Focus on the entrepreneurial spirit and family business

The Foundation for Family Businesses is a founding member of the Alliance for Economic Education in Germany (BÖB), which was established in September 2020. This volunteer-run network now brings together more than 100 member organisations, including teachers’ associations, foundations, business associations and academic institutions. Their shared aim is to strengthen economic education in Germany. This is because economic knowledge and financial literacy are essential prerequisites for leading a self-determined life and participating responsibly in the economy and society.

Within the alliance, the Foundation for Family Businesses is particularly committed to embedding entrepreneurial thinking and action, as well as the importance of family businesses, more firmly within school education. Its key areas of focus are entrepreneurship education, teachers’ perceptions of entrepreneurship, specialist teacher training and career guidance. The aim is for pupils to gain a better understanding of economic interrelationships and to learn about entrepreneurial self-employment as a career option.

Studies carried out by the Foundation as a scientific basis

Together with the BÖB, the Foundation has worked to ensure that the history of family businesses in eastern Germany and the long-term economic consequences of expropriation are addressed in school lessons. The Foundation and the Alliance also collaborated on the dissemination of the study ‘Das Unternehmerbild im Lehrerzimmer’ (The Image of Entrepreneurs in the Staff Room), published in 2025 and produced by the Oldenburg Institute for Economic Education. The study shows how teachers perceive entrepreneurship and family businesses, and what importance they attach to entrepreneurship education. Around 85 per cent of the economics teachers surveyed believe that knowledge about businesses and entrepreneurship should form part of school education. At the same time, the study makes it clear that entrepreneurship education belongs as a subject in teacher training and that it is important to embed it more firmly in the curricula.

Forschungsergebnisse fließen in die politische Debatte ein

In seiner Stellungnahme vom 5. Oktober 2026 zur Finanzbildungsstrategie des Bundes begrüßt das BÖB den Referentenentwurf der Bundesregierung, spricht sich jedoch für ein umfassenderes Verständnis von Wirtschafts- und Finanzbildung aus. Dazu gehören neben Finanzkompetenzen auch unternehmerische Bildung, Berufsorientierung und eine bessere Qualifizierung von Lehrkräften. Im Handlungsfeld „Gründungskompetenz und Entrepreneurship-Bildung“ empfiehlt das Bündnis, Entrepreneurship Education in der Aus- und Weiterbildung von Lehrkräften zu stärken. Als wissenschaftliche Grundlage für diese Empfehlung führt das BÖB die Studie „Das Unternehmerbild im Lehrerzimmer“ der Stiftung Familienunternehmen an. Damit tragen die Forschungsergebnisse der Stiftung unmittelbar zur bildungspolitischen Diskussion über die Weiterentwicklung der Wirtschafts- und Finanzbildung bei.