At the beginning of September, ORT teachers from Israel, Spain, France, Italy and Russia came together in Haifa to learn how to teach from a very different approach.
Leaving your comfort zone
The Taub Young Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) is a year round course comprised of teacher training, a 30 week curriculum for students and an entrepreneurship competition for teams in fourteen participating countries.
Each teacher tasked with guiding their students through a project based in English, Business & Entrepreneurship and Product Design.
You would be hard-pressed to find an expert teacher in all three of these fields, which means that a Taub YEP teacher must leave their comfort zone in order to deliver something new, challenging and worthwhile – and this is entirely the theme of the program.
As educators, we’re all aware that we need to equip future generations with the skills and mindsets to navigate a world of work we can’t yet envisage.
Intercommunication skills
Problem solving, critical thinking and communication skills are our best opportunity to prepare students to adapt to an automated, digital, future world of work.
ORT believes in developing the potential of young people and since 1880 we’ve helped communities to upskill, changing lives through education.
An entrepreneurship education is one way in which we can help to cultivate the mind-set and provide the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to thrive.
Entrepreneurial skills
Throughout the course, Taub YEP students learn in a completely different environment, with the aim of designing and marketing their own innovative venture.
Some of the information they need is available in the classroom, through their teacher. More will be found outside of the classroom and outside of the school.
It’s a challenging task and we see students from a variety of educational and socio-economic backgrounds thriving in this program.
Among the skills gained are; initiative, resilience, interpersonal skills; communication, emotional intelligence, collaboration, critical and creative thinking, problem solving, goal setting, planning and organisation, decision-making and the list goes on.
But how can you lead a class in topics you’re not trained and experienced in?
Acting as a mentor vs a teacher
Teachers give us the fundamentals, mentors encourage us to gain skills through practice.
Taub YEP students need the knowledge to succeed but also the correct environment to develop skills.
A mentor will act as an advisor and apply knowledge in practice.
Teachers can be mentors and mentors can be teachers and both have an important and necessary place in education. Taub YEP teachers learn to apply both sets of skills to help the students in this unique venture.
Taub YEP students gain a myriad of skills outside of a traditional school environment.
This program is perfect for students who could benefit from a non-academic environment.
It can also help students to gain valuable skills needed for higher education.
“YEP gave us the tools to be better prepared for our futures and helped us understand that there is still so much we can learn.” – ORT Mexico Taub YEP student.
These results require a lot of preparation and courage from our teachers/ mentors, who through humility, patience and flexibility lead students through a multidisciplinary experience that can truly be the making of them.
If you would like to learn more about Taub YEP for your school, contact us.
