Delivering enterprise education

Sarah Porretta at Young Enterprise explains how enterprise education can make young people real-world ready  

 

It’s no secret that the UK faces a skills problem. Research by Demos and Scouts reveals half of employers struggle to recruit young people with transferable skills such as leadership, teamwork and emotional resilience.

 

This gap between the transferable skills taught in schools and those needed in the workplace is echoed by young people themselves, who report lower confidence in areas like speaking and listening, leadership and teamwork by age 16.  

 

These challenges are particularly acute for Gen Z. Over a third of employers say their younger employees lack communication skills (37%), with nearly a quarter of them (24%) not feeling comfortable talking by phone. In fact, 6% of 16–24-year-olds would rather communicate exclusively through emojis. 

 

This disconnect is affecting young people’s workplace readiness and yet there are some amazing solutions, already evidenced to work for young people, and ready to further scale.

 

Improving soft skills in a crowded curriculum

With teachers already overstretched, adding significant amounts of new content to the existing requirements is not a feasible solution.

 

However, adapting how subjects are delivered can make all the difference. Enterprise education – the opportunity for young people to design, set up and run their own student business, often working with volunteers from local companies – provides engaging, exciting real-world contexts for applied learning.

 

Many schools are recognising this and are adding them as extra-curricular activities, or being creative about how to integrate enterprise and financial education into existing subjects. Perhaps designing logos in art, writing marketing materials in English and tackling the budget in maths.

 

Young Enterprise’s data shows that this kind of approach improves attitudes, attendance and attainment in all students, particularly those in areas facing the greatest barriers to social mobility.

 

A school in Bedfordshire recently shared results of a pilot scheme whereby a cohort of boys who were at high risk of exclusion, due to poor attendance and behaviour. Rather than arranging extra-curricular activities, the school took the tough decision to take the boys out of their modern foreign language class and encouraged them to participate in a Young Enterprise programme, setting up their own company.

 

The most significant result was a marked improvement in student attendance, with most participants moving from persistent absenteeism to over 90% attendance. The Head Teacher described how pupils “found a new avenue for creativity and personal development via the more practical way of learning” and that there had been a noticeable difference in terms of improved attendance and higher morale and engagement. 

 

Applied learning helps students see its relevance to their future, allows them to be creative, celebrate their strengths, and ultimately have fun. 

 

An entrepreneurial mindset

According to the ONS, over one in five 16 to 21-year-olds want to be self-employed in the future. Enterprise education gives them a chance to explore this, practice in a safe environment and develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

 

However, we’re not just talking budding entrepreneurs. These are experiences, new skills and an enterprising mindset that will stay with them for life, whatever they do next. 

 

Businesses can get involved 

Businesses play a critical role in bridging the gap. By connecting volunteers from the business sector with students, companies can expose young people to new career pathways that young people might not have otherwise considered. Exposure to a diverse range of businesspeople also connects them with relatable role models – this has been shown to be key to social mobility. 

 

School visits or showing young people around their place of work connects businesses with their community and can even help create a talent pipeline of children from local schools. This is, of course, mutually beneficial, in that businesses will ultimately benefit from better work-readiness in young people.

 

Enterprise and financial capability are linked

Enterprise education goes hand in hand with financial capability. By setting up, running and evaluating their business ventures, young people have a lived and applied experience of what it’s like to manage money, budget, invest, in a way that builds their financial capacity for the future and they can apply these skills to their personal finances.

 

Our enterprise programmes, for example, are integrated with financial education, which is vital for young people because not only do they learn to earn their money, they also learn to manage it.

 

Help teachers help students help businesses

Many young people are leaving school with qualifications, they can learn and process information, they can pass exams. However, they often lack the essential skills needed to thrive in the workplace. Educators play a critical role in developing these skills, but they too benefit from support and opportunities provided by businesses. 

 

By working together, businesses and schools can equip students with essential life skills like creativity, teamwork, and listening – skills that not only prepare them for the workforce but also enrich their personal development. Better life skills mean more well-rounded recruits for businesses and a stronger future workforce.  

 

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Sarah Porretta is CEO at Young Enterprise 

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Nikada