Blog

Financial Education and the Digital Future

Nicolas Huss, CEO Visa Europe

Amsterdam was recently the focal point for the world of financial literacy. Two major events took place there. These attracted royalty, politicians, academics and business people, like myself. All joined the debate on how to teach young people to be financially resilient.

Cultivating entrepreneurship in Finland’s vocational schools

Merja Kyllönen, Member of European Parliament, Finland

Last week, through the JA Back to School initiative, I had the opportunity to visit a vocational secondary school in Kajaani, Finland. It was quite different from my own school time – of which I mostly remember the strict timetables and classrooms. I was very impressed with “YritysAmis” and their emphasis on building entrepreneurial attitudes and cooperative skills. Learning environments have been renewed with the aim to make students more entrepreneurial and less confined to traditional classrooms. 

I'm coming back to school as an Ambassador of the JA project

Martina Dlabajova, Member of European Parliament, Czech Republic

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think." -Albert Einstein

I must confess that I like my job at the European Parliament, although there are days when I would like to exchange my parliamentary bench with a school bench. Who doesn't like remembering those carefree school years?  However, we should be careful what we wish for because sometimes it might come true. That's how I ended up back at secondary school - even if from a slightly different position.