Sustainability of curriculum development for enterprise education

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the variety of approaches to curriculum development for enterprise education developed for schools, further, and higher education under an Entrepreneurship Action Plan in Wales and to consider the sustainability issues for delivery in these sectors.Design/methodology/approachThis investigation adopted a case study approach that obtained post‐development information obtained from stakeholders in curriculum development in the three sectors based on semi‐structured interviews. The paper presents an analysis of the curriculum development initiatives in schools, further and higher education based on a three‐stage categorisation model: inspiration, information and implementation and activities involving cross‐sector approaches.FindingsStakeholders generally provided positive feedback toward the curriculum development material from each sector. Curriculum development applied to fostering enterprising qualities and practical support produced a broad span of diverse actions across Wales covering inspiring, information and implementation. There are consistent threads in enterprise content of attitude, creativity, relationships and organisation. Curriculum content needs to be maintained and updated in a sustainable way and a sustainability framework is proposed together with a set of recommendations for each sector.Practical implicationsSuggestions on how to further strengthen and develop the sustainability of enterprise education programmes are provided for the three sectors: schools, further, and higher education, for example, through centralised curriculum support, the extension of credit‐based courses and structured staff development for stakeholders.Originality/valueEnterprise education is acknowledged to have an influence on the knowledge, skills and attitudes of students and can contribute to entrepreneurship. Curriculum development in enterprise education enables educational institutions to stimulate interest of students and to foster entrepreneurial qualities among potential entrepreneurs in society. Approaches to curriculum development for three educational sectors are examined, categorised and recommendations advanced for sustaining such enterprise education programmes over an extended period of time.

Sustainability in Engineering Education: A Literature Review of Case Studies and Projects

“…Characterization criteria were selected from analysis of previous works [9], [10], [11], and considering the most representative aspects associated with the development and modification of curriculums and courses focused on sustainability. Criteria used for characterization are summarized and explained in Table 1.…”

Development of students’ commercial awareness within the curriculum of professionally accredited courses

“…Previous literature has investigated various types of employability skills and discussed suitable approaches to embedding them into curriculums such as sustainability 407 Development of students' commercial awareness (Roffe, 2010), skill sets (Cox and King, 2006), personal and interpersonal skills (Whitefield and Kloot, 2006), business skills and personal attributes (Bhanugopan and Fish, 2009), and internationalisation (Gonzalez et al, 2011). The development of employability skills is particularly relevant to vocational and professional accredited courses.…”

“…Curriculum development and design is important for the overall development of students (Eskandari et al, 2007;Roffe, 2010;Thacker, 2002;Wijetunge, 2009). The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, 2005) summarised the importance of curriculum development and design, stating "(curriculum) coherence is a critical component of a programme and should demonstrate an appropriate sequencing of courses, not a mere bundling of credits, so that student learning is progressively more advanced in terms of assignments and scholarship required and demonstrates progressive advancement in a field of study that allows students to integrate knowledge and grow in critical skills" (cited in Veltri et al, 2011, p. 12).…”

Embedding Enterprise: A Business School Undergraduate Course with an Enterprise Focus

“…The Dearing Report (Dearing, 1997) emphasized the importance of HE in preparing students for employment: Dearing acknowledges that one of the tasks of HE should be to help students to 'position' themselves with regard to self-employment or intrapreneurship. Increasingly, entrepreneurship is being seen as a crucial source of competitiveness and wealth creation for the economy in the UK and globally (Roffe, 2010). For the latter, there is increased emphasis on encouraging entrepreneurship as a means of fostering economic health (Russell et al, 2008).…”