Business Gets Closer To Chalk Face

Media statement
Tuesday, February 24th, 2004

Business gets closer to chalk face

The Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) has announced it will be offering scholarships to trainee teachers at the Auckland College of Education to learn more about business.

EMA and ACE have developed a module about business for the college's teaching programme, believed to be the first initiative of its kind embedded in teachers' formal training.

'Enterprise and Innovation - Building Educators' Understandings of Business' will commence in July for the second semester at the college.

To kickstart the programme, EMA is paying $200 to the first 15 Auckland College of Education students who successfully complete the new module.

EMA says it wants the programme expanded, and is hoping companies will join it by offering more of the scholarships.

"EMA approached the college because business was concerned teachers had few resources or training to draw upon in relation to business and the economy," said EMA Northern chief executive Alasdair Thompson.

"This is a step towards making New Zealand more tuned into the need for enterprise and entrepreneurship.

"Many young people don't know how New Zealand's standard of living is created and sustained. People don't seem to know how their education is paid for, or where the money comes from for hospitals, to care for the environment, for old people's welfare, roads, the police, defence and so on.

"They don't appreciate that business growth results in economic growth which gives us all better options for education and healthcare."

Dean of Teacher Education at the Auckland College of Education, Lexie Grudnoff said the joint venture meets a key goal in the college's strategic plan: "The module is an example of responding to a key stakeholder in the country's education system," she said. "The studies of society in teacher education are a perfect vehicle for focusing explicitly on the role of business."

The college's Head of Centre for Technology, Kerry Lee, said the module will provide students with the opportunity to explore the interdependence between business, society, enterprise and innovation. She said students will develop an understanding of the use of resources in business and the impact of business on the community.

The optional module is open to practising teachers enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Teaching) and Graduate Diploma of Education programmes.

The working party that developed the module included several Board members of EMA, Enterprise New Zealand Trust, key staff members of ACE, AUT, and practising teachers.

ENDS

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