How entrepreneurship education and knowledge prevent early school dropouts and the development of NEETs: An exploratory study on italian school cooperatives

This study investigates how entrepreneurship education delivered through school cooperatives can reduce early school dropout rates and prevent the NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) phenomenon. Drawing on social capital theory, we address the following research questions: (1) What benefits do school cooperatives provide to young people involved in entrepreneurship education activities?; (2) What factors create a favorable setting for developing entrepreneurship education that can reduce the NEET phenomenon?; and (3) What is the role of local actors in promoting entrepreneurship education to contribute to transforming NEET young people into EET (in Education, Employment, or Training) people? We analyze a case in Italy with pupils aged 8–13. Data was collected from 16 in-depth interviews with educators, teachers, and social enterprise managers. We then employed reflexive thematic analysis and social network analysis to examine benefits, enabling conditions, and relationships among actors. We identify six enabling factors of entrepreneurship education. Teachers operate as brokers, linking schools, social enterprises, and community partners. School governance sustains strong ties and proximity. Institutional support, partnerships with municipalities, nonprofits, and firms, and alignment with local labor market opportunities further reinforce the educational ecosystem. We find that school cooperatives develop both bonding social capital (trust and belonging) and bridging social capital (networks and resources) that foster engagement, skills development, and pathways toward EET. The study concludes that entrepreneurship education grounded in school cooperatives mobilizes local networks to combat the risk of NEET and suggests practical priorities, including strengthening teacher brokerage and governance capacity, formalizing community partnerships, and designing education programs that cultivate both bonding and bridging social capital.