We chose Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011 to launch a new and urgently needed campaign to make enterprise and entrepreneurship a part of all young people’s education.

You can read our briefing paper here which sets out the challenges young people face and why developing enterprise and entrepreneurship skills through their education will help address these issues.

Our petition states:

The world is changing fast and education isn’t keeping up. Changes in technology, the economy and global culture mean that young people face an increasingly complex and unpredictable future. Our experience and belief is that young people need to be enterprising, develop an entrepreneurial mindset and have the confidence and ambition to be able to take on the challenges and opportunities of life in the 21st century. Creating a culture of enterprise in education is vital for all our futures – to compete in an increasingly competitive world we need to have a well educated, innovative and enterprising workforce. Yet too many young people go through their education with no clear idea of how their skills and interests fit into the world of work and business. We call on the government to make enterprise and entrepreneurship a key part of every young person’s education, part of teacher training and development and part of the Ofsted inspection framework for schools and colleges.

If we reach 100,000 signatures or more then the petition will open a debate in the House of Commons to help us achieve a much needed change of culture in education.

To support us, please sign the e-petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18932