With a new generation dominating the society today, one can no longer assume that educated young people will enter a workforce where their skills are wanted. Having said so, schools no longer must worry to prepare students for jobs that do not yet exists. Rather their focus should be to prepare them to be agile and adaptable in the face of profound skills.
The students can go into a constantly changing world that will require flexibility, creativity, collaboration and the nimbleness to adapt to rapid change. And increasingly, the students will need to think like entrepreneurs. In fact, entrepreneurship has almost become the buzz word of the decade. Realizing the importance of such skills in the rapidly changing economy, many schools have therefore taken the leap to implement entrepreneurship as an important subject in the curriculum.
But there are also schools that are unable to do it well and considering it, here are certain ways following which other schools too can join the league of visionary schools and start creating an entrepreneurial high school experience in schools.
1. Promote Key Entrepreneur Traits
Entrepreneurs are individuals who exercise initiatives and are synonymous with start-ups. With such in mind, schools need to foster key traits such like high level of self-reliance and optimism as well as the motivation to strive for excellence in students. Once such traits are nurtured rightfully, students automatically realise that they indeed are entrepreneurs in something.
2. Making the Learning Experience Practical & Real World like
Merely including entrepreneurship in the curriculum isn’t enough. The bottom line in teaching entrepreneurship in the classroom and make such experience as practical and real world as possible. A good way to start is to think of learning entrepreneurship as you would any other apprenticeship. Student should take on project based work and be given opportunities to be resourceful and creative.
Organizations such like Wildfire Education assists schools in creating learning experiences which help students master skills and gain confidence by solving real-world problems on teams. Similarly, hack in a box is a school program that evokes students to solve real world challenges.
3. Highlight Soft Skills and High Level Thinking
Team work and collaboration is mandatory and needs to be incorporated into task completion. Students need to be taught to think critically and analytically. Such implies that the focus on concepts, principles and values need to take priority over knowledge of the curriculum. Entrepreneurs not only need to be intelligent but flexible as well to adapt to changes that occur in their field. The other essential skill that is regarded extremely essential in the technology dominated world is the communication skills because entrepreneurs must know how to communicate their vision clearly.
4. Encourage Students to Study the Success and Failure Stories
An important section that schools need to include in entrepreneurship is research on current businesses in a specific field. Students should know the art of analyzing the companies as well as learn the philosophies of all-time greats.
Alongside reading the success stories of companies, students need to also read the failures or why companies turn up unsuccessful and analyse the reasons. Such practice gives an excellent opportunity to the students to learn from other companies’ mistakes and also know on the trade secrets among successful entrepreneurs.
5. Developing the Ability to Influence
Perhaps one of the most important attribute that every entrepreneur needs to have a strong grip over is to develop the ability to influence. In the practical world, entrepreneurs need the ability to sell their ideas or perhaps even their company. This why, while teaching entrepreneurship in schools, particular attention needs to be given on including the important skills to articulate thoughts clearly and effectively. Stakeholders buy in aspect is the most important part of running and leading an organization. Entrepreneurs need to be influencers and they must know the art to lead and have a plan to back up their vision.
Thus, schools looking up to create an entrepreneurial high school experience for students can succeed in their mission only if they start helping students develop entrepreneurial mindsets.
Do you think likewise? What are your views? Write to us and express your opinion on it to take the discussion forward.
Before you leave, we would like you to watch this video below which talks about why schools should teach entrepreneurship.
