The Nordic Council of Ministers
KEN FORUM 2013, Cape Town
Agenda
1. The Nordic co-operation – an overview
2. The Nordic agenda
3. Entrepreneurship Education
–
–
What is Entrepreneurship Education?
4. Next step
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Co-operation
• Nordic co-operation is one of
the oldest and most
comprehensive regional
partnerships in the world
• Based on common history
and values. And the will to
generate dynamic
development
• The room for Nordic cooperation lies between the
national and the global...
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The Countries
• Denmark, Norway,
Sweden, Finland,
Iceland and the
autonomous
territories: the Faroe
Islands, Greenland and
Åland
• Approx. 25 million
people
• 8 official languages
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Co-operation
• Official Nordic co-operation is the remit of:
– The Nordic Council – the inter-parliamentary
forum
– The Nordic Council of Ministers – the intergovernmental body
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The Nordic Council of Minsters
• Established in 1971 as the organ of intergovernmental co-operation
• The prime ministers have overall responsibility for
the co-operation
• In practice, it is delegated to the Ministers for
Nordic Co-operation and the Nordic Committee for
Co-operation (NSK)
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The Nordic Council(s) of Minsters
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Labour
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Business, Energy & Regional Policy
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries and Aquaculture,
Agriculture, Food and Forestry
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Gender Equality
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Culture
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Legislative Affairs
• Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Health and Social Affairs
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Education and Research
• Nordic Council of Ministers for Finance
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Current issues and strategic priorities
• Our region: One region of knowledge, learning,
innovation & research. Be attractive and
competitive
• Mobility & co-operation: students , qualifications,
researchers, teachers. Networks & partnerships
• Define and renew our Nordic Welfare Model:
renew, attract and retain
• Education & training for the Nordic welfare state:
we do have a special way of teaching and learning
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Entrepreneurship Education
• Everyone talks about Entrepreneurship
Education these days. But
– what is entrepreneurship education all about?
– Is it in fact useful?
– And is entrepreneurial skills something we
can learn in school?
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Entrepreneurship Education
• A broad definition of entrepreneurship
education:
• “All activities aiming to foster entrepreneurial
mindsets, attitudes and skills and covering a
range of aspects such as idea generation,
start-up, growth and innovation”
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Entrepreneurship Education
• Entrepreneurship education is to improve
students skills, competencies and mindset to
think creative innovative, see solutions and to
transfer ideas into action.
• That concerns
– Ways of thinking (possibility)
– Approaches to learning (usability)
– Transfering knowledge to action (transferability)
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The Nordic study
• Nordic Council of Ministers has in 2013 launched a study of
implementing entrepreneurship education strategies in the Nordic
countries. “Entrepreneurship education in the Nordic countries –
strategy implementation and good practices”.
• The aim was
– To enumerate the initiatives, measures, development and
achievement of implementing the entrepreneurship education
strategies in the Nordic countries
– to reveal obstacles and common characteristics
– to bring up good practices for reference and discussion.
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Current practice
• Entrepreneurship tends to be offered in stand
alone courses rather than being integrated across
the curriculum.
• Entrepreneurship remains primarily elective
• Lecture is the most used teaching method while
the active pedagogies appear as being the most
efficient to teach entrepreneurship.
• Heavy focus on start-ups.
• A greater critical mass of entrepreneurship
faculty, research and pedagogical material is
needed.
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Entrepreneurship education – An
evolution
Entrepreneurship as a
Entrepreneur- mindset
ship as active
pedagogies
Entrepreneurship as stand
alone activity
Traditional
teaching methods
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The Nordic Model
• In general, the Nordic countries have advanced well in implementing their
entrepreneurship education strategies.
 The Nordic countries, through years of developing, have established a
distinguished ‘Nordic model in entrepreneurship education’. The model
includes the following common features:
– Key role of Junior Achievement – Young Enterprise organizations
– Cross ministerial cooperation
– Full autonomy of implementing entrepreneurship education by educational
institutions as long as they comply with National Qualification Framework or
steering documents
– Intensive business engagement
– Entrepreneurship education embedded at all levels and types of education
– Teachers’ role to function as facilitators.
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The combined features of the ‘Nordic Model’
Teachers
as
facilitators
EE
embedded
at all levels
Key role
of JA-YE
Business
engagement
Cross
ministerial
cooperation
Full
autonomy
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Best practice in the Nordic Region
 Institutional support and funding from governmental
or private actors
 Intensive collaboration with business sector
 Networks with external stakeholders
 High level of international cooperation and media
exposure
 Focus on experiential learning
 The ability to cope and manage with the scarce human
resources and funding.
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The Nordic challenges
 The Nordic countries are also struggling with common
challenges:
– Teachers’ motivation and engagement in entrepreneurship
education
– Lack of sufficient funding and human resources
– Entrepreneurship education perspective not incorporated
in the current examination system
– Insufficient interaction between the policy makers and
practitioners
– Lack of national platforms for good practices
– A need for curriculum and tool development
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Next step
 Need to integrate entrepreneurhip education at primary and
secondary levels - It starts in the early stages!
 Need to improve teachers skills in entrepreneurship teaching at
primary and secondary levels including Vocational Education and
Training – it is not (solely) an academic discipline!
 Mapping good practices in primary and secondary schools
highlighting different approaches to EE – it is not a top-down
exercise!
 The Nordic countries share some common features that enable us to
build up a Nordic platform for sharing and updating good practices.
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