Enterprising Youth - Building Skills for Lifelong Success

In 2004, GLE oneLondon successfully made a bid jointly with Charles Edward School in Lambeth, to allow the school to become a Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Enterprise Learning Pathfinder School. This two year programme allowed for the design and pilot of a personal skills development programme that focused on developing skills, particularly “soft” skills, across the curriculum for year 10 students, alongside a professional development component for teachers.

Jane Cruse, Head of Charles Edward Brooke School in Lambeth said, "We are delighted to be working with GLE oneLondon on this skills development project and welcome any opportunity to work with local businesses. It enables our students to learn and develop transferable skills, smoothing the path from education to employment."

The first year of the programme involved working with a pilot group of young people to identify techniques that would help them to develop their skill base as they prepare to set up a creative industry enterprise.

The second phase of the programme looked at ways of incorporating the techniques and skills within the curriculum in order to enhance the curriculum but not add to it. The pilot also drew on the experience and expertise of the corporate, SME and voluntary sectors.

Year 10 student said, “I was really excited when I heard about this project. I want to do well at school but I also want to succeed when I leave school. This project will help me understand what I want to do but also what I need to do to be successful.”

 

Key highlights:

• Providing the opportunity for students to set up their own enterprise.

• Development of students' softer skills such as self-analysis, selling, relationship management, innovation, decision-making and problem solving, which are inevitably the key ingredients for employability, self employment and life in general.

• Development of planning, leadership and management skills to assist young people in managing their own project, business or their own lives

• An Enterprise Skills Workshop was developed to assist corporate, SME and third sector volunteers in communicating the skills sets that have assisted in their success.

 

 

The results:

Overall , the project was an outstanding successs. This was a research based pilot / pathfinder project and was used to test the waters in softer enterprising skills. The project showed new approaches to be learnt:

• Student led innovation and perception of enterprise.
  Students have prior knowledge and from this benchmark, we developed and introduced new creative lifelong learning skills. Through a business created by students, and development of a newsletter and documentary, students learnt key enterprise skills.

• Skill and attitude development of teachers was highlighted and enhanced through their various curriculum subjects and projects, without creating an additional burden.

• GLE oneLondon has ensured that lessons learnt from the Enterprise Pathfinder regarding soft skill development has fed into its advice agencies thus providing a holistic approach to enterprise development.

 

Our partners:

This project was run in conjunction with GLE oneLondon and the Charles Edward Brooke School in Lambeth.

 

Contact us:

For more information about this project, contact Peter Thackwray on peter.t@gle.co.uk