Gould Group - Enterprise Schools

Enterprise Schools promotes re-use and recycling, nurtures student leadership, entrepreneurial and business skills and addresses social justice issues. Students have a chance to set up and operate their own enterprise with support from their school and project partners.

In the past several years, charities have been forced to shut down their recycling collection bins because of dumped hard waste and rubbish (1,500 tonnes dumped as landfill). Significant amounts of money, full time jobs and important social services were lost .

Gould League developed a program – Enterprise Schools – where schools act as collection points for donated goods.

A pilot project was implemented in five Melbourne metropolitan schools. Students were provided with opportunities to develop leadership, entrepreneurial and business skills in a real business environment with industry mentors.

Charity collection bins are placed in schools, cleared by FM Recycling and taken to their charity sorting depot. Various charities (Brotherhood of St Laurence, Australian Red Cross, Open Family Australia Inc. and the Salvation Army) then sell these goods though charity opportunity shops to fund delivery of essential community assistance programs.

St Monica's students launch Enterprise Schools

Staff and students at St Monica's College join Gould League representatives and project partners at the
Enterprise Schools launch

Enterprise Schools Project Partners

Enterprise Schools project partners.
Read an interview with Dr Joe Agostino, Director at FM Recycling, about the value of the Enterprise Schools program.

"As part of the project, the students organised a fashion show modeling recycled/donated clothes. The fashion show was a huge success, involving the whole school. I am thinking of definitely looking at it next year for a year 9 group."
(Teacher)

An inspiring and motivating student forum featuring student activities and guest speakers from re-use and recycling businesses;

Professional development for teaching staff;

Education resources;

Simplified business tools and training;

Links to mentoring and funding partners; and

Promotional activities.

Project partners FM Recycling and VISY Recycling provided:

Collection bins;

Business mentoring;

Participation in student forums;

Ongoing support; and

Business partnerships for the students.

Monash University conducted an independent project evaluation. Dr Amy Cutter - Mackenzie wrote,
"At the end of this project, teachers reported a significant increase in the inclusion of sustainability in their everyday teaching practices. This is a significant outcome for this project and wider field of environmental education . The Enterprise Schools project allowed the participating schools to develop an effective model for enterprise learning in the context of real community issues. Through working with the Gould League and FM Recycling, students were engaged and able to build strong links with local businesses, industry and the community."

Support our Enterprising Schools

Gould League secured seed funding from the Australian Government through the Department of Education, Science and Training to run the pilot program during 2006 and is actively seeking support to extend this extremely promising project into many more schools around Australia. We already have a waiting list of enthusiastic schools and the model lends itself readily to a range of reuse, recycling and reduction activities such as computer hardware, cartridges, mobile phones, timber and building materials and a range of other materials.