Tabulados comparativos de las características de los créditos para las distintas

Entrepreneurship education is considered a broad concept in Finland. The present form of Finnish entrepreneurship education dates back to the mid-1990s (Greene, Brush, Eisenman, et al., 2015). In 1992, the National Board of Education appointed a committee to define the concept of entrepreneurship, propose and apply different development paradigms, based on their review of the condition. As a result, the Ministry of Education and Culture proposed a framework in infusing entrepreneurship into all levels of the curriculum, from primary schools to university.

The goals differ for different levels of education. In general education (from grade 1, aged 6 to 7 until grade 9, aged 14 to 15), the emphasis is on developing a positive attitude, acquiring basic knowledge and skills related to entrepreneurship, and learning an entrepreneurial approach to tasks at hand (Finnish National Board of Education, 2017). In the beginning of 2016, the new general education curriculum increasingly stressed on

41 entrepreneurship and working life skills. Schools are encouraged to work with local companies and introduce projects where students learn about jobs and business.

After nine years of comprehensive general education, pupils apply to either the general upper secondary or vocational upper secondary. While there are some general upper secondary schools who offer optional courses in entrepreneurship, in the vocational upper secondary track, all students acquire skills and basic knowledge about entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, vocational students develop entrepreneurial skills during on-the-job learning periods. Vocational students are also offered additional elective studies in entrepreneurship with many hands-on ways to complete the modules. One of the most popular and widespread is the Junior Achievement Young Enterprise program where students set up a company for a year. Some training providers provide a “learn and earn” option to students for part-time entrepreneurship through cooperating with the schools.

Vocational adult education provides the opportunity to study further for a qualification in entrepreneurship. This program, also well-received among university graduates, is on average a one and a half year course with regular coaching sessions, guidance, and business skills training.

Higher education has not been a common path to entrepreneurship in Finland.

Nevertheless, universities increasingly have made efforts to boost the number of graduates who are willing and able to see entrepreneurship as a career. Hubs and incubators supporting startup communities and events like Slush have enabled academic entrepreneurship become more visible. Slush is a Finnish two-day event for startups and tech talent to meet with international investors, executives, and the media. In 2014, Slush brought together over 14,000 attendees with more than 3,500 companies (Finnish National Board of Education, 2017).

42 Me & MyCity

The Finnish national core curriculum inculcates a cross-curricular program called

“participatory citizenship and entrepreneurship.” It is where students become familiar with the world of work, entrepreneurship, gain basic knowledge of the operation, the respective functions of the school community, the public sector, businesses, and of entrepreneurship as a profession.

Yrityskylä or “Me & MyCity” in English started in 2009, a Finnish education innovation based on game-based learning, whereby the learning concept aimed at school children of grade sixth (aged 12 to 13), covering society, working life and entrepreneurship (Me & MyCity, 2017). The Me & MyCity learning environment is a miniature city where students work in a profession and function as consumers and citizens as part of society.

The program is run by Finland’s Economic Information Office (a 70-year-old nonprofit), where the program costs are covered by the Ministry of Education and Culture, municipalities, private foundations, and a handful of Finnish corporations that are featured as actual businesses in the learning environment. The Finnish learning model was in part inspired by an American program called “BizTown,” started by an organization called Junior Achievement (Walker T.D., 2016).

The learning module of this program comprise of ten hours or ten lessons of classroom under the direction of the students’ own teacher and a visit to the Me & MyCity, a 6,000 square meter physical learning environment, the City. The City simulates the operation of the economy, gaining skills and knowledge related to the world of work, the economy and entrepreneurship, enhanced with related municipal services.

43 The visit to the City allows the students to find out what work is and how to seek it, how to familiarize themselves with the basics of economy and society. The themes of the lessons help the students to understand their own role in Me & MyCity as workers, consumers and members of the community (Me & MyCity, 2017). The ten lessons taught by their own class teacher uses the Me & My City material package, that includes a workbook and teacher's manual.

Each student is assigned a profession for the day they spend in Me & MyCity. The teachers are provided in advance with a list of companies and professions in which the students will work during the day. The teacher’s role is to act as the employer and select the right student for each profession based on job applications and interviews. The ten hour orientation themes include:

• Orientation to economics,

• What are private companies and public services,

• Being a part of working life and how to apply for a job,

• What is profit,

• Why do we need banks,

• Earning a salary,

• Why do we pay taxes, and

• Advertising.

The orientation lessons are integrated into the normal class curriculum. This is because the content has been designed based on the learning objectives for the sixth grade.

The topics and themes are usually covered in three subjects: Finnish as a mother tongue,

44 civics, and mathematics. The teacher training involves in going through the learning targets of Me & MyCity, the structure of the lessons before the visit to Me & MyCity and the practices followed in the Me & MyCity learning environment.

In 2016, more than 70 percent of Finland’s sixth-graders undertook a similar experience through the Me & MyCity program (Walker T.D., 2016). This initiative has gained attraction in this Nordic country, growing from a 2010 pilot group of 800 sixth-graders to 45,000 students annually, who visit one of eight different city locations throughout the country that are offering this immersive learning experience (University of Vassa, 2016).

Me & MyCity involves altogether 15–20 companies and public services and approximately 70 professions.

The learning benefits of Me & MyCity are compelling, based on research presented at the Association of European Economics Education conference in August 2016. In this recent study, about 900 Finnish sixth-graders completed two surveys (a pre- and post-test) with multiple-choice questions seeking to gauge their economic knowledge and (reported) savings behavior. Based on the results, it concluded that participation in Me & MyCity was “clearly”

associated with greater economic knowledge (University of Vassa, 2016). In addition, more than 75 percent of sixth-graders reported that the program increased their interest in economic issues and saving money.

The study also found that the program significantly improves the financial skills of schoolchildren; the sixth-graders’ interest in saving money had grown substantially, after completing the program (University of Vassa, 2016). The results proved that financial matters can be successfully taught to children as early as in primary school.

The program was motivating for students, and it appeared to boost the learning, both in the classroom-setting and in the 6,000 square-foot learning space. Me & MyCity has

45 achieved great learning results in Finland because it offers young children a rare taste of working life, which makes “school” seem much more purposeful.