What it is: The Skills Challenge Certificate acnowledges the assessment of the essential skills within the Welsh Baccalaureate qualification, including literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving, planning and organisation, creativity and innovation and personal effectiveness.
How it works: The purpose of the Enterprise and Employability Challenge is to provide opportunities for learners to develop enterprising skills and attributes and enhance employability. In this Challenge learners have the opportunity to create and implement innovative ideas based on meeting the needs of customers and/or businesses by developing a product or service through a guided enterprise process, which includes liaising with employers and interacting with successful local entrepreneurs. Learners complete challenges that are designed locally or nationally, either by the Centre delivering the qualification, or by external organisations.
Benefits: During the Enterprise and Employability Challenge, learners explicitly develop skills in Digital Literacy, Creativity and Innovation and Personal Effectiveness and apply them in an appropriate manner. The challenge enhances employability by enabling learners to be more opportunity-focussed, self-aware and attuned to the business environment, offering them the opportunity to develop team-working and positive relationship-building skills, as well as the ability to work independently. Learners also gain an appreciation of the use of social and other electronic media in business by developing and applying digital literacy skills in creative and innovative ways.
Challenges: The greatest challenge with this tool is the ability and confidence of the teacher in developing, modelling and assessing the essential skills, particularly those related to creativity and innovation, as these are relatively new concepts within the national curriculum in Wales. Therefore, teachers need support in applying more active and participatory pedagogies within the traditional classroom. Teachers, as well as learners, need to have a can-do attitude and the drive to make ideas happen.
Relevance for entrepreneurial teaching: The Enterprise and Employability Challenge within the Welsh Baccalaureate was written specifically to offer learners the opportunity to develop the creativity and innovation skills needed to become an entrepreneur. The Challenge itself is based on active hands-on learning and, as such, fully supports entrepreneurial education. The emphasis is on applied and purposeful learning and to provide opportunities for assessment in a range of real life contexts.
Applied assessment methods: The Enterprise and Employability Challenge is assessed through self-assessment (via a skills audit), performance assessment (via a visual display and ‘pitch’ of the business proposal), and reflective assessment (via a personal reflection).
Examples from practice: The Enterprise and Employability Challenge is undertaken by learners aged between 14 and 16 years in comprehensive education in Wales, as well as 16+ year olds undertaking post compulsory education.
See more at: www.wjec.co.uk