Young Enterprise, an initiative which helps Sixth Form students become acquainted with the world of commerce by creating their own enterprise and experiencing the highs and lows of a year in business, will be launched in primary schools next month.
The aim is to teach students about the importance of business, economics and education in the workplace, in a relaxed non-competitive setting. The pilot project targeting Year 5 students is expected to run in six state schools, one of them in Gozo, for a week starting from April 17.
The primary programme will introduce to the concept surrounding "Our Nation" to Year 5 students, a decision which the Education Division consciously took, since during Year 5, children do not have to sit for exams and are therefore likely to welcome the project more.
The feedback generated from this project will then help the project go nationwide. Next year, Young Enterprise is expected to be introduced in the other five classes.
Young Enterprise CEO Karl Gouder said that our educational system does not instil entrepreneurial skills. The fact that many children are not accustomed to asking questions during class contributes to this lack of awareness of such important sectors of our everyday life.
Malta will be following the footsteps of British and US schools, but will be adapting the project to suit the local needs.
"Having the project run through all primary years means that every student will be able to experience the initiative for four consecutive years, every year building on what he/she would have learned the previous year," Mr Gouder explained.
"By using storybooks, role playing, field trips, fun activities, the use of technology and so on, young students are introduced to business volunteers who help them understand business terms and concepts which provide students with a sound background of enterprise suitable for their tender age," he said.
Mr Gouder explained that "Our Nation" is meant to provide basic information about businesses, such as the identifying the common forms of business organisations, the resources as natural, human, and capital, the importance of the newspaper as a communication tool and the different types of advertisements.
As from next year, Year 1 schoolchildren will be taught about "Ourselves", which includes lessons on the value and uses of money, such as earning saving and spending, the concepts of barter and goods, the difference between coins, and the ways money can be used to help others.
A year later, Year 2 students will get to learn about "Our Family", that is, how people live and work together in a family, the difference between a need and a want, and different types of jobs.
Year 3 and Year 4 students will be taught about "Our Community" and "Our Locality", including the wide range of job opportunities, the way certain products are produced, the concepts of quality, specialisation and division of labour, the best location from where to offer the service, and the purpose of a bank.
Before students move on to secondary school, students get to learn about "Our World", that is the difference between domestic trade and global trade, supply and demand and the role of money in global trade.