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Executive Summary
Research Context
1. In March 2005
TNS System Three was commissioned to
carry out qualitative research to explore businesses'
participation in
DtS and the impact of
DtS on them. This research focussed on a
discrete sample from the business community and should be
regarded as providing valuable progress report into the
initial impact of the
DtS strategy from a business
perspective.
2. 24 in-depth interviews were conducted with businesses
engaged in enterprise opportunities with schools across
Scotland. Each interview approximately one hour in
duration. The business interviews were conducted across 10
Local Authority areas.
3. The Scottish Executive identified and provided the
business sample, which was divided into 2 main groups: '
DtS and before' (14 interviews) and '
DtS only' (10 interviews). The
DtS and before group were believed to
have been engaged in
EinE opportunities with schools since
before the launch of
DtS. The
DtS only group were believed to have
been engaged in
EinE opportunities with schools only
since after
DtS launch and not before.
4. 10 Local Authorities were interviewed via telephone.
Each interview was approximately 10-25 minutes in
duration.
Research Findings
5. The key findings from the research are shown as
bullet points below:
Observations from the business sample
- Commonalities were found across the businesses
sample
- All Businesses were currently
engaged in a wide range of enterprising opportunities
with schools. These ranged from work experience
placements to relatively novel arrangements with
schools such as co-coaching agreements and teacher
placements at business workplaces
- Businesses believed there were
mutual benefits for schools, pupils and businesses to
be leveraged through engaging in enterprise
opportunities. For businesses these included: giving
something back to the community, public relations
benefits and internal staff development. For pupils and
schools, businesses perceived benefits included:
exposure to the business world, active learning and
potentially sparking an interest in a new subject area
for pupils
- Businesses believed that these
mutual benefits would ultimately yield economic and
societal benefits
- Businesses were aware of
DtS and its underlying philosophy
but were largely unaware of the specific
recommendations underpinning the strategy
- Businesses had a clear idea of what enterprise
should be - a combination of attitudinal (a 'can do'
attitude thinking about a problem in a businesslike
fashion) and practical elements (practical knowledge of
how to put ideas into practice). Both elements were
considered vital in furnishing young people with the
necessary skills and business acumen to succeed in
their working life
- The expected difference in the sample (
DtS and before vs
DtS only) was not realised in the
research findings. Whilst the
DtS and before group had indeed been
engaged in
EinE opportunities for a number of
years, this was also found to be the case for the
DtS only group.
Business perceptions of
DtS
- Businesses agreed with the aim of
DtS, therefore general perceptions
of the strategy were positive
- For some the existence of
DtS as a tangible, national strategy
meant that they could compare their own organisation's
EinE plan to that of the national
strategy, thus providing a useful guide
- Some businesses perceived
DtS to be a coordinated strategy
that involved a variety of agencies including: Young
Enterprise Scotland, Careers Scotland, the Local
Authority and the Scottish Executive. For these
businesses, this perceived multi-agency approach gave
DtS a coordinated feel
- Some businesses were aware of high-level Scottish
Executive involvement associated with
DtS at the time of its launch. This
articulated the importance of the strategy to
businesses.
Business engagement with
DtS enterprise
opportunities
- Businesses had been engaged in enterprise
opportunities with schools for varying periods of
time
- The main difference in the sample groups (
DtS and before vs
DtS only) was found to be method of
first engagement with
DtS
- DtS and before were likely to be
first engaged with
DtS via a variety of ways including:
at the strategy consultation phase by the
DtS national team (at the Scottish
Executive), through other agencies (such as Careers
Scotland) and through Local Authorities
- The
DtS only group were more likely to
have been first engaged in
DtS via Local Authority contact.
This group benefited through Local Authorities acting
as enterprise opportunity idea generators, mentors and
communication bridges between them and local
schools.
Local Authorities and
DtS
- All Local Authorities were actively engaged in the
implementation of their
DtS plans
- Local Authorities were carrying out individualised
approaches to the implementation of the
DtS strategy as each had differing
geographic, social and economic circumstances
- Each Local Authority was confident that they would
achieve the national target of 5 partnership agreements
per school cluster - a specific
DtS target to be achieved by each
Local Authority by 2006
- Local Authorities had adopted a variety of ways in
which to engage businesses, including: business
breakfasts, partnership agreement sign up sessions and
face to face meetings with individual businesses
- In general, Local Authorities felt that the
Scottish Executive's role was that of providing
DtS support. Many Local Authority
DtS post holders had contacted the
Scottish Executive's
DtS team for ideas and guidance
around businesses engagement in enterprise
opportunities.
DtS challenges
- For some, partnership agreements were welcome as
they defined the parameters of the enterprising
relationship between business and school, they also
articulated the expectations placed on each party
- The formal Partnership agreement format was found
to be best used with businesses who had been lightly or
sporadically engaged in
EinE opportunities with schools
- Partnership agreements were perceived to be of less
value to those businesses who had considerable
experience of engagement in enterprise opportunities
with schools, or who preferred informal, word of mouth
arrangements. Indeed, some Local Authorities claimed
that some businesses felt that the partnership
agreements were unnecessary
- Some businesses regarded partnership agreements
negatively, suggesting it as an approach from the
Scottish executive around
DtS where the emphasis was on
signing up sufficient numbers of businesses to meet
targets.
- The individuals interviewed in these businesses
were largely unaware of communication material from the
Scottish Executive around
DtS. However, this may be due in
part to the timing of the research which coincided with
the mail out of a newsletter (
Engage) specifically aimed at businesses,
which may have reached businesses after the
interviewing date
- Regardless, businesses perceived
communications (
Engage newsletter shown during interview,
DtS website) to be more appropriate
for businesses not currently engaged with
DtS
- Businesses expressed a desire for local and
national
DtS progress updates as they were
largely unaware of any progress being made on this
scale
- Businesses agreed that the
DtS strategy must be delivered
locally
- In terms of measuring the success or otherwise of
engagement in enterprising opportunities, businesses
cited differing behaviours
- Larger businesses were more likely
to have better structured means of measurement. One
example was a business recording the number of people
in the area applying for certain related subjects when
leaving school for
HE/
FE
- Smaller businesses tended to rely on
informal, ad-hoc ways of rating the success of their
engagement. For example, being invited back to
participate with a school in the next academic
session
- Most businesses were unsure how to
measure the success or otherwise of their
engagement(s).
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