Change competence as a basic skill is needed in a world in constant change, and it’s crucial to create economic growth in the future. It is a problem in today’s society that the schools do not give their students enough of these skills. There is therefore a need to give young people the skill of change competence. This is a very relevant problem in Norway and Sweden and it will be crucial to create economic growth in the future that we are adressing this challenge. We are a part of a common labor- and business market, and young people need education that meets the demands of the future.

Enterprise in education consists of three elements. It’s about developing personal properties and attitudes like the ability and willingness to take initiative, innovation and creativity, risk determination, confidence, team work ability and social skills. It’s also about learning subjects and basic skills using methods of enterprise. The third element is to learn knowledge and skills for business development and innovation process. Trough enterprise in education the children and the young people will obtain more change competence. In Norway and in Sweden entrepreneurship in education is a stated priority on government level, but this is not followed through enough. In both of our countries we see that especially enterprise in education is poorly anchored in the teacher education and in the vocational education programs in high schools/colleges. The teacher education leads to that the future teachers go out in to the workplace without the skills that we see is important to give young people change competence. When it comes to the vocational education programs the methods of enterprise exists to a small extent. We are experiencing a significant drop out rate in both countries, and measures have to be done.

This project develops, tests and evaluates models that in the short and long term increase the change competence for young people. In the work of developing models the project has tested different programs and classes for the students that will be a part of the models and that gives longtime effects as well as they become a part of the models and in each students change expertise. The project also spreads the models within our countries.

In our countries there are common targets at national level when it comes to focusing on enterprise. This is also a priority in the EU, and EU has defined enterprise as a basic skill. EU and the Nordic countries are welded together with a common labor market and economy which are depended on each other. The project works across borders in order to develop different models and will thereby make models that are shared and develop across borders while showing the teachers how cooperation across borders can be done for mutual benefits.

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