improved amongst all participants( 100 %), in France, participants’ accounting knowledge improved by approximately 67 % and in Croatia by 70 %. This variance across locations where the methodology was implemented and experimented, can be attributed to the implementation and progression of the Social Start Up Methodology whereby the more applied the learning was, the more effective the overall learning, and especially the accounting knowledge and skills were. This is consistent with the design of the Social Start Up Methodological tool and approach. For example, in Italy, the participants actively engaged in starting up social enterprises and thus had to calculate their costings and forecast their accounts, where as in Croatia learning was more passive in this domain as they didn’ t actively engage in this process.
However, the accounting skills component was only one of twelve skills addressed and developed within this programme and therefore, did not impact significantly upon the overall improvements in the participants’ skills and employability competence for business creation. In Italy for example, 100 % of participants showed the greatest increase in their level of skills and employability competence for business creation, learning and development in enterprising attitudes and practices due to their immersion in the social start up methodology, and scoring consistently highonthe following post test statements:
The Social Start Ups Programme: a. Helped me appreciate what social enterprises are. b. Was critical in helping me to understand the importance of social enterprises. c. Presented options I hadn’ t considered before. d. Helped me identify skills I didn’ t know I had. e. Shaped the plans for the EPG.
In Croatia too, the vast majority of participants( 70 %) also showed significant improvement for statements a, b, c, and e above. In France, around 67 % also showed significant and consistent improvement across the above post-test statements. These were the participants who were seriously and eagerly considering the start up of their own social enterprises.
With regards to the impact of the Social Start Ups methodology on the participants’ enterprising skills, and employability competence for business creation, the list below presents the skills where 96 % of the overall participantsacross all three locations( Croatia, France and Italy) experienced most improvement: a. Knowledge of social enterprise b. Creative thinking c. Critical and analytical research d. Leadership and decision making
Areas where moderate improvement was made for 96 % of the overall participants across all three locations( Croatia, France and Italy) were accounting and sales skills. This was consistent with the Methodological Tool’ s aims and objectives as these skills are practised more so within the start up implementation phase rather than the ideation and planning one.
Overall therefore, the skills and employability competence for business creation were significantly increased for 96 % of the overall sample of participants. The level of skills and knowledge improved significantly within each location as follows:
� 100 % of the participantsin Italy
18