Curriculum for Excellence – Enhancement Theme, mentoring.
Jason J Turner and Helen Smith, Dundee Business School (DBS),
University of Abertay Dundee
Universities and Colleges across Scotland are becoming increasingly
aware of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) programme that has
been implemented in secondary Schools and its implications for the
Higher Education sector. It has become clear that educational
sectors need to work more closely together if they are to gain an
understanding of the impact of the CfE on the future students of the
tertiary sector. It is in this context that DBS established a partnership
with a secondary school to:
a) encourage young learners to engage with business and get them to think about their
curriculum options,
b) pursue business subjects at National 4 and 5, Higher and Advanced Higher and
c) give them a taste of ‘student life’ through accessing University facilities and collaborating
with University student mentors.
In 2013, 80 S3 learners from Morgan Academy, Dundee worked in mixed ability groups on a
marketing and finance task twice a week over a four week period in March/April, supported
by student mentors. The S3 learners were required to plan a promotional campaign for a real
business, which required market research with different customer age groups, designing
packaging and promotional steps, calculating the costs of the packaging and promotion, and
suggesting sales channels for the business. The S3 learners then pitched their proposals
directly to the business, Scotherbs, a business which grows a wide variety of fresh herbs
and salad leaves and sells to Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, based in the Carse of
Gowrie, Dundee, employing over 90 staff.
Through real business scenarios DBS brings together secondary schools, local businesses
and the University to enhance the employment skills of young learners and University
students, providing creative solutions to business problems and provide case studies to be
used in Abertay University programmes and modules. The activity allowed University
students to act as ambassadors for the University, mentoring young learners through every
stage of the real business scenario. The mentors passed on their knowledge and experience
in a way which engaged the learners with the subject which was in part due to their ages
(18-21) and the fact that young learners recognised that they were not teachers. The
University mentors encouraged the young learners to express themselves creatively and to
provide reasons for their ideas and develop confidence working on individual tasks and in
groups, providing feedback and feedforward to the learners. It created a win-win situation
with the student mentors also benefitting from this experience, developing both their practical
skills (management, communication, leadership, problem solving and creative thinking) and
the softer skills (resolving group conflict, project management, confidence, responsibility,
autonomy and critical self-reflection). The activity further embedded the graduate attributes
(Confident Thinkers, Determined Creators, Flexible Collaborators, Challenging complexity,
and driving change) which are developed through their modules into their skill set for work
and life.