Why Primary School?

Primary School provides a great opportunity for change creation. The combination of having one teacher with a constant and familiar relationship with pupils, close parental and community contact with the schools, combined with the open minds of 11 and 12 year olds make it the ideal time to introduce new concepts. The competitive elements of education which are so evident at second level have not yet kicked in and pupils view each other as equals.

Radical Societal Change

There is a superb opportunity for nationwide adoption of an initiative that will change lives forever. There are 4,200 primary schools on the island of Ireland with over 170,000 pupils in senior classes. There has never been a nationwide entrepreneurship programme with a real connection to entrepreneurs. But this is something we can impact today.

What does JEP cost? Who pays?

The Junior Entrepreneur Programme is available free of charge to every primary school in every county on the island of Ireland. JEP is a not-for-profit initiative, it is underwritten by Tweak.com and is further supported by local delivery partners in several counties  Our key objective is to ensure that every primary school pupil in Ireland has the opportunity to access to entrepreneurial learning.

JEP Teacher Orientation

Once registered online, participating teachers can access the password protected teachers area. We continuously update our orientation on the basis of feedback from participating teachers and also curriculum updates. The links between JEP and the primary school curriculum are clearly highlighted and sample JEP projects are available. The orientation programme is designed with interactive learning assessment which will give the participating teacher the confidence to successfully carry out the programme in their class.

What are the learning benefits?

The principles of the Primary School Curriculum and utilises an integrated teaching and project-based approach to teach many strands of the curriculum. JEP is a very meaningful way of teaching aspects of literacy including oral language development, reading and comprehension as well as writing purposefully.

This innovative programme helps participating pupils to develop a number of skills including presentation, literacy, writing, drawing, technology, financial skills, consumer awareness, storytelling, listening skills, creative thinking, problem-solving, collaborative skills and team work. Participating pupils engage in real-life applications of their mathematical skills as they undertake data collection, problem solving, and presentation of data and profit and loss. The JEP programme is most closely aligned with English, Mathematics and Social, Personal & Health Education (SPHE/PSHE) Curriculum in Ireland and the Personal Development & Mutual Understanding (PD&MU) in Northern Ireland, encouraging children to make decisions, negotiate, resolve conflict and connect with the wider world. Depending on the focus of the project, there may also be a strong focus on Arts Education, History, Geography or Science. There is also potential to link with Physical Education through the team building games. JEP instills a new interest and focus on learning and teaches invaluable skills in a real-life context that motivates and inspires the pupils.

Teacher and Pupil Recognition

Teachers who complete the JEP online orientation and deliver JEP in the classroom are awarded a certificate in recognition of their achievement. Pupils who complete the programme receive a certificate of achievement. Participating schools receive the JEP school flag and JEP wall plaque to mark their participation in the programme.