From the 2002 Howard Davies review we understand that Enterprise capability is defined as:
• the capability to handle uncertainty and respond positively to change, to create and implement new ideas and new ways of doing things, to make reasonable risk/reward assessments and act upon them in one’s personal and working life.
If we look to the 2006 Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto. It outlines that where experiences are well planned, safely managed and personalised to meet the needs of every child they can:
• Develop skills and independence in a widening range of environments
• Make learning more engaging and relevant to young people
• Nuture creativity
• Stimulate, inspire and improve motivation
• Develop the ability to deal with uncertainty
• Provide challenge and the opportunity to take acceptable levels of risk
• Improve young people’s attitude to learning.
This provides evidence of an overarching theme in the importance of providing real life learning experiences which deepen and enrich young people’s learning. Activities and programmes that support the development of enterprise capability provide the same educational benefits to that of learning outside the classroom.
Schools and Colleges have developed innovative ways in which they develop students’ enterprise capability which often involve working in partnership with community and voluntary organisations in community settings as well as visits and trips.
The Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto’s, Out and About package provides advice, guidance, resources and training modules to support schools and colleges provide learning outside the classroom opportunities. This could be utilised to support the planning of enterprise education provision. For example the resource section of www.lotc.org.uk currently makes available a Demystifying Risk Assessment PDF this could be a useful tool for teachers in the planning of enterprise events, visits and trips.
The Manifesto has also seen the development of a Quality Badge scheme which seeks to recognise organisations and venues that provide learning outside the classroom experiences for children and young people that are: of a high quality and safe. This could prove to be a useful tool for teachers when looking for opportunities for collaborative working.
To find out more about learning outside the classroom visit www.lotc.org.uk