Awakening the entrepreneurial spirit among young vocational students in Tunisia
'Developing the entrepreneurial spirit is a common endeavour that needs to involve everyone', ETF Director
“Developing the entrepreneurial spirit is a common endeavour that needs to involve everyone. We need to work as a team to promote innovation and creativity.” This was the message of Cesare Onestini, Director of the European Training Foundation (ETF) at the opening of the fourth annual Forum on Promoting the Spirit of Enterprise, held in Tunis on November 14, 2018.
For the first time ever in the Tunisian vocational education and training (VET) system, the Forum was live-streamed to a network of nine vocational centres as well as to the ETF’s headquarters to over 200 remote participants. In keeping with the future-looking spirit the forum, Mr Onestini delivered this message by video link. The web streaming is available here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LAS2x1E9vo).
The Forum, organised by the Tunisian Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment with the support of the ETF, brought together trainers, students and policy makers to share the results of an ongoing project aimed at promoting the entrepreneurial spirit among students in the country’s vocational schools. Initiated in 2015, and inspired by the European Union’s reference framework for entrepreneurial competences (EntreComp), the project is now in its fourth year. Following development and piloting phases, the challenge is now to scale up the achievements at national level.
The highlight of the Forum was the presentation of a trainer-training toolkit developed by teachers and soon to be available on the ETF website. The toolkit helps trainers stimulate the entrepreneurial mind-set in students through innovative pedagogical approaches, which stimulate action, creativity and problem solving.
As Mr Khaled Raouani, representing newly appointed Minister Ms Saida Ounissi, pointed out, this ETF supported initiative is part of the efforts of the Tunisian Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment to improve youth employability and active citizenship.
Mr Onestini confirmed the continuing support of ETF for this activity and promised to bring the recommendations of the Forum to the attention of the European Commission and the EU Delegation in Tunis to inspire future support initiatives.
The forum has been organised as part of the European Vocational Skills Week and 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Week.
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