Teachers

Top Ten Tips From Other Teachers

Use Resource DVD
"I found the case studies on the Exploring Enterprise DVD are a great way to kick start a discussion on enterprise among students at the start of the year."
Contact Your Local Enterprise Board
"I found my local Enterprise Board a great source of advice and support during the year. If you contact them to let them know you are doing the Enterprise Awards they will provide lots of extra information and expertise".
Don’t Delay!
"Make sure you set up the student enterprises and get all team members to see which responsibilities they are most comfortable taking on as soon as possible so students have maximum time to run their business".
Encourage Market Research
"I found that using the Market Research Questionnaire templates in the Exploring Enterprise Manual really kept my group focused on meeting their customers’ needs".
Past Student Advice
"Last year we asked a student who had been involved in the Programme the previous year to come in and talk to the current group of student enterprise students. This was a great idea as it meant that the new group could really benefit from the lessons learned and advice from students who had been there already".
Get Organised!
"Try to encourage students to be as organised as possible with their student enterprise material. For example, get them to set up a folder for filing all material such as promotional material, finances, correspondence. It’s also a good idea to encourage students to keep a weekly diary – logging problems they come across, how they deal with them etc… This can be a really useful tool to look back over when writing the business plan". Download weekly diary template here.
Participate in a Trade Fair
"Encouraging students to partake in a trade fair,particularly at Christmas, is a great way of getting them to learn more about the importance of interacting with customers and stand display in advance of the County and National finals".
Set Deadlines
"Give students definite time periods by which to have their tasks completed by – encourage them to put aside a certain amount of time each week as it all adds up".
Mix Up Your Teams
"It’s not always the best idea to put groups of friends together in the same student enterprise. Running a business can be stressful thing and cause conflict. I find a better approach is to mix children together with skills that will compliment each other".
Focus On Innovation
"I always spend plenty of time at the start of the year talking to the students about innovation and getting them to participate in lots of brainstorming exercises. I find that the more work they do on trying to understand innovation the better the quality of ideas that they come up with and the more focused they are during the year ".