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The role of education in enterprising creativity
This UNESCO-UNEVOC practical guide helps education institutions to focus on what really drives entrepreneurial learning by providing the tools to assess the needs of the target group and the framework to explore the added value of an entrepreneurial learning ecosystem. The Entrepreneurial Learning Institution Canvas (ELIC) enables TVET institutions to develop their own concept for entrepreneurial learning, map out which entrepreneurial learning activities are relevant to their institutional context and apply innovative approaches and models.
This report presents the state of the art on the topic of entrepreneurship competence identifying and comparing different theoretical and practical approaches from the academic and entrepreneurial world. It draws on an extensive literature review, an inventory of selected initiatives and in-depth case studies. The report looks at different definitions, frameworks, components and other elements of entrepreneurship as a competence, and reflects upon entrepreneurship education, teaching and assessment methods used for entrepreneurial learning. This report is the final output of the JRC-IPTS funded study 'Entrepreneurship Competence: An overview of existing concepts, policies and initiatives (OvEnt)'; it is part of the wider research agenda of JRC-IPTS on 'ICT for Learning and Skills' that aims to provide evidence on how skills and key competences that our digital society needs are acquired, certified and recognised.
It has been noted elsewhere that an idea is acknowledged to be creative if it is novel, or surprising and adaptive. So how does that fit with education's desire to measure student performance against fixed, consistent and predicted learning outcomes? This study explores practical measures
and theoretical constructs that address the dearth of teaching, learning and assessment strategies to enhance creative capacity in enterprise and entrepreneurship education. It is argued that inappropriate assessment strategies can be significant inhibitors of the creativity of students and
teachers. Referring to the broader discipline of 'design', as defined by Bruce and Besant (2002) – the application of human creativity to a purpose – both broad employer satisfaction with education and fast growing economic success are found (DCMS, 2014). As predictable assessment
outcomes equal predictable students, these understandings can inform educators who wish to map and develop enhanced creative endeavours such as opportunity recognition, communication and innovation.
This paper presents the results of an investigation into contextual differences in the development and delivery of enterprise education in higher education globally. Using information gathered from an online survey distributed to enterprise educators, distinct differences in the provision of enterprise education are identified, as are differences of opinion among enterprise educators. The findings demonstrate that although enterprise education is highly diversified in terms of presentation, content and style, there are clear commonalities with regard to expected student outcomes. The respondents reported low levels of business start-up activity among students during enterprise education and/or within one year of graduation. Over 75% of the educators surveyed had personal start-up experience, and there was limited reliance on academic literature, with a preference for referencing broader stakeholder perspectives. With regard to the practical implications of this research, the international metric of enterprise education appears to be a broad set of enterprising skills that equip and enable students to recognize and exploit opportunities in order to navigate future unknowns. The commonly employed metric of business start-up appears less valid in light of this investigation.
This article offers a critical discussion of the role of the business plan in current enterprise educational practice. In addition to reviewing recent work that considers the 'for' and 'against' arguments about the use of business plans in higher education, the authors suggest that the context of student learning is largely omitted from these discussions. As such, they contextualize the debate so that the purpose of the business plan can be better appreciated. They build on recent work that offers alternatives to the business plan – approaches directly focused on customer discovery and explicit testing of assumptions. In doing so, recent concerns about the value of business plans and, conversely, the views of those who argue in favour of the role of business plans in enterprise education, are noted. The article provides insights into emerging alternative practices in the field of enterprise education, practices based on students' use of such education as a vehicle for skills and knowledge development and/or wealth creation. It is acknowledged that various biases are present in the current debate, including those of the present authors: whilst it is accepted that these biases are unlikely to disappear, the article contextualizes their origins.