The why, what and how of the parENTrepreneurs Competence Framework

With the parENTrepreneurs Competence Framework and project we want to support parents and carers in developing their own and their child’s entrepreneurial mindset and skills where entrepreneurial skills are life skills that help an individual actively participate in society. 

We have developed the parENTrepreneurs framework for parents as they are the primary educators in the life of a child. The parENTrepreneurs consortium wants to support parents in their role as educators. We know that parents already possess a whole host of entrepreneurial skills and with this framework, we want to show parents how to recognise and validate their existing entrepreneurial skills, as well as develop them further. We thus aim to stimulate reflection in parents and give them the tools to take their entrepreneurial skills to the next level by continuing to learn and support their child to become an independent, active member of society. 

Our approach is based on positive parental engagement in the learning of their child. Parents are an important factor in a child’s overall learning and education. Non-school factors of learning such as family background, social status and variable factors such as level of parental engagement in learning has a 60-80% impact on student achievement, whereas school accounts for only 20-40%. 

The way parents perceive their role in education is generally determined by the following factors: 

• Beliefs about appropriate and desirable child outcomes
• Beliefs about who is responsible for these outcomes 
• Perceptions of what important group members (e.g. family, teachers, other parents) expect from them as parents 
• Parental behaviours related to those beliefs and expectations 

Parental role construction is therefore closely linked to an entrepreneurial mindset. Parents’ aspirations and expectations for their child are linked to their self-awareness, self-efficacy and visioning skills as well as their mindset to take action and be involved in their child’s education and learning. With this project, we intend to strengthen parents’ role construction by highlighting to parents which entrepreneurial skills they already possess and at what level. 

How the parENTrepreneurs framework is build

The parENTrepreneurs Competence Framework was co-created over a 7-month period between November 2019 and May 2020 in two stages. Primary desk research made use of the expertise of the consortium partners and led to the development of a draft parENTrepreneurs framework that was used for an external consultation with a wide variety of experts. 

The parENTrepreneurs framework builds on the EU’s Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp). EntreComp provides a common definition of entrepreneurship as a competence where entrepreneurship is when someone acts upon opportunities and ideas and transforms them into value for others. The value that is created can be financial, cultural, or social.

The parENTrepreneurs Competence Framework is a comprehensive framework outlining 10 parental entrepreneurial competences along four progression levels: they range from understanding yourself (Foundation) as a parent to moving through stages of knowing where and how to get help (Intermediate) and being a confident parent of your own child (Advanced) to Expert level, where a parent is a parent leader and is confident communicating with others or advising other parents. 

For each of the progression levels, the framework outlines the parental entrepreneurial competence across four age groups. The age groups are based on various child development models as well as the structure of formal educational provisions. They are: ages 2 to 6, 6 to 12, 12 to 16, and 16 and above. 

Figure 1: Overview of the 10 parENTrepreneurs parental entrepreneurial competences

How you can use the parENTrepreneurs framework

There is a lot of information in the framework which aims to be as comprehensive as possible to illustrate the potential development journey of parental entrepreneurial skills. That does not mean the framework can be read easily cover-to-cover. The parENTrepreneurs framework is addressed first and foremost to parent leaders and organisations engaged in parental development. However, the overall parENTrepreneurs project is of course written first and foremost for parents. 

Figure 2: Detail of the Spotting opportunities competence and how it is outlined in the parENTrepreneurs framework

In addition to the framework, the parENTrepreneurs project will make tools available to help parents foster their parental entrepreneurial competences. Among other things, we will develop a self-assessment tool that parents can use to understand and appreciate which entrepreneurial competencies they already possess. Parents can then embark on the parENTrepreneurs training programme to upskill their competences. In addition, we will develop a social learning platform to bring together a community of entrepreneurial parents to exchange ideas and connect. Keep an eye on our website and social channels to see when we are launching the next tools. 

Read here the full parENTrepreneurs Competence Framework.
Project Outcomes