Final report - European Commission - Europa

THE MINI-ENTERPRISE IN THE CLASS ROOMMichel Brüll, Les Jeunes Entreprises asbl, BelgiumIn Belgium, it is mainly the catholic network which officially recognises the student company programme as an optionwithin the curriculum in technical and vocational education. As part of the curriculum, activities in school are complementedwith extra-time work for the students to organise their business operations (product development,contacts with providers and customers, sales, etc.). This methodology is very much based on the enthusiasm andgood will of students and teachers. These activities require from teachers not only special knowledge, but also achange in teaching methodologies. This requires specialised training assumed by some teachers selected by the networkfor this purpose.More concretely: the mini-enterprise in the classroom is designed for students at the third stage of technical andvocational education. They take responsibility as a group, for a small sized and short time business, from its settingup (at the beginning of the school year) to its liquidation (at the end of the school year). This is a structure whichmakes it possible to integrate several courses around a project so that students can get into contact with social andeconomic reality through simulation. This is a structured project which takes five hours per week and is managed bya team of teachers. Teachers are supported by staff of our non-profit organisation "Les Jeunes Entreprises", who providessupporting documents and guides, organizes seminars, etc. The activity takes place in class within the establishedcurriculum, but is also continued outside the school as a voluntary activity for the pupils. In this "in-class"model, the teacher incorporates the methodology into his/her courses: it makes possible to examine certain mattersmore into details, compared to an out-of-class and completely voluntary activity.Each mini-company is supported by one or two advisers coming from the business world and who agree to share theirexperience with the young people. Relations with suppliers and customers provide an opportunity to interact withthe real business world out of the school."Les Jeunes Entreprises" have evaluation tools at disposal. In addition, teachers prepare data documents and sheetsfor full assessment. A final exam takes place at the end of the year. If the mini-company activity is considered positivelyby both teachers and external advisers, the students are granted a certificate of “successful development of theproject” by the school. In addition, if the students fulfil a number of conditions set by "Les Jeunes Entreprises”, a“young entrepreneur” certificate is issued.To sum upThe aims of the project are:1. Learning to learn, on the basis of real life problems;2. Offering the students prospects and generate motivation;3. Learning to do business;4. Extending the cultural backgroung of the students by using self-teaching methods;5. Learning to anticipate and manage the consequences of one's own decisions and actions;6. Promoting team work and courses pooling;7. Acquiring a capacity for synthesis by incorporating in a complex global situation elements of specific and partialknowledge (how to do things, knowledge and know-how being incorporated with each other to produce aknowledge of how to behave);8. Making the students fully aware of the social and economic environment.49Entrepreneurship Education in Europe: Fostering Entrepreneurial Mindsets through Education and Learning