Developing an entrepreneurial life skills summer school

Abstract

Successive governments in the UK have increasingly stressed the need for a more enterprising society. Much of the emphasis has been placed upon educationalists to introduce more elements of enterprise into the school curriculum at all levels, and new and innovative ways to initiate the subject matter is increasingly being sought. This article describes a summer school that is part of this initiative. It stresses the difference between Traditional and Enterprise modes of learning and contests that compared with traditional methods of teaching and learning, enterprise education requires a different pedagogical approach and aims to qualitatively change the educational experience. It is suggested that traditional teaching is better suited to the needs of the ‘old’ economy with the enterprising approach being more conducive to the needs of the new flexible market economy. While providing an explanation, description and analysis of the workings and operations of an entrepreneurial life skills summer school, the article also provides a systematic and rigorous exploration not only of the summer school itself but also of the policy and regional development context. It describes how the methodology and approach adopted is rooted in the framework and context that shaped and informed the venture as well as contributing to the article itself.

Notes

1. Skills, attitudes and behaviours which might be included are teamwork, communications, problem solving, risk taking and negotiation.

2. The components can be re‐ordered to suit situational needs, so the model described here by the acronym MAIR is also known as IMAR and MIRA.