Sam Baldock, Acting Head Master of Bedford School, on the importance of teaching entrepreneurship alongside traditional academic skills
There can be no doubt that AI continues to change the world we live in. In schools, the ways we make use of AI to leverage student learning are growing by the week. But there’s still much that it can’t do. And in those gaps lie some of the most important areas to focus on if we’re to fully prepare all our young people for this challenging and changing world they’re emerging into every year.
Yes, the world is a digital one now. But equally, in this AI-driven domain, it has never been more important to accentuate the wonders of being human. A backwards-looking algorithm cannot replicate the imagination, empathy, courage, and persuasive verve required to lead in the future – and we’re adding emphasis to this at Bedford School.
A while ago, we called our governors together for a strategy awayday. I know, it’s usually the other way around, but this time we needed their advice, drawing from their experiences as business leaders and professionals. We asked them to help us identify the skills and attributes our boys needed to have by the time they completed their education. And from there we extrapolated backwards to create three areas of strategic focus that would sit alongside academic success to ensure our students were ‘future-ready’ as leavers.
The first was obvious and can’t be ignored – digital technology – but the other two were ‘human’. Like many schools, we recognise the importance of service – of giving back to the town we live in – and so our second area of focus centres on our Community Partnership Programme. But it’s the third strategic area focus I’d like to elaborate on here: Entrepreneurship.
Gone are the days of a ‘job for life’. Young people leaving schools such as ours are likely to have several careers, self-started and perhaps running concurrently. Our Entrepreneurship Programme combines elements of leadership training (both self-leadership and leading others) with practical initiatives to help students to devise and recognise ideas and drive them forward to fruition.
It’s a hugely popular part of the curriculum, stretching all the way from a Dragons’ Den-style initiative for our seven-year-olds to mentoring workshops for recent leavers. This year 30 boys stayed on for a week after GCSEs to take part in StartUp!, a five-day course where they hatch an idea, work with external mentors and drive it through to launch. Some were focused on making money, others on the social benefits.
Our alumni community of Old Bedfordians and parents are wonderfully supportive and lend the programme its authenticity – real-life entrepreneurs are regularly involved. And this year we introduced a BTEC qualification to the Sixth Form in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, weaving the thread more firmly into the examined academic curriculum of our school. Where we can, we share our programme with local schools – it’s the kind of thing that improves as networks grow and become more connected, and as innovations arise.
Anyone choosing a school these days has many dimensions to consider but a parent looking to give their child the best chance of a successful career in tomorrow’s world would do well to consider a school that puts entrepreneurship near the top of the list.
* James Hodgson, Bedford School Head Master, is on sabbatical until January 2025.
Bedford School bedfordschool.org.uk
Further reading: Four schools talk business
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