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Entrepreneurial Education opportunities across the curriculum
Malcolm Hoare, Professor of Enterprise Education in Schools, Institute of Education, University of Derby
Research suggests that entrepreneurial education in schools works best when it is embedded across the whole curriculum rather than as a ‘bolt on’ added extra.
Case studies from some of the best schools show how teachers are introducing entrepreneurial knowledge and understanding, skills and aptitudes through the full and varied range of subject disciplines. Many of these opportunities occur naturally, generated both by the demands of the syllabus requirements and also through the broader aims of the school concerning citizenship and employability. Sadly these opportunities are not always identified and exploited to the full in all schools and even where it is happening the positive impact on both student learning and on teacher professional development of such activities is sometimes not recognised and celebrated as fully as it should be.
As an example, go into any school and at some point in the year there will be at least one dramatic production in preparation. Students will have had auditions for the acting parts and task specific interviews for the ‘support staff’. Selection is rarely based on academic ability but more usually on their ‘can do’ attitude i.e. their entrepreneurial capabilities including team working, risk taking, problem solving and decision making. Any student who wants to get involved will be allocated a task. Aside from the cast, there are opportunities to get involved with set design, costumes, lighting, front of house , marketing and promotion, health and safety, budgeting and cash control . Teachers will be facilitating rather than just delivering. In other words, giving students an opportunity to work in a realistic entrepreneurial environment where they are responsible for the success or failure of the venture.
The best schools will also be looking for community support to extend and develop their Dramatic Arts provision, which is where employer engagement can quite literally take the limelight. Many local theatres have developed a range of school initiatives and programmes aimed at getting more young people to experience the world of theatre. For the students involved in these link activities it can be life changing experience. Many of them will be encountering a totally new and unique experience, visiting a theatre as a place of work and seeing the range of skils and expertise required to run a successful enterprise ,suggesting to them career opportunities they had perhaps never imagined. This is employer engagement as it should be, raising aspirations and making a lasting, long term difference.
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