Human Capital - youth education and employment

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bertie Everard on May 26, 2010 at 15:54

I support the general thrust of this contribution and add some additional thoughts.

The nature of the interdependence between individuaks and society needs clarification. It is not that society owes individuals a living by poviding everyone with a job with an employer. It is that society needs to be so ordered as to give every individual the opportunity to earn a living and thus to contribute to the well-being of society. Apprenticeships, so highly favoured by government, imply employers providing work-places; don't entrepreurships merit equal support?

I sense that education sometimes fails to give students sufficient understanding of the nature of societies, so that they leave education ill-equipped to find their niche in it. OPUS (Organisation for the Propogation of Undersatnding of Socity) once attmpete to remedy this. HCT will help, but more so within the context of a better understanding of society in general, and how it works. And, as you say, education is sometimes weak in developing entrepreneurial skills and 'turning people on' (ie inspiriting them, instillinging a sense of purpose, nurturing drive and self-belief etc) . There is too much focus on knowledge and skills at the expense of attitudes (Sir Christopher Ball prioritised these in the order ASK, whereas an academic education is KSA.

The Big Society is not a dependent society; it is interdependent, and it badly needs more social entrepreneurs. My local borough council has interpreted this as requiring its elected members (only) to be trained as entrepreneurs. Why choose them, when others (especially the young) may show greater aptitudes? As you say, there are professionals too who need to grasp the importance of entrepreneurship in their fields and become active as doers..

Your nine bullet pointed traits are good pointers to aptitudes, but they are also developable, and education should actively nurture them. Is the classroom the best setting for doing this? I thnk not. The outdoors, and especially wildrness environments are more conducive to their development.

Bertie Everard

Permalink Reply by Robert Stephenson on July 31, 2010 at 10:19

I concur 100% with my fellows here and the reports they are citing etc that It is imperative that every education system puts a lot more emphasis on developing en enterprise and entrepreneur culture at the earliest possible time in children's education.

Unfortunately the reality is that the powers that be in the Dept’s of so called Education, Governments with that responsibility, etc do not yet even after all the information available on the subject, they do not recognize the vital and primary importance of this. The lack of resources and curriculums that are devised do not support entrepreneurial development, it IS as has been pointed out to be that children are taught to want “to get a job” not “create their own enterprise”.

I came to the conclusion some 8 years ago that if you wanted to help bring more and better change into the world, it was by improving the education systems internationally, by empowering young people to be change makers, creating a young, global, social entrepreneurs movement. So I developed a social enterprise programme for schools called Blastbeat ( www.blastbeat.org).

With Blastbeat students organize themselves into Music & Multimedia Companies (MMCs) where they choose the 14 roles necessary to compete as a creative entrepreneurial team in this exciting music business challenge, planning, promoting and hosting a live music event, battle of the bands etc.

Blastbeat leverages young people’s passion for music, multimedia, social media, making and sharing friends and money as they have fun learning and experiencing first hand business, technical, inter/intra-personal, team-work, communication, music, social, media & related skills.

Blastbeat also promotes and encourages young original songwriters & musicians, supporting youth communities on a local & global level, empowering teens to create social enterprises creating community and social capital to help bring about change for the good of society.

Within the Blastbeat programme there are two competitions in one that help encourage a true sense of real life, exciting social entrepreneurship and creative skills.
A) the social enterprise competition- winners receive mentorship and investment to continue to stage al ages music events for their peers.
B) the music competition for competing artists – winners get managed, recorded and prepared for a real career in Music if they really want it.

Blastbeat is a very innovative programme that got some financial support from the DCSF in 2009/ 2010 in the UK, who funded Blastbeat into over 60 schools in Greater London in the last year and surpassed everyone’s expiations.

However the new? Dept for Education with all the cuts that are coming have told us that Blastbeat is not likely to receive any more funding despite its huge success?
This is symptomatic of the lack of focus on what is most important. It is clear there is a lot of work has now to be done to bring the importance of this type of enterprise programme or movement to the new Minister for Education and the Prime Minister’s attention.
That is where the power lies with this new government it is clear to make the necessary top down decisions to give the proper emphasis and funding and importance in the curriculum to entrepreneurial education necessary to make the difference in society.

There is another way and Blastbeat is going to be championing this way and rolling this out to companies across the UK is by engaging volunteer mentors in helping young people understand what it is to be an entrepreneur. Blastbeat has some exciting plans in this area and I will share these with everyone on a separate post as this is already too long!!

Permalink Reply by Ian Lewis on July 31, 2010 at 12:02

Thanks for the support, Robert. As it happens I'm actually in a Trustee Board Meeting of Brathay Trust which might be interested in BlastHeat. It is worth a check on the web at least, and I would support you in developing a Human Capital-based project with Brathay if it helped.



Robert Stephenson said:

I concur 100% with my fellows here and the reports they are citing etc that It is imperative that every education system puts a lot more emphasis on developing en enterprise and entrepreneur culture at the earliest possible time in children's education.

Unfortunately the reality is that the powers that be in the Dept’s of so called Education, Governments with that responsibility, etc do not yet even after all the information available on the subject, they do not recognize the vital and primary importance of this. The lack of resources and curriculums that are devised do not support entrepreneurial development, it IS as has been pointed out to be that children are taught to want “to get a job” not “create their own enterprise”.

I came to the conclusion some 8 years ago that if you wanted to help bring more and better change into the world, it was by improving the education systems internationally, by empowering young people to be change makers, creating a young, global, social entrepreneurs movement. So I developed a social enterprise programme for schools called Blastbeat ( www.blastbeat.org).

With Blastbeat students organize themselves into Music & Multimedia Companies (MMCs) where they choose the 14 roles necessary to compete as a creative entrepreneurial team in this exciting music business challenge, planning, promoting and hosting a live music event, battle of the bands etc.

Blastbeat leverages young people’s passion for music, multimedia, social media, making and sharing friends and money as they have fun learning and experiencing first hand business, technical, inter/intra-personal, team-work, communication, music, social, media & related skills.

Blastbeat also promotes and encourages young original songwriters & musicians, supporting youth communities on a local & global level, empowering teens to create social enterprises creating community and social capital to help bring about change for the good of society.

Within the Blastbeat programme there are two competitions in one that help encourage a true sense of real life, exciting social entrepreneurship and creative skills.
A) the social enterprise competition- winners receive mentorship and investment to continue to stage al ages music events for their peers.
B) the music competition for competing artists – winners get managed, recorded and prepared for a real career in Music if they really want it.

Blastbeat is a very innovative programme that got some financial support from the DCSF in 2009/ 2010 in the UK, who funded Blastbeat into over 60 schools in Greater London in the last year and surpassed everyone’s expiations.

However the new? Dept for Education with all the cuts that are coming have told us that Blastbeat is not likely to receive any more funding despite its huge success?
This is symptomatic of the lack of focus on what is most important. It is clear there is a lot of work has now to be done to bring the importance of this type of enterprise programme or movement to the new Minister for Education and the Prime Minister’s attention.
That is where the power lies with this new government it is clear to make the necessary top down decisions to give the proper emphasis and funding and importance in the curriculum to entrepreneurial education necessary to make the difference in society.

There is another way and Blastbeat is going to be championing this way and rolling this out to companies across the UK is by engaging volunteer mentors in helping young people understand what it is to be an entrepreneur. Blastbeat has some exciting plans in this area and I will share these with everyone on a separate post as this is already too long!!

Permalink Reply by Robert Stephenson on July 31, 2010 at 12:18

Hi Ian - I would be delighted to the Brathay Trust or any organization or group who want to help young people from Primary to University level. We have developed 3 different Blastbeat programme levels relevant to each. Here is more info below for you. Lets talk when you can . I am on 0786 3122230 or skype blastbeat_robert

Blastbeat is a fun & exciting Music & Multimedia Business / social enterprise progamme offered to teens and schools around the world. With Blastbeat, students organize themselves into Music & Multimedia Companies (MMCs) to compete in the business programme, planning, promoting and hosting a live music event. Blastbeat utilizes music and multi media to engage with teens, captivating them in a three-month social entrepreneurship co curricular / after schools programme. Blastbeat leverages young people’s passion for music, multimedia, social media, making and sharing friends and money as they have fun learning and experiencing first hand business, technical, inter-personal, intra-personal, team-work, communication, music, social, media & related skills.
Blastbeat also promotes and encourages young original songwriters & musicians, supporting youth communities on a local & global level, empowering teens to create social enterprises creating community and social capital to help bring about change for the good of society. Blastbeat is an essential and very positive initiative working to develop a new generation of young people who want to work in the industry and to build young audiences with a love for live music as they experience the buzz of the live gigging experience.
Blastbeat ran the programme in over 60 schools in London in 2009/ 2010 with support from the DCSF / Dept for Education.The final was at the O2 Area on 13t July with 12,000 students participating and many famous acts like the Saturdays, Tinchy Strider, The Wanted, Twenty Twenty,Elisa Doolittle, Tracy Solomon from x Factor etc, as well as new acts and 30 social enterprises showcased.

Within the Blastbeat programme there are two competitions in one that help encourage a true sense of real life, exciting social entrepreneurship and creative skills.
A) the social enterprise competition- winners receive mentorship and investment
B) the music competition for competing artists – winners get managed and recorded.
Each member of the company taking on a different job role which include CEO, Company Secretary and managers in Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, Ecology/CSR, Art & Design, Finance, Event, Talent scouting, Web content creation & Video crew, Photographers, Journalist etc ultimately producing a Battle of the Bands concert in order to identify the best musical talent in their neighborhoods. By participating in the Blastbeat programme, teenagers self-confidence, self-belief, self-esteem, social and life skills are boosted enormously. Blastbeat teaches real life creative and business-skills, where teens are creating, learning, and sharing in a structured online & offline environment that is centered on the music & multimedia business. These empowered teens then donate 25% of their profits from their gig to charity, making them young social entrepreneurs
Blastbeat Education UK is bringing Blastbeat programme into schools, youth organisations, or youths in care or to at risk youth groups partners to provide the programme to young people in care who are not in school.
We wish to particularly help underserved teenagers gain real useful and relevant life experiences to promote their personal, social, educational and vocational development preparing them for their role as autonomous, participative and responsible members of society. The programme is supported by educators and facilitated by Blastbeat employees and student mentors giving added value to the student’s school experience after school. Blastbeat would like to talk with anyone interested about how you can have fun mentoring young promoters /social entrepreneurs in any school or youth group near you as they run their first gig etc.