This research explores Mission-Based Learning (MBL) as an innovative pedagogical approach designed to operationalise broad-based competencies in authentic, socially meaningful contexts. Grounded in experiential learning, MBL organizes learning around purposeful missions or challenges that require students to take responsibility, collaborate, make decisions, and reflect on outcomes.

By emphasizing active participation, problem-solving, and experiential engagement, MBL enables learners to apply knowledge and skills in dynamic, real-world scenarios. This study analyses Yrityskylä Itä-Suomi, a purpose-designed, non-formal, simulation-based learning environment through the lens of MBL examining how it supports student agency and entrepreneurial competencies among sixth-grade learners, and how these competencies transfer across formal and non-formal educational contexts.

Educational systems worldwide are increasingly expected to prepare learners for complex social, economic, and technological environments by developing transversal competencies such as agency, collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking (Trilling & Fadel, 2010). In Finland, these ambitions are embedded in the National Core Curriculum through broad-based competencies (laaja-alainen osaaminen), which emphasise learner agency, entrepreneurship education, and interdisciplinary learning (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2016). While these competencies are conceptually supported in policy, their practical enactment in classrooms and beyond remains uneven. Skills such as entrepreneurship and agency are often misunderstood or underestimated in local curricula due to limited pedagogical guidance for educators (Seikkula-Leino et al., 2019; Ruskovaara & Pihkala, 2015; Lackéus, 2015). This gap is particularly critical in peripheral regions such as North Karelia, where fostering innovation and regional vitality requires equipping students with these future-oriented skills (Regional Council of North Karelia, 2021; Smart Specialisation Strategy of North Karelia, 2022; OECD, 2018). Consequently, there is a growing need for structured, engaging pedagogical approaches that enable students to operationalise these competencies in both formal and non-formal educational environments.

To support this research, the study draws upon key theories: entrepreneurial learning (Kyrö, 2005), experiential learning (Kolb, 1984), agency in education (Leonard, 2017) and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986). The EntreComp Framework (EntreComp, 2016) guides the operationalisation of entrepreneurial competencies.

The primary objective is to analyze how learning designers conceptualise the relationship between MBL, student agency, and competency development, and how these conceptualisations translate into concrete pedagogical design principles. A secondary objective is to explore the implicit and explicit educational philosophies informing Yrityskylä learning activities, including assumptions about learning, motivation, authenticity, and the role of structure versus autonomy.

By focusing on learning designers’ perspectives, the study addresses a gap in MBL and entrepreneurship education research, which has predominantly emphasised student outcomes rather than pedagogical intent and design logic. Understanding how designers interpret and operationalise agency, and competencies is critical for explaining how MBL functions in practice, and for supporting the transferability of such models to other educational contexts.

Corresponding research questions were formulated to guide empirical inquiry:

RQ1: How do learning designers perceive the role of mission-based learning in fostering student agency, entrepreneurial competencies, and other transversal skills?

RQ2: What pedagogical philosophies and design rationales underpin learning designers’ decisions in the development and implementation of Yrityskylä learning activities?

The research is conducted in close collaboration with Yrityskylä Itä-Suomi and participating primary schools in Eastern Finland. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews from five learning designers responsible for the development and implementation of mission-based learning (MBL) structures, including those embedded within the Yrityskylä programme. The participants represented a range of expert roles related to education, entrepreneurship education, and service and content development. Their professional designations included, for example, special advisory roles in teacher education and research, experts within the Yrityskylä organisation, and specialists in youth entrepreneurship skills. All participants held at least a master’s degree in fields such as education, economics, or instructional design, with some additionally engaged in doctoral studies in education or behavioural sciences. To ensure anonymity, individual participants are described only at an aggregate level. Interviews lasted between 60 and 75 minutes and were conducted either in person (one interview) or online via Microsoft Teams. Both Finnish and English were used during the interviews to allow participants to express professional and conceptual nuances more precisely. In addition, the researcher conducted site visits to the Yrityskylä learning environment to observe and gain contextual familiarity with the setting and its pedagogical structures. The observational data from Yrityskylä learning environments will be used as contextual material to support interpretation of designers’ accounts. These observations are intended to provide insight into how articulated design principles manifest in practice, particularly in relation to mission structure, learner choice, collaboration, and interaction patterns. Observational notes will not be analysed independently but will instead serve to triangulate and contextualise interview data. Interview protocols were informed by agency theory and the EntreComp framework, allowing for systematic exploration of how competencies are conceptualised and embedded in MBL activities. Questions addressed designers’ views on learner autonomy, the balance between guidance and freedom, the role of missions in structuring learning, and the intended mechanisms through which agency and competencies are activated. Interview data will be transcribed and analysed thematically to identify recurring patterns and variations across participants.

This study is expected to generate conceptual and design-oriented insights into how Mission-Based Learning (MBL) is intentionally conceptualised and operationalised by learning designers within a purpose-designed, non-formal, simulation-based learning environment. Based on semi-structured interviews with learning designers, the findings are expected to reveal how agency, entrepreneurial competencies, and transversal skills are understood, prioritized, and embedded within mission structures and pedagogical design choices at Yrityskylä Itä-Suomi. The analysis is anticipated to identify key design principles and pedagogical rationales underpinning MBL implementation, including how learning designers balance structure and autonomy, scaffold decision-making, and create opportunities for responsibility, collaboration, and reflection. Differences in how designers interpret agency and entrepreneurship either as explicit learning outcomes or as emergent properties of participation are also expected to surface, highlighting variations in underlying educational philosophies and assumptions about learning and motivation. Furthermore, the study is expected to shed light on how learning designers conceptualise the transferability of competencies across formal and non-formal educational contexts, including perceived enablers and constraints for aligning MBL with school curricula and policy expectations. These insights will contribute to a deeper understanding of how MBL functions in practice, not only as a pedagogical method but as a design logic informed by experiential learning, entrepreneurial learning, and agency-oriented perspectives. By foregrounding learning designers’ perspectives, the study will extend existing research on MBL and entrepreneurship education, which has largely focused on student outcomes, by making visible the often-implicit pedagogical reasoning that shapes learning environments. The findings are expected to inform educators, curriculum developers, and policymakers seeking to design or adapt mission-based approaches in diverse educational settings, offering transferable insights into how agency and competencies can be intentionally fostered through pedagogical design.

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