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ENTERPRISE IN EDUCATION: SME SURVEY
CHAPTER FOUR: ENHANCING EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS AND ACQUIRING NEW ONES
4.1 The research findings highlight that views towards EinE are predominantly positive: those who are already involved are willing to continue; those without any experience can perceive benefits, albeit largely for pupils rather than for themselves, and there is a general appreciation for helping the local community generally. Even more encouragingly there is also evidence to suggest that there is considerable potential for EinE to expand and develop.
WILLINGNESS TO TAKE PART AMONGST THOSE NOT INVOLVED
4.2 There is, for example, evidence of a willingness to take part amongst businesses that have not been involved yet in EinE. All those without experience of EinE were asked how likely they would be to get involved, if contacted and the response obtained was as follows:
Figure 4.1: Q18. Likelihood of agreeing to be involved if contacted by local school or Careers Scotland
Base: all non-participating respondents (n =298)
4.3 Not surprisingly those who had previously indicated a greater degree of identification with the local community (at an initial set of questions - see Appendix A, Table A.1.1) were more widely represented amongst those indicating that they are very or fairly likely to be involved in the future, compared to those who claimed to be less involved in the local community. Appealing to the 'social' values of businesses should therefore be considered when developing future marketing campaigns.
4.4 Importantly too, although the level of overall support is by no means widespread (47% very or fairly likely to participate) it does confirm that there are firms willing to be involved in EinE and that would therefore be open to an approach. Furthermore just under one ten expressed a strong commitment to taking part if asked.
4.5 Further confirmation of this view was recorded when we asked those without experience of EinE why they had not become or were not currently involved. Two reasons given were that they had no information/link with the schools (9%) or that they were a new company (8%) (see Appendix A, Fig A.1.19 for full results). Furthermore, on a similar measure asked of those who had been contacted but had not taken part (see Appendix A, Fig.A.1.18 for full results), some 16% indicated that this was because they had not been specifically asked to do so.
4.6 For these businesses, non-participation is therefore not the result of a decision not to get involved but rather it is considered to be the result of the lack of opportunity to do so. This is a positive message for those responsible for promoting and developing EinE, as it confirms that a pro-active stance from Local Authorities, schools, etc. should result in some success, although any activity of this type would be more effective if supported by improvements to information provision and communication. These issues are discussed in more detail in the later sections of this report.
Type of involvement of most/least interest
4.7 If EinE is to broaden its appeal, work experience has the most resonance with businesses. 60% of those who claimed that they would be very or fairly likely to become involved indicated that allowing pupils to have a week's work experience would be of most interest - more than double the percentage recorded for any other activity. Giving a talk on their business and the jobs people do received the next highest level of endorsement (23%). Conversely taking a teacher on placement was of least interest (38%) by a sizeable margin, followed by giving talks on their business (23%) and helping teams to create a business at school (15%). The full results obtained on the sort of involvement of a) the most and b) the least interest are summarised in Figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2: Q19. Sort of involvement that would be of a) most interest, b) least interest
Base: all non-participants likely to become involved if approached =139)
4.8 The much greater level of interest in work experience is arguably a result of its much greater familiarity. Whilst this in itself is perhaps not a concern, the findings do highlight that many of the barriers towards EinE stem from the perception that EinE is mainly concerned with the pupil coming to the business rather than vice versa. More details of the perceived barriers are discussed in Chapter 5.
4.9 The lack of enthusiasm for taking a 'teacher on a placement' in Figure 4.2 could be taken to imply that this is an unnecessary exercise. However the qualitative findings contradict this in as much as respondents recognised the need for teachers to be more "business aware" (see comments below). The findings in Figure 4.2 perhaps reflect a feeling that taking on a teacher work placement would be more demanding than taking on a pupil, or that businesses should not have the responsibility of educating teachers.
"…the thing we really ought to do is to have the teachers and actually have some time with the teachers and teach the teachers because in many ways God bless them a lot of the teachers don't really have much idea about all the various sectors of work that people are presenting there. Again, let me exercise my prejudice, there's a calibre of teachers who went from school to university to teacher training college and back to teaching again without the intervention of ever having been in business, made money or done anything. They've never gone out the education business and you know, you can almost see the teachers standing at the back looking over the kids' shoulders trying to find out and trying to learn, that's why I say whatever schemes there are you should get teachers to come in to your company, even if it's for a morning or afternoon and see what you do and that would be really good because it's very difficult to tell kids about the world of work when all you actually know is about the world of education." (PARTICIPATING)
"I think maybe the one thing that should be changed is the criteria in schools. They should change, maybe even teachers should be trained in the subject of business or something like that. I think a lot of the time the teachers went from school into university and have not actually been in the real world. I know quite a lot of teachers and what they know about business isn't worth knowing so how can they teach them about anything like that." (NON-PARTICIPATING)
DEVELOPING EXISTING PARTICIPANTS
4.10 Acquiring new business contacts is, however, just one method for achieving growth. Arguably a more cost effective approach would be to develop ways of expanding and building upon current relationships.
Likelihood of increasing involvement
4.11 As was shown earlier, businesses already involved have often been active for many years, have fairly regular involvement and are generally willing to continue. To measure the potential for expanding this commitment, they were asked how likely they would be to increase their involvement. The results obtained were largely positive, as shown in Figure 4.3.
Figure 4.3: Q12b. Likelihood of participants agreeing to increase their involvement with local schools.
Base: all participants (200)
4.12 In total 70% stated that they were likely to increase their involvement, with just over a quarter expressing a strong commitment to doing so. When further probing of this was carried out within the qualitative research, there also appeared to be evidence to support this with businesses saying that if asked, they would do more.
4.13 As outlined previously it would appear that many businesses are handled in a fairly informal way, with little commitment expressed by either party regarding future activities. There is therefore perhaps a need to cement relationships with local businesses, not necessarily by formalising them but by maintaining closer or more regular contact, and critically by enabling more information to be passed between all those concerned. The views expressed certainly seem to highlight an existing platform for achieving growth which should be exploited. However the findings that are discussed in the next section also illustrate that there is a need for improvement in the way in which businesses are 'handled'.
Information provision
4.14 One of the main priorities for ensuring the effective management and development of relationships with businesses is the provision of more information. From the perspective of those already involved there appears to be a lack of clarity regarding a number of issues and hence information flow has to improve. When asked directly which particular types of information would be of most interest the following results were obtained.
Figure 4.4: Q14 Factors/information that would help business to benefit from more involvement with local schools and pupils
Base: all participants (200)
4.15 These results confirm that to develop and improve the experience of EinE there is a need for better communication. Around half of those asked indicated an interest in general information, an interest in information on pupils and requested more regular contact with schools. As highlighted in point 4.18 below, the general information sought should ideally include details of the background and purpose of EinE, information on the various types of activities that businesses can participate in, and perhaps some guidance on what is expected of businesses that participate in particular activities such as work placements or Young Enterprise.
4.16 Evidence of poor communication was also provided by the qualitative research. For example, in some cases, non-participating businesses were approached by a school to participate in the scheme but were never re-contacted. For participating businesses there was a general lack of feedback - especially from schools arranging work experience. Some form of follow up to bring an experience to an official close would be the minimum requirement. This might take the form of a feedback review, asking businesses to rate a work experience pupil on a few key metrics, or a certificate of participation in the scheme could be issued at little expense. The symbolic value of a certificate - acting as a 'thank-you' for participating - should not be underestimated as a gesture of goodwill.
4.17 Extending this, formal recognition in the form of awards for best practice or an annual launch / awards event that participating businesses could be invited to would signal the regard in which the scheme is held by the Scottish Executive, as well as generating publicity and interest in EinE. Publicity in this format might also act as a spur to organisations not currently involved and act as motivator for involvement in the scheme. Those SMEs singled out for praise may also be willing to take on an ambassadorial role on behalf of EinE: their testimony in turn could persuade other organisations of the benefits to businesses inherent in the scheme.
4.18 Additionally the qualitative research revealed a need for :
- Greater clarity on the role and purpose of EinE activities, and work experience specifically: what is it trying to achieve; how should it be approached by employers; what particular elements of 'work' would be of most interest/benefit; what objectives could be set?
- Background information on pupils: whilst there was some expectation or desire that businesses could 'interview' pupils, there was a broader consensus that even fairly basic information on the pupil would be useful: what year they are in, what they are studying, what interests they have, why they want to go on work experience; what they would want to achieve from it?
- Pupils having information on businesses: in the worst case scenario a pupil turns up for work experience with both parties completely uninformed about each other. Whilst the businesses thus also expressed an interest in obtaining background information on the pupils, ensuring that pupils have information on the business would also be beneficial.
4.19 It is understood that for some pupils work experience is a formal school course module. This more formalised approach to work experience by the pupil would certainly seem to answer some of the concerns that have arisen. Additionally though any background work by the pupils would ideally also include an element of Health and Safety. As noted in Figure 4.4 above, there is widespread support for giving pupils guidance on Health and Safety before undertaking work experience and these concerns were also reflected in the qualitative work.
"It's quite an inconvenience to us because the shop is quite dangerous" (PARTICIPATING)
4.20 The issue of Health and Safety also links to the general area of pupils being under-prepared when they arrive for their work placements. Several respondents suggested that preparation is the responsibility of the school and that pupils should be able to 'hit the ground running'. This would include the completion of basic H&S training and any necessary certification prior to arriving at the workplace. There was also the suggestion of having a "work experience" insurance policy which would cover the pupils in all workplaces rather than burdening the organisation's insurance.
Other concerns of participants
4.21 The importance attached to Health and Safety issues amongst participants was confirmed, when over half agreed that "there are significant Health and Safety issues to deal with", and a quarter indicated that this was their chief concern. Also confirming previous results, on this same measure (see Appendix 1,Fig A.1.15) half of the participants agreed that "we need more feedback from the schools on our role", with a fifth claiming that this was their main concern. However the large amount of staff time taken up by EinE also emerged as a fairly widespread concern - 42% agreed it was a concern and 18% indicated it was their most important one.
4.22 Slightly contradicting earlier results which suggested that pupils were easy to deal with, and that there were no particular issues regarding the pupils themselves, some 42% of participating firms agreed that this was a concern, although this was unlikely to be a key negative.
4.23 The perception that the experience is too short for pupils was less widely agreed with (34%) and relatively few considered this to be a main concern (16%), nevertheless it too suggests that the time available should be used more effectively.
4.24 Linked again perhaps to the time taken up by EinE, the amount of paperwork involved in EinE emerged as a concern for some 25% whilst just 15% expressed concern that they were out of pocket. These last two are perhaps 'niggles' that take on greater importance when concerns regarding the lack of preparation, planning and perceived time wasting, are strong. However care will need to be taken to ensure that the formalisation and strengthening of contact with businesses is achieved without incurring too much bureaucracy. One strong advocate of EinE within the qualitative research highlighted a concern that 'disclosure documents' were tiresome and that there was no need for these to be filled in as representatives of her company were never left alone with pupils.
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