Beyond the Classroom Walls: How Project-Based Learning Transforms Secondary Students into Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs

This study examined the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) in developing entrepreneurialcompetencies among secondary education students in Peru. A quantitative, nonexperimental, crosssectionaldesign was employed with 234 students from three public educational institutions in theMorrope district. Data were collected via validated instruments: the Project-Based LearningQuestionnaire for Students (CABP-E), which has 27 items across seven dimensions, and theEntrepreneurial Competency Questionnaire (CCE), which has 19 items across four dimensions. Bothinstruments demonstrated excellent internal consistency (? = 0.974 and ? = 0.969, respectively). Theresults revealed that 65.4% of the students perceived medium-level PBL implementation, whereas 64.5%demonstrated medium-level entrepreneurial competencies. Spearman correlation analysis revealed astrong positive and statistically significant relationship between PBL and entrepreneurial competencies(rho = 0.785, p < 0.001), explaining approximately 61.6% of the variance. Dimensional analysis identifiedtechnological resources as the most critical limitation, with 58.1% of the students reporting low levels andno students reporting high levels. The study confirms that PBL is an effective pedagogical strategy fordeveloping entrepreneurial competencies in secondary education, even under resource-constrainedconditions. The findings suggest that methodological coherence can compensate for infrastructuraldeficiencies, providing empirical evidence for early entrepreneurial education interventions at thesecondary level. Received: 03 December 2025 / Accepted: 15 February 2026 / Published: March 2026