Ask any educator what their top priority is and the likely answer will be “my students’ success”. Introducing young people to entrepreneurial education from an early age is a critical part of ensuring this success, particularly in our rapidly changing world. Here’s why implementing entrepreneurship in classrooms is well worth it, for students and teachers alike.
1. Better prepare your students for the future of work
Teaching entrepreneurship involves helping students build enterprise skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, financial and digital literacy, teamwork, creativity and communication. According to the Foundation for Young Australians’ New Work Order research, enterprise skills are just the skills young people need most to thrive in an uncertain future. Why? Because the next generation will likely navigate 17 jobs across five different careers. Future jobs not only demand these skills 70% more than past jobs, but they will pay more for them too. By teaching enterprise skills, you can also accelerate your students’ transition from education to work by 17 months.
2. Train your students to be more optimistic and solutions-focused
The world’s problems are complex and can be pretty overwhelming, especially for young minds. The entrepreneurial mindset is all about using the tools of creativity and critical thinking to find solutions to pressing real-world challenges. When you foster entrepreneurial ways of thinking in your students early on, they learn to practise a hopeful outlook that will serve them in many aspects of their lives. This empowers them to play active roles in creating a more positive future.
3. It’s a versatile way to transform your class or enhance current lessons
Entrepreneurship is practical and hands-on which makes it great for integrating with existing project-based learning. But it’s also easily applied to most disciplines and subjects without the need to completely reconsider your current approaches to the curriculum. Incorporate entrepreneurial thinking into science lessons by exploring how to commercialise innovations in the laboratory, or encourage students to consider how they would monetise and scale their artistic talents during art and design class. You can apply the principles of teaching entrepreneurship right away, no matter your resourcing capabilities.
4. It’s fun and engaging for teachers to teach and students to learn
Coming up with a business idea, validating it and seeing it through to market is a unique experience that young people aren’t traditionally included in. In fact, neither are most teachers. Teaching entrepreneurship gives you and your students a change from typical learning activities and a chance to try something new. Plus, creating space for a different kind of play and exploration will reset the dynamics of any classroom!
The designers of the future are learning in our schools today. As educators, it’s our job to equip them with the skills they need to ensure the future is a bright one. Let UpSchool give you the tools to do this.
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Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship is a leading centre for entrepreneurial education. We deliver programs to accelerate learning, creation and connection.
