Teaching Small Business Management in the UK Part I

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the changing pattern of education and training for small business in the UK (in so far as such training is carried out in the education sector). The article is divided into two parts. Part I provides an overview of the key factors influencing training provision in the UK, in particular the growth of official policies of support for small firms development. It then reviews the overall needs that might be met by programmes for small business and postulates a model based on the career cycle for consideration of teaching and training opportunities. Part II, to be published later, surveys the management problems that the education sector faces in coming to terms with small business and discusses how these might be overcome. The evidence for this is based on a 1982 survey of teachers who have attended the UK Small Business Management Teachers Programme. This programme, which has been operating since 1977, is presently run by a consortium of Trent Polytechnic, Central London Polytechnic, London Business School and Durham University Business School. The programme aims to encourage the systematic development of the response of the education sector in the UK to the needs of the smaller business.