Curriculum development for enterprise and entrepreneurship
Curriculum development is a key educational process for educational developers for schools, further (FE) and higher education (HE) as it allows an educational course to be designed to meet defined needs. There are differences, though, in the degree of autonomy afforded to the developer in these sectors. The curriculum and assessment of learning for awards is far more centrally determined in schools and FE than in the HE sector, for example. The resource available for curriculum development in the three sectors also mirrors this centralised-decentralised arrangement. For schools and FE, external awarding and qualifications agencies often set the curriculum requirements. In HE, academic staff are responsible for designing new courses, which go through a rigorous process of academic validation before they are accepted as leading to academic award. For curriculum development in schools and FE, WAG published the influential Youth Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Strategy for Wales (YES) (WAG, 2003a). It aimed to sharpen the focus on enterprise and entrepreneurship for young people in education and training in Wales, and to clearly define its place within the whole curriculum. All young people would learn about the importance of entrepreneurship and develop the associated skills. This strategy aimed to provide a common model of entrepreneurship learning and a delivery framework that would enable young people in Wales to be entrepreneurially aware and active. YES aimed to contribute to the goals of the EAP by supporting and encouraging entrepreneurship among young people. In particular, it aimed to contribute towards a more entrepreneurial culture, promote enterprise skills and develop the delivery infrastructure to improve access to opportunities and learning pathways for individuals.