Social Enterprise in School Evaluation Report ACRE Annual Report 2017 Final | Page 4

Chair’s Report
For the first time in five years, we
find that youth entrepreneurship
is finally being recognised as a key
driver for the retention of young
people and the rejuvenation of
rural and regional communities.
This has been a long time
coming and I’d like to think that
our learning and development
programs have played a valuable
role in creating this change.
It is very clear through the extensive research
undertaken by the Foundation for Young
Australians ‘New Work Order’ series that all
young people need to develop enterprise
skills to be successful in their future
employment and careers.
Through the success of the Social Enterprise
in Schools program, we are seeing some great
results, similar to those which have been
achieved through the program in Scotland.
Evidence shows that the program is engaging
for all learners (including and especially non-
academic learners). It provides real
decision-making opportunities for students,
it develops real enterprises, it involves the
broader community and it meets the Critical
and Creative Assessment task recently
introduced to the Victorian curriculum.
Over the last two years we have also provided
learning and development programs to
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over 120 business, community, government
and education leaders across rural and
regional Victoria. These leaders are critical
to developing an enabling environment for
entrepreneurship to flourish in rural areas.
Without this, young people will experience too
many barriers to fulfilling their ideas, resulting
in despondency or increased out migration to
the cities.
We are excited that as an organisation we can
move beyond the ‘proof of concept’ phase
into an expansion phase which will see us
deliver school and community based learning
and development programs across Victoria.
We have just completed the detailed planning
for this expansion and we now have a clear
path ahead.
Our growth would not have been possible
without the generosity and support of the
philanthropic sector and our thanks goes
to all who have supported us. I would like