Youth’s own entrepreneurship based on the example of A-level students of secondary schools in Kraków

Abstract

Time that teenagers spend in secondary schools may be perceived as time of ease and folly. Yet, on the other hand, it is time of making serious decisions. The decisions that are made at this stage of life affect the individual’s future to a great extent. Furthermore, actions taken at that time may appear fruitful further down the road: at university or in a job. The youth is believed to live it up and spend time recklessly without any concern about the future. However, the research that I carried out in April 2011, presents a different picture of the youth.

A hundred and nineteen A-level students from two secondary schools in Kraków took part in the research. The study lasted one month and selection of sample was intentional and made within the accessibility of the research material. The research included three areas of interest: the first concerned entrepreneurial attitudes, the second - secondary school education and the third - the prospects in the sphere of education and professional career. The research indicated that 60% of A-level students took up a job during the last year of their secondary school education. 23% of the respondents were involved in social work. It was proved that A-level students devote their time both to socializing and studying. 48% of the respondents get engaged in different forms of extracurricular activities in their spare time. In spite of the initiative they show, only 49% of A-level students consider themselves entrepreneurial and 43% are not able to determine whether they are entrepreneurial or not.