Supporting enterprise activities
"Enterprise education encourages young people to handle uncertainty and respond positively to change, to create and implement new ideas and ways of doing things, and to take and manage risks. It helps young people develop a 'can do' attitude and the drive to make ideas happen, raising their aspirations, improving their achievement in school and developing valuable skills for education and employment." Enterprise Overview, Qualifications and Curriculum Development Authority (QCDA) 2009
Through enterprise education, students learn about making ideas happen; getting involved in enterprise activities; and how 'being enterprising' will help them when they leave school and/or join the world of work.
Students learn to:
- be innovative
- develop a positive view of risk taking and learning from mistakes
- make decisions
- show leadership
- take on new challenges
- be adaptable, flexible and creative
- develop confidence
- reflect on what they have learnt
- articulate how they have developed and demonstrated enterprise capability, and why these skills are important for their future.
Employers can help students to achieve these outcomes in the following ways:
- Helping them to get involved in a range of enterprise activities, including business and community projects, mini-enterprises, simulations, work and community placements, and enterprise days and events.
- Helping them to experience a different sort of teaching approach from what they are used to, including problem-based approaches, collaborative and cooperative activities, coaching and mentoring.
- Encouraging them to tackle issues that involve an element of risk and uncertainty about financial outcomes, as well as regard for a successful resolution.
- Teaching them the importance of working to deadlines with limited resources.
- Helping them to organise themselves to fulfil roles and complete tasks.
- Instructing them about how to create and implement project plans that include setting targets, managing budgets and monitoring progress.1
Benefits for employers
- Students learn about the skills that employers consider to be of primary importance. Employers thus help to ensure that students are aware of what is required to be useful in the workplace/in their sector of industry.
- Employers get the satisfaction of seeing how students are motivated by real-life work.
Benefits for students
- A recent survey of 200 Yorkshire schools
found teaching staff to be very positive about the benefits young
people received from engaging in enterprising activities:
- Increasing employability/enterprise skills (e.g. time management, decision making and problem solving).
- Increasing business and economic understanding.
- Raising aspirations of students.
- Influencing career choices.
Getting started
- Visit the Business in Schools website to find out more about enterprise projects and to contact local schools and intermediaries.
- Visit the Enterprise Education Trust website, which works to empower young people to realize their potential through business and enterprise.
- Visit the Enterprise Zone website, which helps schools and colleges to embed enterprise across the curriciulum.
- Visit the Make Your Mark website, which aims to increase entrepreneurial behaviour among young people - to encourage them to have ideas and make them happen.
- Visit the Social Enterprise Coalition website, which aims to promote the benefits and best practice of social enterprise.
- Visit the Young Chamber website brings together thousands of young people with businesses in their area.
- Visit the Young Enterprise website, which offers a range of programmes based on the principle of learning through doing that brings employers into the classroom to work with teachers and students.
- Visit the Take action section on this site, for more information on what to do next.
1Adapted from Enterprise Overview, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) 2009