1.1 Economic, educational and social objectives of school enterprises
The principle of school enterprises can be interpreted as
serving a variety of economic, educational and social objectives.
Economic considerations
The economic considerations can be discussed along three
dimensions: labour market, market production and school budgetary/self-financing
aspects.
A major economic justification for establishing school
enterprises is the need for promoting competencies for self and wage employment.
Many of the students who come from disadvantaged families cannot afford to
prolong their education. Increasing employment opportunities for participants
who graduate from educational and vocational training establishments would
therefore shorten the period of transition between school and labour market.
Students from disadvantaged families require vocational competencies which make
them productive members of the communities to which they belong.
The important way to make the transition from education to the
labour market is by orienting courses to a particular market or sub-market with
respect to products and qualifications. Market production is therefore to be
seen as a vehicle for systematic learning as well as for entry to the labour
market. Market production includes promoting competencies which are required for
launching and managing small-scale enterprises. It also means promoting the
ability to create one’s own work, the ability to undertake surveys, and the
ability to determine the market needs and economic potential of the catchment
area of the institution.
In several developing countries, priority now being given to
rural development - partly reflected in enhanced investments in integrated rural
development, employment, income generation and amelioration of the economic
conditions of the disadvantaged - will require skills inputs in diverse
directions. Such programmes as the use of water resources, upgrading
environment, social forestry, application of technology to farming and allied
occupations, diversification of agricultural production in such directions as
food processing and preservation, and promotion of horticulture and floriculture
will require vocationally specialised skills which school enterprises can
provide. The linkage of education and production, while meeting the existing
skill requirements of the rural economy, will help in diversifying the rural
economy.
As regards self-financing and the budgetary dimensions of
technical and vocational training institutions, school enterprises provide a
good alternative for matching operating costs by means of production for the
market.
Educational considerations
An important objective of school enterprises is therefore the
combination of technical and commercial/ business curricula. Market analysis,
accounting, marketing, distribution of goods and services, costing, management
and organisation of production, etc. is considered an opportunity to enhance the
curriculum of production lines such as tool-making and farming. The knowledge
and skills of the students are job-specific which they can use in the provision
of goods and services required in the community.
A further basic educational justification for combining learning
with market production is learning through hands-on experiences. The close
connection between production and vocational education holds a major chance of
avoiding the weaknesses of reality removed technical and vocational education,
thus making reality-based learning possible.
The modality of school enterprises is expected to improve the
integration of theory and practice through a better understanding of scientific
principles and processes of deduction implied in the various types of
job-specific tasks. It will assist in learning the role of different
technologies and new methods of production. It will develop the ability to
choose freely and more adequately the field of studies, work and
career5 and develop a broad range of practical, problem-solving and
production skills and allow skilled workers to find new opportunities for
vocational self-actualisation.
5 Ibid.
In the context of the achievement of the goal of universal basic
education, the need for vocational education which promotes the capacity in
students to produce goods and supply services becomes particularly significant.
Apart from promoting the ability to create one’s own work,
the basic thrust of the modality of school enterprises is the development of
general personality traits or non-cognitive dispositions and orientations
through involvement in real work processes and market production. These traits
include self-confidence, risk taking, innovative behaviour, perseverance,
creativity, uprightness, self-determination, habits of discipline, positive
motivation towards work, ability to think in overall contexts, ability to solve
problems, independence, team work, willingness to learn, flexibility,
independent decision-making, concentration, responsibility, precision,
information processing, independent learning, reliability, quality
consciousness, cleanliness, thoroughness in one’s work, development of
self-esteem and self-assuredness.6 The notion of combining production
with learning in Waldorf Schools7, in the alternative projects of
‘Jugendberufsschule’8 in Germany, in Don Bosco
Schools9 in developing countries, as well as in the Danish production
schools, derives mainly from the importance given to practical learning in the
development of personality, and the teaching of work tasks in order to inculcate
values.10 The expectations for these so-called ‘soft
skills’ is increasing.
6 The growing awareness in developed
countries of these personality factors has led to the introduction of newly
developed methods of teaching, such as guide-oriented learning and training
methods, project- and transfer-oriented training, modular training systems. See
the series Modellversuche zur beruflichen Bildung, Federal Institute for
Vocational Training, Berlin
7 Rist, G. P. and Schneider, P., 1982; Fintelmann, K.
J., 1991
8 Ketter, P.-M., Petzold, H.-J. and Schlegel, W.,
1986
9 Oerder, K., 1991
10 Castro, Claudio de Moura, 1988, pp.
195-206
Thus the modality of school enterprises is expected to ensure a
balanced development of the physical, emotional and mental attitudes, and moral
and aesthetic values in the interest of youngsters and of society.11
11 UNESCO-IBE, 1982
Social considerations
The third rationale for the modality of school enterprises is
social. Social and pedagogical considerations are mutually related. Thus,
preparing and training for co-operative and participatory forms of production
has not only pedagogical value (learning in team work) but also social value.
The modality of school enterprises will assist in bridging the
gap that presently exists between education, community and the work situation,
thus promoting an integration between education and development at the community
level. This development at the level of the community also concerns promoting a
sense of citizenship, a general acceptance of obligations and responsibilities,
and clear individual rights and privileges, thus promoting social cohesion and
social stability. Fear of youth unemployment is real, and the political
ramifications of youth misbehaviour are disturbing. But school enterprises are
not simply a means to keep youth off the street, but have the important function
of mixing volunteer and community obligations to engender social commitment.
Not only will school enterprises provide basic training for
employment and training in new skills and understanding in order to meet the
challenges of rapid technological and societal change, but they will be in the
service of the people, rather than only in the service of the secondary
industry. This means reconceptualising technical and vocational education for
meeting the needs of unemployed youth, women and rural dwellers in developed and
developing countries alike.
Further school enterprises are expected to reduce discrimination
against manual work and promote social mobility. They are expected to teach
students to recognise the economic and social values of the various types of
work by inculcating in them, through education, respect for workers, and for the
world of labour in general and the realities of work.12
12
Ibid.
