What is Non-Cognitive Skills

The entrepreneur is regarded as a driver of economic development encouraging researchers to delve into the causes that lead some people to choose the entrepreneurial activity. The response has followed two approaches: biological and sociological. The former privileges non-cognitive skills while the sociological favors factors are associated with learning and contextual conditions. Thus, the question arises: Is behavior determined by non-cognitive skills or can it be 'shaped' throughout an individual's lifetime? Using an exploratory approach supported by a literature review and contacts with the Portuguese (context under analysis) educational system, the authors aim to understand which skills are critical, the way they are acquired and developed, and the role the educational system plays in their development, concluding that entrepreneurial activity implies cognitive and non-cognitive skills which the system must deliver provided the teachers' training in advance.