Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/37406
Title: Vocational learning : the young enterprise model
Other Titles: Careers education and guidance in Malta : issues and challenges
Authors: Harper, John
Keywords: Vocational education -- Malta
Education -- Malta
Issue Date: 1997
Publisher: Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd.
Citation: Harper, J. (1997). Vocational learning : the young enterprise model. In R. G. Sultana & J. M. Sammut (Eds.), Careers education and guidance in Malta : issues and challenges (pp. 283-292). San Gwann: Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd.
Abstract: The, Young Enterprise scheme was first set up in the United Kingdom in 1963 to forge better links between schools and industry. It was adopted in Malta in in 1988 and is, to date, an extra-curricular item in the sixth form (and other vocational) colleges which introduces students to the practices of business. Within one academic term/semester, small groups set up and run a live company - properly incorporated, manufacturing saleable products, and selling competitively in the Maltese (and occasionally overseas) market. The experience is virtual and real, and, with the exception of a business kit, is an exercise of discovery for students are provided with an absolute minimum of 'advice' by advisors from the business world. The company teams (27 in 1997) compete with each other towards an eventual business result, presented in a conventional Annual Report. This report, together with the year's performance, is assessed by an independent panel of senior personalities from the world of business to find a national winning team, which then goes forward to a European final, competed by winners from twenty three other countries. The broad aim of the scheme is 'learning-by-doing', with many subsidiary aims, including building leadership skills, discovering the implications of responsibility and accountability, interpersonal skills building, self-discovery, and mastery of a variety of business skills. The scheme is not part of the educational set-up, and attracts only a minimum of government financial support. The Young Enterprise Association is a not-for-profit organisation, run by volunteers, with only one full time employee. The business world at large provides sponsorship or help-in-kind, and the rest of financing is raised by 'membership'. The scheme currently trains approximately four hundred youngsters annually. There is the opportunity to travel and meet - and compete - with young people from other (and different) societies, and this has a profoundly broadening value. College principals are fully convinced that Young Enterprise has become an essential part of their curriculum of learning, so much so that it is often they who set the programme in motion each October. Many of the students who participate in the Young Enterprise scheme formulate much clearer career goals as a result of the experience; all confess to having enjoyed the benefits of hands-on learning, realising that 'learning can be fun too!' It is precisely the value of the experiential learning dimension provided by Young Enterprise that this chapter sets out to highlight, and the extent to which such an induction into the world of business and that of work can be an alternative and effective source of careers education and guidance for students.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/37406
ISBN: 9990900779
Appears in Collections:Careers education and guidance in Malta : issues and challenges

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