A holistic
educational model
The Pedagogical and educational approach in conscious entrepreneurship (PEACE) is an integrated approach: it ensures both the learning of basic school subjects and the exit profile of conscious entrepreneurship. These objectives foster personal development as well as societal development.
The educational and pedagogical activities are based on thought, differentiation and action. They lead to the production of projects and micro-businesses, which meet a need or an ideal, shared or personal.
Although it only constitutes a slight part of the academic program in the beginning, PEACE becomes more and more present as the years go by. Its implementation is flexible and respectful of various educational contexts. It considers the age of the children as well as the progressive appropriation of the method by the school-team.
This decompartimentalized pedagogical and educational context takes real life situations into account. It is based on an experimental method which puts learning in perspective and which solicits the interest of the children and adults. PEACE allows members of an educational community to reinvent solutions to solve collective or individual needs, whether they are educational, cultural or economic.
Activities
Entrepreneurial activities are exercises that are reflection oriented (e.g.: child or adult philosophy) or action oriented, usually carried out with the participation of the entire class. Designed to take place over a short period of time, they may take only a few minutes of a few hours. They usually take place during one or a few classroom periods, while being integrated into one or several subjects already planned for in the program and timetable.
Projects
Projects relate to entrepreneurial work which supply an answer to an identified dream or meet a real need which is present in the school or in the community. These projects are undertaken and carried out by a single person or by a small group of persons. The students, alone or in small groups, learn to initiate, to carry out and to manage projects through entrepreneurial experiments that are integrated into one or more school subjects. The execution and completion of a project requires a varying number of hours spread over a few weeks.
Microbusinesses
The teaching involved in developing and managing pedagogical microbusinesses puts into play the same aspects described in the entrepreneurial project. They can be distinguished from the other projects in that they imitate the entrepreneurial process present in businesses in the real world, be they profit oriented or non-profit oriented. A specific teaching strategy is conceived and is adapted to fit the nature of the microbusiness. Integrated into one or more existing school subjects, the development and management process requires several hours spread over a period of a few months, sometimes even overlapping more than one school year.
NB. Click here to discover further examples of activites, projects and microbusinesses integrating school subjects and learning objectives in conscious entrepreneurship.
Three roles
The initiator identifies a need, imagines a solution, takes the opportunity and acts accordingly. He learns to observe, to ask questions and to identify and explain what can be modified. He develops his imagination, his capacity to establish cognitive models and new connections, his self-confidence and confidence in his team.
The go-getter undertakes the tasks, is an active producer in the project, which in return leads to the success of a team project. He learns to respect the required quality and timelines and to deal with the unexpected. He is meticulous, perseverant and punctual and has the ability to earn new techniques and to work in groups.
The manager designs, plans and coordinates the required operations and resources to have a successful project. She learns to make decisions, to evaluate someone else’s work, to manage conflict and to manage the unexpected. She develops a thoughtful and meticulous approach and takes into consideration the people who contribute to a project as well as those who benefit from it.
The entrepreneurial projects and micro-businesses require the production of a real-life event, a service or a product answering a need in the school or the community. The approach is systematically based on thinking about the need and how to meet it, often implies partnerships with the socioeconomic environment (community) close to the school and incite children and adults to initiate, produce and manage.
By repetitively assuming these three roles, students of all ages are therefore incited to develop their self-confidence (empowerment), to take risks, to discover their talents and acquire knowledge from their experience and that of others, while sharing the wealth of their socioeconomic environment (community). They become progressively conscious of the impact of their entrepreneurship style on themselves, their human environment and nature.
This means something to you?
Through the approach in conscious entrepreneurship, students develop attitudes and skills to allow them to influence the development of their environment and their community. They gain assets that will serve them in their personal and professional lives.
