Igniting the bright sparks of tomorrow
by Michelle Millar, NESTA
One hundred young people attended NESTA's Innovators' Games event, where they were encouraged to share and develop their ideas with other students, and learn about the skills and attitudes necessary for innovation. Students and teachers from Birmingham's Waseley Hills High School and London's Blackheath Bluecoat School share their thoughts on the day.
Students look up to strong role models
"Tim Campbell's speech" chorus the students when asked to describe their favourite part of the Innovators' Games event, which was run as part of Enterprise Week last November.
The 2005 winner of The Apprentice was one of three keynote speakers to share his thoughts on the skills and attitudes needed to be successful. And clearly, he had quite an impact.
"He opened your mind and made you feel more imaginative," says Ellis Lawson, 13. "His speech also encouraged you to work harder."
"He told us that you have to communicate with other people, so the job gets done quickly and to a high level of achievement," says James Ogunyale, 14. "And he said you have to believe in yourself to achieve," adds his classmate, Linh Nguyen My, 14
Working collaboratively to solve problems
Chris George, 13, said his favourite part of the day was working with other students to develop a piece of sportswear that solved a problem. "I liked designing our football boot, with flexible studs, and pitching it to the judges. We had to tell them what was unique about it and the problem it solved."
Students don't often get the chance to work collaboratively on problems at school, explains business and vocational teacher at Waseley Hills High School, Frank Walton. However, he says he was impressed by how well the students worked together and believes working in groups is a more rewarding approach to learning.
"If you have kids working in groups, each type of learner can use their own strengths to do the bit they're good at - and they get status for that. So if someone can't write very well, but they're a good speaker, they can do the presentation."
What is an entrepreneur?
Before attending the event, the students admitted to having limited knowledge of entrepreneurs and what they did. "I knew about Dragons' Den and that entrepreneurs invented stuff, but that was all," says Stuart Green, 12.
Linh says the event expanded her understanding of entrepreneurship - so much so that she is even inspired to give it a go herself. "I learned that you can make your future brighter and be successful."
Inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs
The students unanimously agreed there needed to be more business training, and education about entrepreneurship for young people. But they all had quite different ideas about how this should be put into practice.
Ellis Lawson suggests more TV programmes about entrepreneurship and role models are needed to encourage young people to set up their own business. "We need more information about it," reiterates his classmate Chris.
James thinks there should be more enterprise events for students. "We could get some people from NESTA to organise a day where they show us stuff about entrepreneurship, and teach young people about business. And give people the courage to speak out freely."
He explains that having business classes at school is also useful, but they need to be offered to younger students - currently they are only available for Year 10 students.
"It's like playing Monopoly," he says. "You can't just buy this street and that - you have to go through a lot of procedures to get there. And that's what business is like. It takes people a long time to get started - so it would be good to start learning about it earlier."
Creating a more innovative curriculum
Waseley Hills High School's design and technology teacher, Gary Malin, admits there's not enough encouragement for people to be innovative at school. "We tend to give students black and white scenarios rather than the creative scenarios that could produce the designs of tomorrow. I think we're too rigid in our approach."
Gil Woodward, science teacher at Blackheath Bluecoat School, agrees that innovation and education have been discouraged by the rigid implementation of the curriculum. "To make a real difference I think you would need a very high-level policy change, covering all aspects of education. I think it requires a bit of a cultural shift as well.
"Things are changing though. For example, the Critical Thinking A-Level will help innovative thinking."
Gary adds: "We need to set young people more challenges and teach them to be analytical in their approach. The more analytical they are the more creative they'll be because they won't be afraid to take the risks."
Published January 2007
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