Last week at the PMI Synergy conference in London there was a slot entitled ‘Delivering a Successful Society’ which was a roundabout way of saying we need to be doing more to help kids develop work skills for the future. Work skills for the 21st century of course include project management – I say of course because isn’t project management really a life skill anyway (as well as a management discipline?). The focus of the presentation was PMI’s Educational Foundation (EF) which amongst other things has developed a curriculum, programme and toolkit for teachers to use in schools.
I must admit I was totally unaware of this initiative, and judging by other attendee reactions after the presentation not only was it deemed to be PMI’s best kept secret and also, well, just a brilliant idea.
When teaching project management in schools it’s better to think of teaching kids life skills – problem solving behaviors used appropriately and responsibly in the management of personal affairs (Wiki) When we’re thinking of life skills in relation to project management in school it’s areas such as:
- Planning and prioritising
- Negotiation
- Controlling
- Leadership
- Team Building
- Motivation
- Communication
- Influencing
- Decision Making and so on…
It was noted at the conference – by a headteacher from Mill Chase school in Hampshire which has piloted the programme – that projects in schools aren’t anything new. Kids have been doing arts projects, history projects, science projects for years. What is different in the approach PMI have taken is providing a consistency in approach and a common language. The headteacher went on to say that it’s crucial for her students (in this case the programme has been taken up by 11-12 year olds) to be more ‘savvy’ and prepared for working in the 21st century – and they can’t do this with 20th century skills.
Interested in the education programme?
You can download all the materials, work books, curriculum and project outlines directly from the PMI website. The programme has to take in account the teachers as well as the students, after all many teachers also need to learn the ins and outs of project management before being able to pass on their knowledge to the students. The ‘PM Kit’ was used over a four week period at Mill Chase and the students used such things as the project lifecycle, project calendar (gantt chart), traffic lights (reporting) and project stories (lessons learnt) to guide them through the project.
There were some interesting observations from the teachers – for some it was a great process for all the kids to get involved in. Even the shy students got involved in the group activities. Time management was sometimes a problem but the overall outcome for the project was good – it got delivered eventually 
The project approach allowed the kids to develop their personal learning and thinking skills, develop independent learning and pick up transferable skills. Getting the students involved in this kind of interactive process is life years away from reciting the times table or as one speaker put it, ‘schools are somewhere children come to watch adults working‘
So could it work in a school near you?
Yes it could, in fact PMI are looking for more schools to get involved. Funds are available to help make the programme a reality and like anything to make it happen you should be particularly passionate about education – possibly already a school governor or other close links to a local school. To find out more, contact the PMI EF in the first instance.
PMI Synergy 2011 Conference Round Up
For more information on the conference last week you can take a look at Elizabeth Harrin’s blog post over at PM for Girls and Penny Pullen‘s video montage from the day:
Image By woodleywonderworks
