Planet Hatch Province-Wide Program Will Teach Students Entrepreneurial Skills
FREDERICTON – The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and Planet Hatch have formalized an agreement that will increase access to experiential learning and mentorship opportunities for middle school and high school students.
The partnership will allow students to gain skills related to entrepreneurship through workshops, mentorship, online learning, and other learning opportunities.
The agreement between Planet Hatch and the province will allow Planet Hatch to offer programming across the province, rather than limiting it to the Fredericton area.
“This partnership will enable us to scale what’s working really well to students across the province and also to work with the department to develop new opportunities that are creating experiential learning programs for students to better equip them with the skills required to succeed in the future of work,” said Adam Peabody, Director of Planet Hatch.
The initiative through Future NB’s goal is to develop an entrepreneurial-minded and skilled generation of learners.
One of the ways the partnership will help students and educators is by offering them Planet Hatch’s Future of Work program, a self-directed curriculum that aims to develop students’ entrepreneurial skills.
“Every job in the future of work will require individuals with entrepreneurial skills to fill them because they are the skill sets that are least at risk for being replicated by automation and artificial intelligence,” said Peabody.
Peabody says entrepreneurial skills are transferrable to any career and can be beneficial to every student.
“No matter if they’re going to be a nurse, or a scientist, or a teacher, or an entrepreneur, all of them will need to have creativity, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, social influence all of these skills.”
Future of Work’s curriculum was developed by consulting the University of New Brunswick, FutureNB, and a variety of businesses ranging from startups to larger corporations. The World Economic Forum’s 2018 future jobs report and the Conference Board of Canada’s 2016 Innovation Literacy Report were also consulted to guide the curriculum’s development.
The province says they are hoping the program will open up exposure to an entrepreneurial career path for students and will increase their engagement with their community. The department says they will explore opportunities to support teachers of the Entrepreneurship 110 class in the future.
“This partnership will allow students across the province to experience the realities of entrepreneurship through experiential learning opportunities — both virtually and in-person — including guest speakers, mentoring, coaching in entrepreneurial mindset, co-op opportunities, workshops, summer learning opportunities, virtual tours and online modules in skillsets for the future of work,” said Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Dominic Cardy in an email to Huddle.
“We will work closely with Planet Hatch to identify and create experiential learning opportunities that can ignite the entrepreneurial spirit of students and provide them with valuable knowledge, skills and connections as they prepare to build their lives in New Brunswick after graduation.”
Peabody hopes teachers and students take advantage of the opportunities the partnership will offer.
“There are so many great, amazing opportunities for those that don’t think that New Brunswick is the right fit for them,” he said. “We want to make sure that that story is being told and heard by every student in the province before they graduate and that they’re getting the opportunity to actually go and seize those opportunities. The impact that it can have on their life over the long term can really be something to get excited about.”
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Banner photo: Adam Peabody and Marion Hiltz help Fredericton High School students Fabio Kutnowski and Hunter Brewer develop new skills. Image: submitted.