A National Ambition: Enterprise Education, Schools and the Welsh Economy

This report was commissioned by the Federation of Small Businesses in Wales. Initially the focus of the report was the imperative identified by the FSB Wales Policy Unit for Wales’ small businesses to strengthen their links with primary schools. The brief has widened to consider this within the broader context of enterprise education in Welsh schools as it is currently and the potential for its future development as part of the changes that are presently taking place to the school curriculum in Wales. ‘Enterprise education’ has been used as a term to capture the variety of ways in which links between schools and business/ industry are currently expressed: such as ‘careers and the world of work’; ‘links with business and industry’; ‘business education’, ‘entrepreneurship education’ etc. Whilst the focus of this report is on the place which enterprise education could and should have within the school curriculum, the broader context within which education operates is also considered. This includes developments within the Welsh economy and the commitment of civil and political society in Wales to overcome poverty and its effects whilst developing broader national prosperity.