Two approaches to curriculum development for educating for sustainability and CSR

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to report on efforts to develop two stand-alone subjects on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a mainstream business curriculum at Monash University, Australia. Design/methodology/approach -This paper presents details on the educational rationale and design of the two subjects in corporate sustainability and CSR. Findings -Although many universities offer support for education for sustainability, previous research indicates that most curriculum initiatives in this area have been driven by individual faculty. This paper provides examples of curriculum development that emerged from the grass-roots initiative, in the absence of an integrated and mainstreamed programme for sustainability. Practical implications -The paper encourages all faculty, no matter their circumstances, to consider the development of curriculum for sustainability. While individual subjects cannot effect wholesale change, each effort can, no matter how piecemeal, make a difference. Originality/value -The cases in this paper highlight the importance of skills, knowledge and values to the curriculum for sustainability and CSR. Because there is no formula for how these are integrated into the curriculum, the paper illustrates how individual faculty members have brought their own disciplinary and pedagogical backgrounds to their curriculum design.

Beyond the Curriculum: Integrating Sustainability into Business Schools

“…We have shown in the analysis that all four approaches outlined by Godemann et al (2011) are pursued by business schools, which indicates that most of the respondents are already trying to embed ESGE issues into the curriculum. Some are 'Focusing' by developing interesting new interdisciplinary offerings, which is a prominent approach emerging from the literature (Stubbs and Schapper, 2011;Du et al, 2013;Chhokar, 2010).…”

“…For example, Stubbs and Schapper (2011) stress the significance of interdisciplinary course content and teaching methods in underpinning effective sustainability education, alongside systems thinking. Moreover, Beijing Normal University in China and Aalborg University in Denmark added another dimension by adopting an approach that was both interdisciplinary and cross-cultural in nature when devising project-based learning about sustainability, making comparisons in this respect between the two countries (Du et al, 2013).…”

Attitudes of undergraduate business students toward sustainability issues

“…Multidisciplinary contributions to the collection by Stibbe (2009), for example, emphasise the importance of developing 'sustainability literacy', by which is meant a range of practical skills, attitudes, competencies, dispositions and values which go beyond traditional forms of rote learning and, instead, employ active learning techniques to engage students in the kind of real life problem solving required in a resource constrained and ecologically challenged world. Successful learning strategies appear to be grounded in a clear understanding of the knowledge and attitudinal base from which students start studying the themes and how studies change their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs over time (see, for example, Buissink-Smith et al, 2011;Michalos et al, 2011;Stubbs and Schapper, 2011;Stubbs and Cocklin, 2008;Bogner and Wiseman, 2006). These studies have not tracked long-term effects, and there is some evidence indicating that a sustainability orientation may not be reflected in actual behaviours once students enter the workplace (Kuckertz and Wagner, 2010).…”

Connecting Competences and Pedagogical Approaches for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: A Literature Review and Framework Proposal

“…In this context, there has been considerable progress in the incorporation of SD into universities' curricula (see [4][5][6][7]. Some examples of such progress include the assessment of the state of corporate social responsibility (CSR) education in Europe [8]; the development of an e-learning introductory course on sustainability [9]; courses on CSR and sustainability [10]; the use of active learning methods for addressing the legitimacy and practicability of an introductory course on sustainability in business [11]; the application of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives to a six-course design [12]; an 'Educate the Educators' programme [13]; an alumni survey to explore the corporate sustainability practice experiences of their MBA graduates [14]; the development of a course on organisational change management for sustainability [15]; the development of an Engineering for Sustainable Development degree [16]; and the effect of sustainability courses on students' sustainability competences. Some authors use the term competencies or make distinctions between competences and competencies; however, this paper uses the term competences, as specified by the Oxford English Dictionary [17] The incorporation of SD into curricula requires systems thinking and interdisciplinary approaches [2] and calls for pedagogical innovations that provide interactive, experiential, transformative, and real-world learning [18].…”