Enterprise - Across the Curiculum

A Guidance Note for Teachers

Introduction

The Changing workplace

The world of work is changing fast and the pace of change is expected to quicken further. No one knows for certain what the future will bring but most young people leaving school can expect to change careers several times during their working lives.
Companies have adapted to this world of constant change. In the past many jobs were routine and employers valued people who were, above all, steady and reliable.
Of course employers still value reliability, but now they want more than this. They need people who don't just accept change and new ways of working but who welcome change: who seek it out by actively looking for better ways of doing things!
Look at job adverts. You will find that the most commonly recurring words include enthusiastic; creative; motivated; determined; dynamic; proactive; decisive; energetic; flexible; innovative; self starter. This is not just in the private sector. Increasingly public and voluntary sector organisations are seeking employees with the same attributes.
The development of these attributes, the ability to be enterprising, has consequently become an essential part of preparation for adult life. (There is no commonly agreed definition of "enterprise" as it is used in the curriculum. But the Oxford English Dictionary defines "enterprising" as "resourceful, imaginative, energetic".)
A common misconception is that enterprise is synonymous with entrepreneurialism or running your own business. It is not as simple as that. Enterprise skills are not just needed by the self-employed and entrepreneurs - they are needed by everyone!

Technology has had a major impact on many jobs. In the past, for example, the skills of many engineering craftsmen were measured by the precision of their work - with machine parts often made manually to specifications requiring accuracy to thousandths of an inch. Consistency, reliability and attention to detail were key skills.

Now computer controlled machinery can produce parts faster and with a consistency and precision impossible to achieve manually. The workers overseeing the machinery remain highly skilled but their skills have changed. They are, for example, likely to be responsible for the overall efficiency of the machines under their control; required to balance the costs of production with the quality and quantity of outputs and to plan production accordingly. This means that they need to consider a range of data, weigh up the costs and risks of different approaches and make decisions.

The ability to understand the implications of different courses of action, and to be able and prepared to make judgments accordingly, are now key skills that are required across all industries.

The Industrial Trust is grateful to the HSBC Education Trust for support for the production of this guide.