This report evaluates the contribution of enterprise in education to the learning experience of young people in Scotland, as they prepare to face the challenges of life in the 21st century. In 2000, the HMI report Education for Work in Schools5 considered the impact of enterprise in what, at that time, was accepted as its wider context of education for work. That report defined enterprise as an essential part of the experience of all young learners in Scotland, and set the scene for subsequent developments. However, the evolution of terminology, from enterprise to the more expansive enterprise in education, first used in Determined to Succeed,6 signalled an important attempt to develop the identity of enterprise beyond its economic origins.
"We define Enterprise in Education broadly as the opportunity for young people to:
Determined to Succeed7 sought to achieve its targets and support schools and education authorities in a number of strategic and operational ways. Committed funding had, by 2007, exceeded £80 million. Much of the resource was allocated to education authorities through specific ring-fenced grants that set out the criteria by which funds could be disbursed locally, and were subject to regular review by members of the project’s central team. A significant amount of this funding was directed at providing local coordinators and development officers, at education authority and school level, who were remitted to develop enterprise in education by encouraging and supporting pupil activities and related professional development. A further key strategy was the endorsement of, and significant financial support for, partnership working, including important joint activity in schools and colleges, to support theSkills for Work8 pilot programme.Determined to Succeed also provided a specific budget, for which schools and education authorities could make bids additional to their agreed core funding, to support creative approaches and innovations and to encourage expansion of work-based and work-related vocational learning.
The concept of enterprise in education has developed in a wide range of contexts for 3-18 year olds over the last three years and more. The Determined to Succeed definition of enterprise as an approach to learning for living recognised the economic challenges which face Scotland, but gave equal emphasis to fulfilling individuals’ potential.
The four strands of enterprise in education outlined above have been taken ahead through two broad approaches:
The influences of enterprise in education which related to work-based vocational learning and appropriately focused career education were also evident in partnerships with Careers Scotland, and in school-college partnerships, through the endorsement and funding which Determined to Succeed provided for vocational developments including the Skills for Work pilot programme.