If you have been given the daunting task of assessing enterprise capability in your school and are unsure where to begin, following the guidance below could give you a flying start.
Beginning with a school definition of Enterprise will provide a solid foundation on which to build your assessment model. The Teachernet definition of Enterprise education describes the development of:
- Enterprise capability — the ability to handle uncertainty and respond positively to change, to create and implement new ideas and ways of doing things, to make reasonable risk/reward assessments and act upon them in one’s personal and working life.
- Enterprise capability can also be described as: innovation,
creativity, risk-management, and a ‘can-do’ attitude and the drive to
make ideas happen
supported by:
i) financial capability — the ability to manage one’s own finances and to become questioning and informed consumers of financial services
ii) business and economic understanding — the ability to understand the business context and make informed choices between alternative uses of scarce resources.
Research into the learning outcomes from, and assessment of, enterprise capability, by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has recently concluded and has investigated how schools are assessing enterprise education across England. A final guidance document has been published by NFER and can be downloaded by visiting http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/pdfs/downloadable/LOEguidance.pdf.
To give you some hints on how to begin, the Assessing Enterprise Capability: Guidance for Schools document has been made available on the NFER website and offers guidance to schools on how assessment can support enterprise education.
The document defines the key components of an enterprise capability assessment model as:
- ‘Why?’ – begin with a clear purpose. Outline why your school is assessing students’ enterprise capability
- ‘What?’ – decide what specific enterprise capabilities outcomes your school is trying to assess
- ‘How?’ – consider what assessment process your school will use to support the stated purpose and outcomes
- ‘With what?’ – give careful consideration to what assessment tool your school will use.
Alongside outlining the key components of an enterprise capability assessment model the research also suggests useful questions which should be given consideration during the development of your schools model.
So how will you know when you are successfully assessing enterprise capability in your school? The research study has identified ten success factors which appear to be evident in a robust and effective model of assessment, these are:
- An extensive and/or embedded enterprise programme
- Staff and students committed to developing enterprise capability
- Having developed and publicised a shared definition of enterprise capability outcomes
- One or more enterprise assessment champions who can enthuse and guide other staff
- Assessment used to support learning
- Staff with the time and commitment to assess enterprise capability
- Having an effective assessment tool
- A range of people (students, peers, teachers) involved in the assessment process
- A system to monitor students’ progression in enterprise capability
- And emphasis on the process rather than the outcome of assessment.
Following the advice of the NFER and DCSF could ensure the effective assessment of enterprise capability in your school.
For more information on the research or to access the Assessing Enterprise Capability: Guidance for Schools document visit
www.nfer.ac.uk/research-areas/pims-data/outlines/research-into-enterprise-capability.cfm
For further information on Teachernet visit www.teachernet.gov.uk