Entrepreneurship education in the United Kingdom 1 1 OVERVIEW In the UK, entrepreneurship education is recognised as a priority at all education levels. In 2014, the Enterprise for All report was published, authored by Lord Young. This report emphasises the importance of enterprise education in the UK (preferred term over entrepreneurship education) and provides a set of recommendations. So far, the Government has not adopted a national strategy to support enterprise education in schools. There are many examples of decentralised programmes all over the country, mainly on the regional level or at the level of individual institutions. Traditionally, the focus of support has been on secondary education, but there are multiple initiatives also covering primary education. In England, enterprise education is explicitly recognised and is a part of subjects "Personal, Social and Health Education" and "Economic wellbeing and financial capability". In Northern Ireland, enterprise education is also recognised and taught within "Personal Development and Mutual Understanding" and "Learning for Life and Work". In Scotland, enterprise education is recognised as a cross- curricular objective at all levels of school education. At some schools, it is delivered within the curriculum, at others as an extracurricular activity. The curriculum is within the competence of local authorities due to high autonomy within the educational system. In Wales, entrepreneurship education is recognised and is a part of subjects "Personal and social education" at primary schools. In secondary education, there is a separate compulsory subject "Careers and the World of Work". The landscape of initiatives to support enterprise education in the UK is very diverse and a lot of good practice examples are available. Some initiatives focus on institutions, others on individuals, teachers and/or pupils. In line with the diverse target audience, the types of initiatives are highly varied as well. They include guidance materials for teachers and school leaders, various programmes, enterprise competitions for pupils, online resources, and a number of web portals (for example Enterprise village or Big Ideas Wales) which contain useful information, such as case studies or online forums to discuss entrepreneurship in schools. 2 EXAMPLES OF ON- GOING INITIATIVES ADDRESSING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION 2.1 BIG IDEAS WALES Big Ideas Wales is a multi- faceted online portal that also works as a support centre. Big Ideas Wales gathers examples of best practice while offering a range of support schemes (start- ups, helpline, etc.). A variety of initiatives include, for example, Entrepreneurial Shadowing and an Entrepreneurial Challenge contest. The portal contains a number of case studies, guidance materials on various situations in an entrepreneur s life 1 This country fiche was prepared by Technopolis Group with contribution from 3s, DTI and ICF as part of the Entrepreneurship 360 - Promoting entrepreneurial learning in primary and secondary education and in vocational education and training project commissioned by the European Commission, DG Education and Culture. The content of this document, including the case studies and the descriptions of the initiatives reflect the information available as of August 2015. 1
(customers relations, employing people, etc.). The portal is accessible for free to everyone. The broad range of services target young people between the age of 5 and 25. 2.2 NATIONAL PRIMARY COMPETITION - THE ENTERPRISE TROOPERS Enterprise Troopers is a Welsh competition for pupils. It aims to develop enterprise skills, literacy and numeracy in an enjoyable way. The competition focuses on the set of entrepreneurial skills encapsulated in the ACRO acronym: Attitude, Creativity, Relationships and Organisation. Schools can nominate any pupil who has developed and used any of the skills to the competition with the supporting evidence. There are a number of rewards both for schools and pupils participating, from certificates to plaques and trophies. The initiative targets primary school pupils. Schools from all the Welsh regions take part in this competition and they perform regional finals, the winners of which take part in the Welsh final. 2.3 CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SCHOOLS Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools (CENTRES) is an international initiative implemented in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Slovenia and the UK. The main aim of this initiative is to establish an online forum for sharing good practice in entrepreneurship education. The website of the project (http://centres- eu.org/) contains a lot of interesting materials, links and references, predominantly from the countries involved. They include a number of best practice examples but also offer policy recommendations. The initiative targets secondary schools. Almost 200 schools from all the partner countries are involved in this initiative. 2.4 THE NATIONAL ENTERPRISE TEACHER AWARD Launched in 2014, the National Enterprise Teacher Award is an initiative implemented by Enterprise Village, an association supporting entrepreneurship education at schools. The aim is to recognise and promote best practice. The Award is a response to the "Enterprise For All" Report. It targets teachers at primary and secondary schools and those who are interested will get a mentor to help them through the application process. All the teachers who apply have access to various curriculum resources, such as guidance materials, presentations, case studies or reports. 2.5 LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING The Northern Ireland Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment prepared guidance materials for teaching Learning for Life and Work and "Personal development and mutual understanding" which are one of the key areas of learning at the Key Stages 3 and 4, and 1 and 2 respectively of the Northern Irish school system. The guidance materials provide support to develop pupils skillset needed for life and work. They provide advice on how to encourage children to become personally, emotionally and socially effective and be responsible citizens. The document provides teachers with guidance on the following different topics: Your school, children at Your school and Your community in Personal Development, and mutual understanding and employability, home economics, local and global citizenship and personal development in Learning for Life and Work. 2.6 NATIONAL STANDARD FOR ENTERPRISE EDUCATION The National Standard for Enterprise Education is a support material. It aims at supporting schools in the implementation of entrepreneurship education. The National Standard helps schools to determine their own vision of entrepreneurship education. Using mentoring, schools can reflect on their own needs and the needs of their students. The National Standard targets institutions (school leaders), as well as individual teachers. 2
2.7 A GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE EDUCATION FOR ENTERPRISE COORDINATORS, TEACHERS AND LEADERS AT SCHOOLS The guide to Enterprise Education For Enterprise Coordinators, teachers and leaders at schools aims to help embed entrepreneurship education into lesson plans, and to apply existing ideas and good practice in the school's own approach. It also emphasises the importance of working in partnership with the local community and with employers, giving examples of how these groups or individuals can to help develop this within schools. It provides a number of case studies and a set of advice to facilitate integrating entrepreneurship education at schools. The guide s primary target audience includes schools (school leaders) and teachers. 2.8 IMPACT EVALUATION FRAMEWORK ENGLAND The Impact Evaluation Framework is a new tool, which is currently being developed by Ready Unlimited, in partnership with the Centre for Education and Industry at the University of Warwick and the Centre for Education and Training at Lappeenranta University of Technology. Ready Unlimited was launched in 2005 by the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council as a school improvement programme for young people aged 4-19, to develop skills, attitudes and behaviours through enterprising and entrepreneurial learning. Today, it is an independent social enterprise which has trained approximately 1,800 teachers. The Centre for Education and Industry at the University of Warwick and the Centre for Education and Training at Lappeenranta University of Technology are the leading organisations of the above mentioned NSEE and the Measurement Tool for Entrepreneurship Education. The project team is working closely with practitioners (teachers and school managers), whose feedback was very valuable for the development of the framework. The framework covers the following areas: Ideas, Planning, Activity, and Capability. Each survey question is focused on an action or activity; for example, a question for head teachers asks whether they have an enterprise education policy, a question for teachers asks if they take local and regional industry strategies into account when they plan entrepreneurial learning for students, and a question for students asks whether they meet local business people and entrepreneurs. It not only enables those completing the surveys to measure what is and isn t there, but each question is a concrete and easily understandable action that can be undertaken by respondents. The Impact Evaluation Framework is currently available only to a group of pilot schools. Early- stage feedback from users suggests that the tool has great potential because it aims for the triangulation of evidence sources. For example, teachers who have tested the tool commonly reported that capturing student views is "gold dust", which has enabled them to sense- check their own perceptions and reflect on who may and may not be benefitting from their entrepreneurship education activities and adjust their practice accordingly. 3
2.9 FURTHER INFORMATION AND CONTACT DETAILS ON THE INITIATIVES Title of initiative in English Big Ideas Wales National Primary Competition - The Enterprise Troopers Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools Type of initiative Support centre Student competition Online forum Launch date of the initiative Name of implementing body Welsh Government Welsh Government International consortium of partners Level of education Primary, Secondary, VET Primary Secondary, VET Target group Pupils Pupils Institutions Link to further information http://business.wales.gov.uk/b igideas/ http://enterprisetroopers.com / http://centres- eu.org/ Language in which further information is available Contact person English English English Deryn Howell Contact e- mail address http://business.wales.gov.uk/b igideas/contact- us deryn.howell@prospects.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/ce ntresproject 4
Title of initiative in English The National Enterprise Teacher Award Learning for Life and Work and Personal Development and Mutual Understanding National Standard for Enterprise Education A guide to Enterprise Education For Enterprise Coordinators, teachers and leaders at schools Type of initiative Teacher competition Curriculum guidance Programme for teachers, Curriculum guidance Curriculum guidance Launch date of the initiative 2014 2007 2010 2010 Name of implementing body Enterprise Village Northern Ireland Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment Centre for Education and Industry, University of Warwick Department for Education (previously Department for Children, Schools and Families) Level of education Primary, Secondary, VET Primary, Secondary, VET Primary, Secondary, VET Secondary Target group Teachers Institution, teachers Institution, teachers Leaders, teachers Link to further information http://www.enterprisev illage.org.uk/ http://www.nicurriculu m.org.uk/docs/key_stag es_1_and_2/areas_of_l earning/pdmu/pd- Guidance.pdf http://www.nicurriculu m.org.uk/docs/learning _for_life_and_work/trai ning/llw- Guidance.pdf http://www2.warwick.a c.uk/fac/soc/cei/enterp riseeducation/casestud y http://webarchive.natio nalarchives.gov.uk/201 30401151715/http://w ww.education.gov.uk/p ublications/eorderingd ownload/00228-2010bkt- EN.pdf Language in which further information is available English English English English Contact person Gary Durbin Geoff Lindsay Contact e- mail address gary.durbin@enterprise village.org.uk info@ccea.org.uk Geoff.Lindsay@warwick.ac.uk http://www.education. gov.uk/help/contactus 5