The majority of people who will start businesses in the future are now in the school system and thus the education system is a critical partner of Malta Enterprise in strengthening an “entrepreneurial culture”. This will involve the coaching of instructors and teachers, the development of curriculum, courses and programmes, effective delivery systems and educational approaches and the development of student venture programmes and promotion activities.

Efforts to encourage entrepreneurship will be ineffective if people are not provided with opportunities to learn the “why-to’s”, “what-to’s”, “how-to’s” and “who-to’s” of starting a business and to explore the option as a viable one for themselves. An important objective is to facilitate and support the development of a wide range of initiatives which give educational and career orientation, venture experience, entrepreneurial skills development and instruction on how to start a business to a variety of target groups. Since different approaches are required at different levels of the education system, it should be segmented into the following groups: 1) elementary, primary and secondary schools;. 2) higher secondary, sixth form and Junior College; 3) university

Entrepreneurship education is a subset of enterprise education, where enterprise education is the broader notion of enterprise qualities and behaviour and entrepreneurship education is the application of enterprise qualities in the development of one’s own business or venture. A review of the curriculum for entrepreneurship content (entrepreneurship values, knowledge, skills) needs to be carried out in order to introduce students to full entrepreneurship classes or courses.

The intended outcome of entrepreneurship education is an increase in the number of new entrepreneurs and new businesses. The challenge is to ensure that the entrepreneurship aspects of enterprise education are a significant subset and that students are exposed to knowledge about entrepreneurship and the role of small business in the economy.

How to introduce entrepreneurship into the curriculum?

What is the most effective approach? Is it better to take it across a range of curriculum by “infusing” it in courses like social studies, economics, technology, art, history, science or developing stand-alone entrepreneurship courses? How should entrepreneurship/enterprise concepts, principles and practices be introduced at the various grade levels?

Enterprise qualities (eg simple problem-solving, creativity, light decision-making) needs to be the primary focus at elementary school level. At secondary level, the approach can be one of introducing students to the world of small business and entrepreneurship by studying it as a short module within the context of existing courses. At sixth form and university level, the focus can be more on entrepreneurship classes, where students learn the skills of planning a business and gaining experience in the management of a mini-venture or community-based project.

How will assessment be done in entrepreneurship classes?

Because learning is very student-centred and project-oriented, traditional grading approaches are inappropriate and the student and his or her peers must also be involved in assessment. A variety of assessment approaches may create a challenge for teachers who have traditionally graded students for “right” and “wrong” answers.

The education system can be a major contributor to economic development by producing graduates who have the skills to start and run successful enterprises. Research on graduates reveals that the tendency of alumni to be self-employed was positively linked to the number of business classes they took while students. Recent research suggests that the greater the number of business courses taken, the greater the likelihood that the graduate will become an entrepreneur.

This argues for more post-secondary programmes with a major focus on enterprise management and venture development skills. Colleges need to discuss development of courses/modules which every graduate would take, irrespective of their programme of study. The emphasis should be on opportunity identification, business planning, marketing, and financial skills, so that graduates will be able to complement their technical skills with entrepreneurial and business management skills. The University of Malta could include concentrations in entrepreneurship within business modules, but these programmes need, and should ideally, to expand and cross over into non-business disciplines.

The major outstanding challenges regarding entrepreneurship education:

1) Strategically determining the logical sequencing of learning as a student moves from one grade level to another and from one level of the educational system to another; ensuring that curriculum links exist and that knowledge and skill development levels are being continually enhanced;

2) Committing to in-service professional development of all teachers, instructors, and professors in the teaching of entrepreneurship and enterprise concepts;

3) Designing appropriate assessment systems to determine the extent to which students are learning enterprise skills;

4) Evaluating effectiveness of particular curriculum and its impacts on intended outcome;

5) Building links between the classroom and the community to provide students and teachers with greater exposure to the world of business and the practice of entrepreneurship (eg job shadowing, cooperative education work-terms in small businesses, mentoring projects);

6) Conducting longitudinal studies to determine the impact of entrepreneurship education on career outcomes, particularly related to entrepreneurship. To what extent is the focus on entrepreneurship education leading to higher business start-up, survival and growth rates?

As a result of the importance of exposing young people to the principles and practices of entrepreneurship within the education system, Malta Enterprise is planning a series of entrepreneurship training modules and other initiatives to encourage entrepreneurship on the island. Malta Enterprise is currently holding and sponsoring entrepreneurship modules targeted at the University of Malta, Upper Lyceum, MCAST and potential entrepreneurs and various other entrepreneurship initiatives on the island, such as the half-day seminar on entrepreneurship which was also recently held in Gozo.

The focus of such modules as the Start your own business seminars are intended to provide an introduction to the concept of entrepreneurship and self-employment. Malta Enterprise is also supporting and concurrently sponsoring organisations such as Startup Malta, and encourages the formation of efforts which may eventually lead to new enterprise creation.

For further information regarding entrepreneurship efforts held by Malta Enterprise, kindly contact Daniel Debono, manager – Entrepreneurship.

Tel 2542-0000, or go to [email protected] or www.maltaenterprise.com

Daniel Debono is manager –

Micro Enterprise and Business Support, Malta Enterprise.