Final report - European Commission - Europa

Ensuring Support for Schools and TeachersENTERPRISE EDUCATION FOR 14-16 YEAR-OLD STUDENTSPatrick Shipp, Enterprise and School Business Links Unit Department for Education andSkills England, UK.Phase 1 of the Department for Education and Skills’ Key Stage 4 enterprise education strategy has been successfullycompleted. In the two years to September 2005, we set up and coordinated 700 secondary schools in 151 EnterprisePathfinders, costing £15m; and from that direct experience in schools, drafted national guidance on Enterprise learning;made that available on teachernet, and introduced it to all secondary schools through 69 conferences.We defined, to partners’ agreement, enterprise capability as "creativity, innovation, risk-management and risktaking,and a can-do attitude and the drive to make ideas happen"; and enterprise education as "enterprise capability,supported by better financial capability and economic and business understanding". Our concept of enterpriseembraces future employees, not just future entrepreneurs, and also social enterprise.Enterprise is now referred to explicitly in the guidance for Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) inspection, andfor school self-evaluation; and is a key part of, and outcome from, statutory work-related learning. The Qualificationsand Curriculum Authority (QCA) has found that it is now written into most School Development Plans.We worked with a very wide range of external partners, in many cases helping them to focus their support for schoolson enterprise education; and with other Government Departments, as a key part of the ‘enterprise culture’ agenda.We launched Phase 2 in September 2005. First, all schools with KS4 pupils received funding for a new focus on enterpriseeducation. Funds - total £60m for each of 3 academic years and are not ring-fenced. We believe that to embedenterprise in schools, teachers must be persuaded of its value and importance.The Chancellors Budget in the spring of 2006 announced the launch of a new Schools’ Enterprise Education Network(SEEN), managed by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), and based on 50 expert ‘hub’ schools. Allother enterprise specialist schools will support too, and the network will embrace all secondary schools helping themto deliver enterprise education.We are also networking nationally the many support bodies such as EBPs; continuing to develop the national guidance;supporting enterprise summer school pathfinders; we have commissioned research into learner outcomes,assessment and accreditation in enterprise education; and we will continue dissemination through conferences.Our website guidance gives more detail and best practice examples on delivering enterprise educationwww.teachernet.gov.uk/enterpriseeducation.23Entrepreneurship Education in Europe: Fostering Entrepreneurial Mindsets through Education and Learning