young people and local partners;
• to strengthen international cooperation between organisations from Programme and Partner
countries working on entrepreneurial education and recognition of competences;
• to improve partner organisations’ badging practices in entrepreneurial education with young people.
Both the seminar and the developed prototypes will be based on non-formal learning methods. The
planned activity has been structured in a way that allows both education and learning opportunities
for each participant, as a mix of interactive learning opportunities for discussion and debate, group
work, peer-to-peer learning, reflection and sharing moments is planned.
Summaries of the developed prototypes and good practices shared will be gathered in one document
in the form of recommendations for other organizations that conduct similar educational programmes.
This document will be publicly available online, but also shared directly with relevant stakeholders.
After attending the seminar, up to 28 participants will update their working methods with examples of
good practice of youth entrepreneurship education programmes shared by their peers from other
European countries. The project will also build capacities of all participating organizations for
carrying out projects in the field of entrepreneurial education and developing badge systems.
Through knowledge transfer by the 28 participants, organizations will adapt their activities in the
long-term, ensuring a visible impact even after project conclusion. Special emphasis will be placed
on prototyping such practices to make sure they have a lasting influence on the functioning of each
organization through either upgrading existing educational programs or developing new ones. Young
people, as the primary target group of our efforts, will develop new skills and competences they need
for a successful transition to labour market.

Support: Program Erasmus +