Female students drive entrepreneurship at school and outperform peers in digital skills

More aware orientation, more critical thinking and stronger digital skills: this is the picture that emerges from the research ‘Adolescents and career choices. What changes with entrepreneurship in the classroom of the Impresa in Azione programme” – promoted by Junior Achievement Italia in collaboration with the Centre for Young and Family Enterprise (University of Bergamo) and with the support of ABB. The study, conducted on about 1,300 female students, was presented at JA DAY 2025, the annual meeting of the national network.

The performance of female students

Among the most outstanding elements is the performance of female students, who outperform their peers in almost all the dimensions analysed. Female students outperform their peers not only in improving skills related to personal initiative and the ability to turn an idea into a project, but also in digital skills. In fact, 67% of the girls register a significant improvement in this area, around ten percentage points more than the boys, shattering the stereotype of a lesser female inclination towards innovation and technology.

Mentoring

Another key factor is mentoring. Seventy per cent of the students report working with Dream Coaches, volunteers from the professional world who accompany the classes on the training course. The effect is evident: Not only those who have had a mentor record a higher level of entrepreneurial learning than those who have not been mentored by a coach. This accompaniment enables young people to acquire the technical skills needed to meet the professional profiles required by companies. The business climate also increases significantly and, above all, 7 out of 10 participants significantly improve their digital skills when the coach has direct entrepreneurial experience.

Entrepreneurial Education

Entrepreneurial education really works when it starts early: in high school it generates a more stable improvement in mindset, confidence and openness to change. On the rating scale, in fact, female students in Junior Achievement Italia programmes outperform university students by 14.4% in learning entrepreneurial skills (comparison with national sample GUESSS 2023).

L’orientamento

The theme of orientation also returns an image of greater clarity in choices. Sixty per cent of those interviewed intend to continue their studies; the intention to start a business concerns 9% immediately after graduation and 11% in the following five years, rising to 12.4% among those who have had a Dream Coach.