Experience Enterprise Student Booklet/Experience Enterprise,Teachers' Guide

Teaching Business & Economics, Autumn 2006 by Needham, Dave

Experience Enterprise Student Booklet, MBA Publishing Limited, £1.00.

Experience Enterprise,Teachers' Guide, MBA Publishing Limited, £10.00

Even though many experienced colleagues have not been partying to celebrate its "china" anniversary, it is still hard to believe that it is now 20 years ago since the National Criteria for Business GCSE were first published. In that time, the whole of education has become a something of a political punch bag. However, while ducking and weaving around a whole series of doctrinaire upper cuts and hooks, "enterprise" beat the defence in 2002.

Without dissecting the Howard Davies review, which did refer to the strong ways in which many schools and colleges provided partnership activities for their students, these activities, whatever they involve, have not just to be learner-centred and supportive but also flexible in order to respond to the various needs of individuals. Although there is no doubt that the different setting created through placement can provide a young person with a steep learning curve that encourages them to reflect upon and evaluate their skills and abilities to provide a realistic sense of what they have got to offer, placements are a qualitative experience that need managing in order to make sure that negative influences do not harm the confidence of those undertaking the placement So, in order to minimise this impact and provide a better and more consistent experience for learners, teachers require resources as well as all of the help that they can get, in order to turn, as MBA's resource suggests, "work experience into an enterprise experience".

The Student Booklet has 30 pages and is in full colour. There is a lot of orange, but this is not garish, nor is the publication sponsored by Stelios. A myriad of diagrams, illustrations and tables help to break up the text and the readability level is appropriate for the targeted audience. The booklet is designed for students to use and write on - starting with their personal details on the inside of the cover jacket and this is followed with supporting dialogue around a whole series of exercises and activities.

The booklet helps students to think about and ask questions in relation to their placement such as "how enterprising are you" and "who is enterprising". As students work through the booklet, they are provided with the opportunity to audit their personal qualities and then be supported as they pose questions not just about their placement organisation but also about the sort of activities they may be asked to do. The questions and activities are authoritative and constructive, and they would be particularly good in helping students to think and plan for things they may be asked to do such as using a word processor, keeping a secret, being punctual.

As students work through the booklet, they are encouraged to think about how to improve their skills and, although other key skills are not cross-referenced, there is considerable emphasis upon problem solving. The strength of the resource is that it encourages users to be reflective and helps them to relate their placement experience in a constructive way to their own thinking about themselves, while at the same time creating an individual awareness of what activities constitute enterprise. In providing the users with the opportunity to win an iPod, the booklet looks and feels a bit like a teen magazine.

The Teachers' Guide is instantly forgettable, but you get one free if you order 100 Student Booklets. Paradoxically, in stating the "bleedin' obvious", it almost disenfranchises the user from using their own initiative and enterprise skills. A number of basic lesson plans are included for those who need them.

If you are involved in planning for and working with placement students, buying sets of the Student Booklet would help you to emphasise and reveal many of the valuable learning experiences that take place while on placement. It has the potential to be an essential annual purchase.

Dave Needham, Nottingham Trent University