Why get involved?
Develop enterprise skills & capabilities
The Make Your Mark Challenge is a brilliant way of improving students’ enterprise skills through work related learning.
It complements the QCA’s requirements at Key Stage 4, particularly in relation to:
- Recognising, developing and applying their skills for enterprise and employability
- Undertaking tasks and activities set in work contexts
- Having experience (direct or indirect) of working practices and environments
- Engaging with ideas, challenges and applications from the business world
“The Make Your Mark Challenge is a fantastic opportunity for young people to get involved with business and enterprise and to show what they are capable of achieving. QCA supports the thousands of young people involved this year.” Mary Curnock Cook OBE, Director, Qualifications and Skills, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
The Make Your Mark Challenge gives students the opportunity to:
- Work as part of team
- Identify and make use of individual strengths
- Deal with uncertainty and risk-taking
- Develop problem-solving qualities and strategic thinking
- Develop financial literacy skills
There are many other skills involved in competing in the Make Your Mark Challenge, such as:
- Leadership
- Project planning and management
- Using tacit knowledge
- Oral communication
- Improving confidence, determination and independence
- Having the drive to make ideas happen
Read the QCA’s outline of enterprise education.
And of course there are also prizes…
First placed teams will receive £1,000 to research and develop their business idea and each student will receive £100 shopping vouchers.
In addition to this we’re excited to announce that thanks to support from the British Council our UK winners will be awarded with prizes with a truly global dimension.
14-16 category
The winning team in the 14-16 category will visit a school in France or Belgium (by Eurostar) for both an enterprising and cultural experience. They will share and develop their enterprise ideas. This will be an opportunity to either enrich an existing school partnership or develop a new one.
16-19 category
The winning team in the 16-19 category will travel to Belgrade, Serbia for the Skills@Work Challenge Final, a joint-project between the British Council and Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe, supported by Microsoft CEE. The UK team will work with students from southeast Europe such as Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia. The team will also go on to participate in a virtual final with counterparts from countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.
For more information about opportunities offered by the British Council, visit www.britishcouncil.org
Past winners
Don’t just take our word for it - find out what happened to previous winners of the Challenge and how they made their ideas happen!
