Enterprising education in Scotland: is education for work enough?

Abstract

Although there have never been prescribed curriculum directives for enterprise education in Scotland, the Scottish government has provided some documents to support and consolidate good practice and provide frameworks for developing programs throughout the school curriculum. The most recent of these is Determined to succeed: a review of enterprise in education (SEED 2002). The government clearly perceives a link between this kind of activity in schools and the future health of the economy and the prosperity of the nation. The shifting nature of this perception, and the views of the government at any particular time on the relationship between education and the economy, can be traced through the discourses of various policy documents. This paper sets out to explore whether the policy advice offered is enough to make education enterprising by tracking the changing discourses used and approaches taken in documents recommending education and work activity to teachers in the last decade. It then examines the information and advice offered to teachers in the 2002 document, seeking to identify the ideological stance of the writers and to suggest aspects for exploration and development. A plea is made for support for teachers of a more theoretical nature in the areas of enterprise, entrepreneurship and economic literacy.