Are we fostering the skills of our young entrepreneurs? A study of young people in education in the outer east of Melbourne

Garlick Taylor and Plummer (2005) posit that regional growth and competitiveness objectives can be realised through a culture of enterprise and that education institutions have a key role to play because of their capacity to add to human capital and regional outcomes generally. Regional growth and sustainability is an issue of concern in Outer Eastern Melbourne which has experienced a decline in relative growth. Concurrently the region has also experienced lower retention rates and higher and further education participation rates than the State on average. Whilst research can demonstrate a strong youth interest in enterprise in the US (Kuratko 2004) and in Australia (OECD, 2001; DISR2001; Houghton and Strong 2005), no evidence of this nature could be found in the Outer East. This paper looks at the result of a study undertaken in collaboration with 21 secondary schools in Outer Eastern Melbourne in 2005 which investigated aspiration and entrepreneurship in Year 10 students and examined types of enterprise education offered in schools. Case studies of four enterprise programs explored benefits and outcomes of these programs from student and staff perspectives. Four hundred and twenty-five students completed a survey instrument designed to gauge the links between parental, school and other influences on student attitudes and the combined effect on aspirations generally and more specifically on academic work and enterprise aspirations. Further the enterprise aspirations were considered at a more fine grained level being either immediate, in five years or less or in more than five years time. Just over one quarter of students indicated they have long term plans to establish a business in the future. In this cohort, more males than females have business aspirations and a higher proportion of students in Independent schools have business aspirations compared with students in Government or Catholic schools. Students who intend to establish a business tend to score higher on leadership attributes than students who do not wish to start a business. Those who intend to start a business are more likely to have parents in business and parents who do not expect them to go on to study in university. In addition, the study identified several important elements that contribute towards a successful enterprise program. The study ultimately shows limited participation in enterprise education and limited aspiration on the part of the students. The challenge for the education system is twofold: increasing the aspirations of young people to engage in enterprise; and providing mainstream pathways for the young entrepreneur