An invaluable project aimed at teaching children the core values of business is building momentum across Ireland.
Close to 40,000 children have participated in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme since its inception in 2010.
The brainchild of entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly of Tweak.com, the programme is free of charge to all 5th and 6th class pupils in the country, and is a 12 to 16 week programme helping them learn and develop business skills in collaboration with their classmates.
A survey associated with the programme found that Irish children are a lot more aware of the likes of Brexit, Donald Trump and Ireland’s political landscape than they are given credit for.
Over 85% of teachers said the UK exit from the European Union had come up in the classroom in the last year, while Trump was the politician most spoken about in 5th and 6th class in primary schools.
He was followed by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny on 2.8% and new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 0.7%. However, more than 90% of the teachers surveyed said children in their classroom would not be able, unprompted, to name any of their local TDS.
The subject that teachers would most like to see added to the school curriculum was wellbeing/mindfulness at 27%, followed by both information technology and home economics/nutrition on 21% each, business studies at 20% and a foreign language at 17%.
Parents were cited as the biggest positive influence on the 11 and 12 year old pupils at 36%, compared to school at 26%, sport at 18%, community 10.5% and friends at 9.5%.
‘Confident’ was the word used most to describe 5th and 6th class pupils in Ireland today at 22%, followed by enthusiastic at 21%, creative 16% and energetic 12%.
