A Massey academic has criticised high school teachers for failing to make the link for students between creativity, innovation and the idea of running their own business.
Dr Andrew Cardow, a senior lecturer at Massey University’s School of Management, and an experienced business owner, was speaking in Auckland recently at the Small Business Summit organised by Small Business Voice.
Cardow said the New Zealand Government needs to promote in our high schools the idea of working in the SME sector.
“The government needs to start creating the idea of small business being a creative exercise right from high school,” he said. “At the moment, if you show any kind of academic ability you are steered away from business and into the STEM courses [science, technology, engineering and mathematics].”
While STEM courses are positive in their own right, he said, the students who focus on them generally end up working for someone else.
Cardow also criticised secondary educators for teaching irrelevant and outdated business skills.
“Business education in high schools hasn’t changed much in 30 years,” he said. “It’s still about profit and loss, balance sheets and business plans rather than looking at creative and innovative ideas.”
He added that since 2007, in the academic literature at least, formal business plans have been proven to be “a complete waste of time”.
Instead, he said, it would be better for high school students to learn about strategy, marketing planning and how to identify and work with niche customers.
By Ruth Le Pla. Email [email protected]
