Improving Enterprise in Education evaluates enterprise in education using a framework developed in direct response to a recommendation in Determined to Succeed. The framework comprised quality indicators, chosen from the second edition of How good is our school? to focus on key features of enterprise in education: learners’ experiences, achievements and attainments, how well their needs were met, their wider personal and social development, and the effectiveness of planning for improvement.
HMIE inspected enterprise in education in 36 centres, chosen to represent a broad range of practice. The sample (appendix 1) included primary, secondary and special schools. It also included early education centres and community learning and development (CLD) programmes, to provide broad coverage of the contexts for enterprise in education for young learners aged 3-18. HMIE also drew on the wider findings of its general inspection programme, and from a range of HMIE activities relevant to enterprise in education.
The inspection was timed to be carried out after Determined to Succeed had had a reasonable period to impact on practice. It took place over 2006/07, building on insights gained by HMIE over the period 2004 to 2006. Over that earlier period, inspectors had focused on identifying, disseminating and promoting good practice in enterprise in education, including through major national seminars. In contrast,Improving Enterprise in Education records strengths where these exist, but also identifies aspects where further development is needed. It aims to contribute to debate on the future direction for enterprise in education, as part of young people’s overall experience withinCurriculum for Excellence.
This report builds on themes, including those identified in publications such as Lifelong Partners9, which provide a backcloth for enterprise in education. The fieldwork for the task coincided with several relevant major developments including the national Skills for Work pilot programme, on which HMIE reported inPreparing for Work, a review of the roles of Scotland’s colleges (RoSCo)10, and a period in which the functions of Careers Scotland remained under review. The report also relates closely to Skills for Scotland: A Lifelong Skills Strategy, and chimes with major recommendations in the OECD report of 2007. These reports and reviews confirm the high levels of interest in issues and provision linked to enterprise in education, and its place on the national improvement agenda.
Determined to Succeed — Three Years On11 described the progress achieved towards targets which included entrepreneurial and vocational experiences for all pupils, professional development for staff, and partnerships with business.Improving Enterprise in Education records HMIE’s independent evaluation of the impact of enterprise in education on learners’ experience, their achievements, the effectiveness of leadership for learning and innovation in an enterprising culture, and the capacity for continuous improvement of practice in enterprising learning.
Many of the themes promoted by Determined to Succeed are echoed by other major developments including, most significantly, Curriculum for Excellence. A number of other influential developments focused on learning and teaching, including Assessment is for Learning, cooperative learning and critical thinking. Important national movements and developments in citizenship (including pupil councils), health (including Health Promoting Schools) and sustainable development (including Eco Schools) were contexts in which young learners had opportunities to act in enterprising ways. These major themes often featured alongside references to enterprise in centres’ documentation and discussions. Similarly, enterprise in education harmonised well with key principles in Curriculum for Excellence, such as the focus on challenge and enjoyment, depth and richness of study, active learning strategies and real-world relevance. Specific credit for influence on pupils’ achievements is therefore sometimes difficult to attribute, at a time when many concurrent initiatives have influenced Scottish education. The Determined to Succeed strategy could not work in isolation from the range of other significant developments at national and local authority levels.