Enhance your curriculum by addressing the QAA Guidance on skills for your subject, and incorporating the QAA (2018) Guidance on Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.
Highlighting approaches and resources to keep your enterprise/entrepreneurship offer available
The following ETC tools can help you to deliver these skills in the curriculum
These guides have been selected to build QAA (2018) enterprise skills in your teaching.
Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Any
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Any
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
8.) Digital and Data Skills
5Reflection and Action
This simple template allows learners to organise and prioritise the actions required to achieve a given goal; to identify all requirements to achieve each action; all constraints to achieving each action; to organise the help and support which relates to each action, and to set deadlines and monitor progress.
This is applicable to learners starting up their own businesses, and equally can support learners with all other projects and endeavours.
Learners can complete and use the following basic template;
| Goals | Actions to Achieve these Goals | Requirements | Constraints | Who or What Can Help Me | Target Date for Action |
| EXAMPLE | EXAMPLE | EXAMPLE | EXAMPLE | EXAMPLE | EXAMPLE |
| Branding | Logo | Time | None | Focus Groups | 1st March |
| Website | Money | ||||
| Business Cards | |||||
| Staff | Employment Process | Clear Information | No idea where to start | Matthew Draycott | 1st June |
| Understand Law | Local Authority Support | ||||
| Payment Scheme |
Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Individual Task
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Any
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
8.) Digital and Data Skills
5Reflection and Action
This task provides an opportunity to reflect on the learning gained during particular tasks for activities (ideally should be of “medium” length, such as intense induction programmes, week long activities or longer learning ‘events’ (modules or years of study). This can be particularly effective in terms of drawing out “change” or learning gain as identified by the learner themselves.
This approach provides an opportunity to reflect upon a wide range of individual development (including emotional development and confidence levels) as well as recognising improvement in the development of skills.
Traditionally physical diaries were issued to encourage students to write regularly and informally, however the wide range of multi-media (through smart phones and tablets) also allows students to select their own format (s) or trial the use of a new media tool for this purpose (ideally agreed in advance with tutor to avoid IT issues in viewing). A learning diary is therefore a tool of reflection which can take a variety of forms.
Key considerations for the tutor include:
NB: Consideration of how to create “value” is key in determining the role/purpose of this approach within an assessment strategy or within a programme. Typically students value activities that the tutor places a value on, and their currency is marks/assessment. However as diary is, by definition, a subjective view, and should reflect what the student has heard, learnt and reviewed, it is the student’s own analysis and insights that count, and clear marking parameters and guidance need to be provided to ensure clarity.
Issuing this task should be done at the start of the activity that you wish the learners to reflect upon. Ideally you encourage (or set) answering a range of open-ended questions, delighted to understand their initial position as they approach this learning/task. This may include expanding upon their prior understanding or life experience, as relevant to this work.
Once the activities are being undertaken, reflective models can be issued or sourced by the students to support their thinking. However you may wish to provide a set of reflective questions at regular intervals as prompts to their developing thinking.
This activity can be highly prescriptive, with set timescales at which you expect stages of reflection to be completed (as relating to the task being undertaken) however it is also possible to make this an open task, where the approach and learning is with the student to design and undertake. This allows the learner to explore, source and select their own model for reflection and test its effectiveness as a tool for their development during the process. This additional skills of research, evaluation and comparative analysis but risks diluting the quality of the reflection if the students place the emphasis upon critiquing models rather than the task itself and their personal learning. It is therefore important that you reflect the emphasis you wish to seek within your assessment schedule.
To increase the synthesis, and the ability for personal and confidential reflection, you may wish to create a format in which the students regularly capture thoughts and feelings, but keep this as a personal document (diary, blog or video diary) from which the submission is created. This synthesised version of their learning and reflections build an understanding of their personal development over time and allows for honest and uncensored self-reporting and reflection. Again the structure/control of the format/questions can be loose and open (providing only sources and reference to guide) or highly prescriptive (working within a template or with specific tools/questions) to ensure that the key elements of learning (including emotional elements and confidence) are a required feature of the submission.
Personal reflection is a tremendous skill, but is often difficult for students to develop, particularly during a period of study, with little or no external reference points or practical application. It is therefore recommended that this is an assessed piece, so that the value of reflection is made clear.
It is therefore important that you, as the tutor, place importance upon the development of this skill and take class-time to consider what is meant by reflection practice and how to ensure that reflection leads to learning, what is meant by reflective practice and how to ensure that reflection leads to learning.
It is also important to consider the formative as well summative assessment within this process, as reflective skills are improved through regular practice, and this form part of your regular teaching. It is important that you ‘model’ a reflective approach with the students by including reflective questions onto your regular contact with them, and making reflection an explicit aspect of your activity/classroom debrief. Making this explicit within your teaching will reinforce the student’s understanding of reflection as an activity to be repeated and practiced, as well as help them see how reflective questioning or models can deepen their understanding and build confidence in their abilities.
Three stem questions (Borton T1970) were further developed by John Driscoll (1994, 2000, 2007)
If you would like to have your How to Guide featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the How to Guide.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
If you would like to have your Case Study featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the Case Study.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
If you or your students are interested in developing a business idea, becoming self-employed/freelance or creating a business here are some tools to help and also some links to business start-up support.
These guides have been selected to build QAA (2018) entrepreneurship skills in your teaching.
Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Small group (teams of 4-6), Individual Task
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Any
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
8.) Digital and Data Skills
3Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
|
Objective:
|
|
Overview: This activity is designed to provide an opportunity for the entrepreneur/ small business owner to estimate the capacity of their proposed business in the tables, then summarise this information and consider what measures they would take if they were not working to full capacity or if were working to overcapacity. |
Activity:How many hours per week will you require to fulfil all the functions of the new business? By reflecting on the business presented, does the entrepreneur/ small business owner already have some equipment, stock, staff, premises and how much total hours/time spent in service, production, preparation etc. that are/can be used in the business?
Once the entrepreneur/ small business owner have broadly identified the above issues, it’s advised that they conduct an in-depth capacity planning exercise analysis covering areas and sections as follows: Time
Staff
Stock: Thinking about your stock levels:
Equipment
Space
Once the above capacity issues have been completed, it is only then that the operational aspect of running the business can be estimated. The owner will have to calculate whether the cost involved will increase production capacity sufficiently to meet demand and still make a profit or the other way round. If operation costs are higher than at first anticipated, it may be that the new business owner needs to re-evaluate these costs. For example, consideration of renting items of equipment instead of buying, subcontracting production. Time, equipment, space and stock are all linked together and dictate the production capacity of the business and also consider staffing.
|
Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Individual Task
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Any
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
8.) Digital and Data Skills
3Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
Objectives:
To ensure the potential new business owner knows exactly how much income the business needs to sufficiently generate, in order to cover personal living costs to survive.
To analyse how financial circumstances may change when becoming self-employed.
When setting up a business, the first thing to do is work out exactly how much money the business needs to make to support the individual. This ‘Personal Survival Budget’ activity is designed, so that the new business owner knows exactly how much money the business needs to make, in order to support and cover personal expenditure. This is critical to ensure that business and household expenses are kept separate and to support business decision making and planning.
This takes approximately 20-30 mins to complete the template below.
1. First of all, remember that you are only calculating your personal expenditure, not any expenses the business may incur.
2. Ensure that you include all of the items that you have the responsibility to pay for in your household. If you have any other items of expenditure that do not appear on the list, include them in the ‘other’ box.
3. Secondly, remember that your financial circumstances will change when you become self-employed, as you will begin paying class two national insurance contributions monthly, and any benefits that you are currently entitled to, such as housing/council tax benefit, may reduce or stop. If you are not sure what benefits you may be entitled to, seek advice from a Welfare Rights Advisor.
4. Finally, the budget is based on your expenditure per month, so if there are bills that you pay weekly, quarterly, or annually, remember to divide them by the appropriate amount.
|
Items of Expenditure |
Monthly £
|
|
Rent/ Mortgage |
£ |
|
Council Tax |
£ |
|
Water |
£ |
|
Utilities (gas, electricity, water, oil, etc |
£ |
|
Phone |
£ |
|
Food |
£ |
|
TV License |
£ |
|
Home/ Life Insurance |
£ |
|
Loan/ Credit cards/ personal debt repayments |
£ |
|
Newspapers/ Magazines |
£ |
|
Car Tax/ Insurance |
£ |
|
NI Contributions |
£ |
|
Saving Plans |
£ |
|
Other |
£ |
|
Total Expenditure |
£
|
5. Now that you have established your average monthly expenditure, the next step is to identify any income that you may already have, or possibly claim for, to help meet this expenditure. Again remember that this is a monthly budget. Depending on your personal circumstances, you may receive some, all or none of the items below:
|
Estimated Income Outside Self-Employment |
Monthly £ |
|
Income from family/partner - parents |
£ |
|
Part-time job |
£ |
|
Full-time job |
£ |
|
Benefits |
£ |
|
Other income |
£ |
|
Total Income Outside Self-Employment |
£ |
6. To give a new business the best chance of survival, it is best to minimise your drawings as much as possible in the first year to avoid getting into debt. For this reason we establish the minimum drawings that you could take form the business and ‘survive’. This is calculated by taking the total income (above) from the total expenditure . What remains will be the minimum amount that you could draw from the business per month in order to survive.
|
Minimum drawings calculation |
Monthly £ |
|
Total expenditure |
£ |
|
Total income outside self employment |
£ |
|
Total expenditure less total income |
£ |
NB. In some cases, your income may exceed your expenditure. This occurs when there is already enough income coming into the household to cover all the bills, and drawings from the business are not ‘necessary’. In this case it is best to set very low drawings to allow the business a healthy cash flow.
Reflection
Financial analysis and budgeting
Rationalising
Decision making
Resources:
Flip Chart / Power point (if presenting in a group)
Calculator
Hand out the following template for the entrepreneur/ small business owner to complete (link)
Template to hand out to business owner / entrepreneur
To help estimate the minimum amount of monthly drawings that you need to take from the business to cover all your personal day to day living costs, please complete the tables below and add any other items of personal expenditure that may not be on the list.
|
Items of Expenditure |
Monthly £
|
|
Rent/ Mortgage |
£ |
|
Council Tax |
£ |
|
Water |
£ |
|
Utilities (gas, electricity, water, oil, etc |
£ |
|
Phone |
£ |
|
Food |
£ |
|
TV License |
£ |
|
Home/ Life Insurance |
£ |
|
Loan/ Credit cards/ personal debt repayments |
£ |
|
Newspapers/ Magazines |
£ |
|
Car Tax/ Insurance |
£ |
|
NI Contributions |
£ |
|
Saving Plans |
£ |
|
Other |
£ |
|
Total Expenditure |
£
|
In the table below please list any income outside self employment that you receive such as: Income from Partner/ Tax credits/ Child benefits/ House Keep
|
Estimated Income Outside Self-Employment |
Monthly £ |
|
Income from family/partner - parents |
£ |
|
Part-time job |
£ |
|
Full-time job |
£ |
|
Benefits |
£ |
|
Other income |
£ |
|
Total Income Outside Self-Employment |
£ |
|
Minimum drawings calculation |
Monthly £ |
|
Total expenditure |
£ |
|
Total income outside self employment |
£ |
|
Total expenditure less total income |
£ |
This section highlights that you will need to draw a minimum of £_____ from the business to cover all personal day to day living costs.
https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/help-for-young-people/tools-resources/business-tools/finance-advice
If you would like to have your How to Guide featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the How to Guide.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Any
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Any
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
8.) Digital and Data Skills
1Creativity and Innovation
2Opportunity recognition‚ creation and evaluation
3Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5Reflection and Action
6Interpersonal Skills
7Communication and Strategy
8Digital and Data Skills
Taking #EntEdOnline: What did you need to do to deliver your Enterprise Support programme online?
The Enterprise Support programme at Oxford Brookes which consists of three elements: Support for Start-Ups, Tier 1 Start Up Visa programme (T1SUV) and Partnership Work.
The challenges of working online or at a distance include:
The key challenge is networking in a digital landscape as well as running and operation of an Incubator (IceQube) virtually. We explored launching a new co-working Incubator space for our enterprise community; how to co-work in a social distance landscape and using telephone calls / inquiries to keep communication available and accessible.
(note: voice communication options have been limited to the above whereby you must make an account on a video call platform or have access to a work mobile phone to make a voice call.
Our biggest challenge was making changes to our offerings for a "biggest idea pitching competition" working out how best to support our entrepreneurs in the current climate, and communicating these changes to them efficiently through calls and emails, as well as changes to the delivery of the event which was set to be held as a gala dinner.
What were your concerns, constraints and priorities?
With delivery and supporting clients our priority, we focused on mentoring despite the technical constraints. In order to conduct face to face mentoring for students, staff and recent graduates and that mentee’s must have access to a strong internet connection and video call software such as Zoom, Google Hangouts or Skype with microphone.
We also needed to address what would be the direct line of contact for our community? Without open office hours for those on Campus to speak to the Enterprise Support Team. Programme administration, the preparation and production of official documents on behalf of the University was key. This process now requires people to sign documents digitally and substitute headed paper for a digital option. We needed to deliver a programme of live events including a pitching competition and monthly meet-up. The issues to be aware of when taking these online were, training our team, participants and audience on how to engage in these events online.
What did you do?
We acknowledged the covid-19 situation on all our communication/across all channels to keep our content relevant to our audience and what they are preoccupied about. We provided digital solutions to access our services in a matter of days and reassured our audience that we could go ahead with the rest of our programme. We delivered our two main funding programmes online with the first webinar ‘Pitch@ The Zoom’ seeing 12 people pitch for funding and our idea pitching competition Fuel which followed the same tested format via the Zoom platform. We encouraged and nurtured audience engagement through the interactive Q&A features and the polling features. We addressed our partnership work by ceasing the opportunity to work with individuals or organisations which could play a role in providing additional mentoring support, expert guidance, signposting for us. This was achieved by putting a call out to host a series of ‘How to Webinars’ to directly help towards building and developing business ideas. Fostering relationships with an existing and growing network of alumni, who can play a role in accompanying our enterprise community of students, staff and recent graduates on their journey to starting or growing a company. We plan to share their stories through our digital marketing and PR.
What resources, links, advice, guidance did you consult?
Alongside the existing resources EEUK already provides, we have looked to Enterprise Nation alongside Zoom who offer a plethora of support including demonstrations for how their different services work, and step by step how-to guides for every feature.
What other challenges do you have that you have not yet resolved
One challenge we are facing is that it is harder to host networking because for both our audience and ourselves, we are not used to networking online. We need to get comfortable with this new way of doing things. As an example we are trying to work out how to host our monthly networking events online (Monthly Meet-Up). We usually provide food and drink, and host games for our attendees to win prizes. We originally planned on utilising Zoom and are considering running a virtual pub quiz, but feel this is still quite isolating in its nature for those who would normally attend our events and speak with new people. Ability to generate individual conversations in a group setting isn't something that Zoom can easily facilitate and is key for us.
With grateful thanks to Katrina Gill Enterprise Support, Oxford Brookes University for sharing to support the sector.
If you would like to have your Case Study featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the Case Study.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
EEUK have provided a short guide to help you think through taking your institutional offer online
The EEUK latest support is provided here: check out https://www.enterprise.ac.uk/ented-online/
Support to help you (if you are running a budget or a team) as well to help you guide others (to provide resources for your clients, beneficiaries and business starts, including trading businesses) can be found on the FSB site This is kept up to date and is worth scrolling down to appreciate the breadth of topics/support. in particular you might wish to read:
https://www.fsb.org.uk/resources-page/how-to-create-a-business-continuity-plan.html
Support your team to work at home: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/five-ways-to-wellbeing-when-working-from-home/
