‘Before University’ provision : enterprise education through the school curriculum (original) (raw)

Enterprise education as pedagogy

Purpose – This paper seeks to suggest that the most appropriate way to construe the concept of enterprise education is from a pedagogical viewpoint. Enterprise education as pedagogy is argued to be the most appropriate way to think about the concept and serves to demarcate it from entrepreneurship education, which is very much about business start-up and the new venture creation process. Design/methodology/approach – Enterprise education is underpinned by experiential action learning that can be in, outside and away from the normal classroom environment. It can be delivered across a range of subject areas throughout different phases of education. Findings – Enterprise and entrepreneurship education are perceived to be conflated terms that for many in the education and business communities mean much the same thing. Adopting an enterprise education approach allows greater pupil/student ownership of the learning process. Practical implications – Enterprise education as pedagogy advocates an approach to teaching where specific learning outcomes differ across and between different educational phases and subject areas but which has a clear and coherent philosophical underpinning. Originality/value – Enterprise education should not be equated solely with business, as it is a broader, deeper and richer concept. The theoretical import of the paper is in part a plea for a more rigorous, practically informed analysis of the different strands (pedagogy, entrepreneurship, citizenship and civic responsibility) that make up enterprise education. The paper also sets out the case for a more critical analysis of enterprise education.

Enterprise education

Journal of Management Development

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine young learners’ attitudes towards enterprise education within the context of a university led initiative to construct a sustainable framework which benefits identified stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach The research used self-completed questionnaires with 117 business studies students in Stages S4-S6 from secondary schools across Dundee and business students from Years 1-4 at one university in Dundee, Scotland. Findings The research reveals that respondents positively engage with enterprise education and felt that their project management, creative thinking, communication skills and confidence were enhanced by the activity of real-world business challenges. The findings support the notion that an enterprising spine embedded in the academic curriculum better equip the learner with the necessary hard and soft skills required for the employment market but not necessarily to be entrepreneurial. Research limitations/implications A li...

Enterprise Learning: a challenge to education?

European Educational Research Journal, 2005

The northern part of Sweden is characterised by depopulation and relatively high levels of unemployment among young people. As a consequence, a number of projects have been established for the purpose of strengthening young people's creativity and spirit of enterprise. The aim of this article is to problematise the concept of 'enterprise education' as understood in Swedish schools. This is done by visualising the rhetoric that surrounds the effort of introducing Enterprise in Schools ('Företagsamhet i skolan') and by trying to understand what the concept means in practice from the perspective of apprenticeship theory. The authors' research involves classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students from different schools. The results show that the discourse about Enterprise in Schools is based on catchwords such as cooperation, power of initiative, creativity and activity. The authors' studies of the organisation and implementation of the teaching have visualised the collaborative aim and emphasis on learning through schoolwork.

The assessment of enterprise education in the secondary education sector

Education + Training, 2011

PurposeAlthough the assessment of enterprise education activities has been widely highlighted as a key area of concern, it continues to be under represented in the literature. Questions remain as to how educators seeking to monitor student progression can capture quality data and measure relevant aspects of development, often leading enterprise education to be monitored rather than assessed. This article seeks to explore the challenges of assessing enterprise education in the secondary education sector. It aims to provide useful insights to help practitioners understand how to evidence the impact of enterprise learning by students.Design/methodology/approachThe paper first presents a critical review of the existing literature with insights from specialist practitioners sourced through an online survey and a seminar. This provides a broad review of the field from a practitioner standpoint focusing on current assessment techniques and standards. Using these data a conceptual pedagogy ...

The assessment of enterprise education in the secondary education sector: A new approach?

2011

Purpose–Although the assessment of enterprise education activities has been widely highlighted as a key area of concern, it continues to be under represented in the literature. Questions remain as to how educators seeking to monitor student progression can capture quality data and measure relevant aspects of development, often leading enterprise education to be monitored rather than assessed. This article seeks to explore the challenges of assessing enterprise education in the secondary education sector.

Emergent issues in enterprise education: the educator's perspective

Industry and Higher Education, 2011

Recent research suggests that important issues are emerging among enterprise educators in higher education institutions (HEIs). This paper examines four key areas of debate. The first of these is the assessment of entrepreneurship ideas and related activities (Pittaway and Cope, 2007). Penaluna and Penaluna (2008, 2009a,b), for example, focus on assessment methods in schools of art and design and on how these methods could be employed more effectively by enterprise educators. Second, and linked to the issue of assessment, is the area of ‘contextualized’ enterprise education, focusing on enterprise education as it is taught within the context of a specific discipline (for example, Carey and Matlay, 2007). The third area concerns online social media platforms and how in the UK these are increasingly being employed to deliver and support enterprise pedagogies, including the use of external contacts, teaching marketing and explorations of professional boundaries (Smith, 2009; Carey, 200...

Enterprise Learning and School Subjects – A Subject Didactic Issue?

Journal of Education and Training, 2014

According to the Swedish government, entrepreneurship is supposed to "run like a read thread" through the education system. Teachers are in their teaching required to stimulate skills that are vital for entrepreneurship. This study problematizes the relation between school subjects and enterprise learning from a discourse analytical approach. The point of departure is policy documents and research on entrepreneurship in schools. By using interviews with teachers and a principal, interpretations and understanding of enterprise learning is analyzed. The results show that teachers emphasize the concepts connection with real life and creating meaningfulness in their rhetoric, but by omitting the didactic questions why and for whom, tend both the concepts creating meaningfulness and connection with real lift to deal with teachers' experiences and understanding and not on pupils' learning.