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DETERMINED TO SUCCEED: A Review of Enterprise in Education

1. INTRODUCTION

A VISION FOR SCOTLAND

The Review Group's vision is of a more successful and prosperous Scotland where young people are determined to succeed and where innovation, wealth creation and entrepreneurship are valued. This demands a change in Scotland's culture. The ultimate goal of Enterprise in Education must be the creation of successful businesses, jobs and prosperity. Prosperity and wealth creation are vital to support essential services such as health and education.

Young people in Scotland must have the best possible experiences of Enterprise in Education so they can contribute to an enterprising, successful Scotland as employees, employers and entrepreneurs. But for this to happen there is a need for major expansion in the involvement of businesses in schools.

ENTERPRISE IN EDUCATION

The Review Group was established to review "Education for Work and Enterprise". For some years the term "Education for Work" has been used to describe activities and programmes designed to support development of attitudes, skills and knowledge which together comprise "capability for work and enterprise".

Having reviewed this aspect of school provision, the Review Group concluded the key element - that needs to be given fresh and clear emphasis - is the development of enterprise. So we decided to replace the term "Education for Work and Enterprise" with the term "Enterprise in Education". This is not to set aside what was previously defined as "Education for Work", but rather to encompass and improve it, while giving a higher profile to enterprise, and the role of business in delivering it.

We define Enterprise in Education broadly as the opportunity for young people to:

• develop enterprising attitudes and skills through learning and teaching across the whole curriculum
• experience and develop understanding of the world of work in all its diversity, including entrepreneurial activity and self-employment
• participate fully in enterprise activities, including those which are explicitly entrepreneurial in nature, and in which success is the result of "hands-on" participation and
• enjoy appropriately focused career education

Entrepreneurial activities are a specific type of enterprise activity. The term refers to activities that involve setting up and running a business for profit and require a business plan, raising money, financial management, risk taking and profit-sharing.

The diagram below illustrates key features of Enterprise in Education.

ASPECTS OF ENTERPRISE IN EDUCATION

THE NEED FOR ACTION

There are significant reasons why we need action to promote a change in culture.

As set out in Smart, Successful Scotland (Scottish Executive 2001, 2002) there is a need for greater "entrepreneurial dynamism" in Scotland.

Comparing Scotland with other countries the authors of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Scotland 2001 (Galloway and Levie 2002) grouped the 31 nations in the study into three bands according to their "total entrepreneurial activity" as shown in Table 1. Scotland was placed in the lowest of these bands.

Table 1: National Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) Scores:

Source: GEM2001 Population Survey

The GEM Scottish study argues that, compared to other small modern nations, the environment in Scotland is not so favourable to entrepreneurial activity. In particular, fewer people are likely to perceive opportunities to start a business, fewer people know someone who has started a business and more identify fear of failure as preventing them starting a business. While issues of infrastructure and prevailing economic conditions influence successful business start-up, the persistent diagnosis with respect to Scotland's lower business birth-rate is in terms of cultural attitudes, which are considered to be negative towards entrepreneurship and risk taking (Galloway and Levie 2002).

Comparable statistics for new business start-ups show Scotland performs poorly against the rest of the UK (although similar to Wales and Northern Ireland). International comparisons are more difficult as systems differ in each nation. It is generally recognised, however, that the UK is mid-ranking in comparison with the rest of the EU and significantly behind the United States.

Chart 1: Business start-ups per 10,000 resident adults

Source: Small Business Service

Scotland needs to have many more people who have the desire to set up new businesses and make them grow. People need to have the confidence and self-belief which enable them to take risks. Failure needs to be seen as something to learn from, not to be feared. More young people need to have the opportunity to meet successful young entrepreneurs and see self-employment as a career option.

LEADERSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP

Strong and accountable leadership is key in taking forward this agenda. There is a need for a transformation in business involvement in education. The business community must take a lead at national and local levels. Local authorities must give appropriate leadership to their schools. Senior management must lead within schools and teachers must give appropriate leadership to their pupils - even if that means learning to hand over the reins and allowing them to be the leaders. Enterprise in Education requires effective partnerships at all levels - national, local authority and school.

We believe that the recommendations in this Report, when implemented by the key players working together, will go far in meeting the future needs of Scotland. They will enable young people to develop positive attitudes, which will contribute to a more enterprising culture in Scotland and greater economic success in local and global markets.

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