Press Release
Date: 14 June 2005 (NR/14/05)
CCEA and FE Colleges work together to develop Enterprise Skills
Students and lecturers from some of the province’s Further and Higher Education Colleges have met to celebrate the success of the CCEA Certificate of Business Enterprise course.
The event held at the Hilton Hotel, Templepatrick, saw students from the East Tyrone College who recently won the College Enterprise Challenge sharing their experiences and demonstrating the successful outcomes of the course. Presentations were made by Mr Harry Mason, Department for Employability and Learning (DEL), Mr John D’Arcy, Chief Executive, Association of Northern Ireland Colleges (ANIC) and Mr Gavin Boyd , Chief Executive CCEA who explained the rationale behind the course:
“There is agreement that the future of Northern Ireland economy will, to a much greater extent, depend upon more of our young people starting their own business. Invest Northern Ireland has published the Accelerating Entrepreneurship Strategy and the Department for Employment and Learning has signalled that the Further Education Sector will have a greater role in economic development. In this context CCEA has developed the Certificate of Business Enterprise to promote business enterprise amongst students studying at Further and Higher Education Colleges<.
The objective is that students in colleges will, in addition to their main studies, take this enterprise course, thus helping to realise the ambitions of the Invest Northern Ireland strategy. Students who achieve this certificate develop the knowledge, skills and understanding to establish their own small business enterprises and thereby contribute to the Northern Ireland economy.”
Government has announced its acceptance of the CCEA proposals for the revised Northern Ireland Curriculum. At the heart of the new statutory provision is Learning for Life and Work which includes Education for Employability.
Education for Employability encompasses four dimensions:
- work in the local and global economy;
- career planning;
- enterprise and entrepreneurship;
- skills and capabilities for work.
Education for Employability is one of the central elements in the CCEA proposals for the revised Northern Ireland Curriculum. Effective preparation for the world of work is an essential part of the general education of young people.
This means that young people in Northern Ireland in the future will have the opportunity to experience progressively enterprise activities from primary school up to the age of eighteen.
Media enquiries to Ruth Maguire on (028) 9026 1216, Mobile 07796947993. E mail rhmaguire@ccea.org.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors
CCEA is the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.
CCEA places learners and those who have a concern for their educational and personal development at the forefront of its thinking. CCEA's mission is:
"To enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised"
What we do
CCEA is a unique educational body in the UK , bringing together the three areas of curriculum, examinations and assessment.
Advising Government – on what should be taught in Northern Ireland ’s schools and colleges.
Monitoring Standards – ensuring that the qualifications and examinations offered by awarding bodies in Northern Ireland are of an appropriate quality and standard.
Awarding Qualifications
– as Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body we offer a diverse range of qualifications, such as GCSEs, including the new GCSE Double Award specifications in vocational subjects, GCE A and AS levels, Entry Level Qualifications, and Graded Objectives in Modern Languages.
- CCEA also offers a range of Awards and Certificates in Education, Training and Skills (ACETS) targeted at learners who want to get
the knowledge, understanding and skills needed
to hit the ground running in the world of work.
