Using real world audits to develop business management students’
sustainability knowledge skills and values
by Dr Kay Emblen-Perry, Senior Lecturer, Worcester Business School
In spite of the growth in specialist modules and integration of sustainability content into some modules, Business Management curricula have not adequately prepared students to deal with sustainability issues in the workplace (Waddock, 2007; Govender, 2016). It is now widely accepted that Education for Sustainability (EfS) has fallen behind the internal and external sustainability interests of businesses and change agents (Lonzano et al., 2013; Environmental Audit Committee, 2017); Laurinkari and Tarvainen, 2017). In response, I have designed and implemented an innovative approach to business sustainability learning, teaching and assessment for Business Management Students: Audit-based Learning (ABL).
ABL for EfS is learning achieved through preparing and undertaking a sustainability audit (a methodical examination of an organisation’s procedures and practices that determine or influence environmental, social or economic impacts) and reflecting on its outcomes. This hands-on learning provides students with a distinctive, experiential perspective in which they may engage in deeper learning as they are actively involved in the learning task rather than being passive recipients of information (Armier, Shepherd and Skrabut, 2016).
My Level 6 business sustainability module engages students in the completion of a modified Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability audit of a simulated real world company, presented as a bespoke online mixed media case study. Students act as Sustainability Consultants to perform the audit using the GRI process adopted by more than 1000 companies worldwide. Students then reflect upon their audit findings to design a sustainability management strategy. Together these form the module assignment and focus of in-class activities.
To provide innovative support and guidance I arrange creative in-class activities including ‘Meet the Manager’ sessions in which students hold audit meetings with managers of the case study company, role played by external sustainability practitioners. This allows them to test their audit findings and practice softer employment skills required for the 21st century workplace such as collaboration, critical thinking and communication (Buck Institute for Education, 2017) in the safe environment of the classroom.
My Level 6 module is operated as a Living Lab in which students participate in research into effective means and methods for EfS. This co-created research, which I have disseminated through international conferences and publications, suggests ABL can benefit students’ learning outcomes, engagement and module experiences. Research findings suggest ABL has delivered:
- interactive, experiential learning
- active, real-world learning, teaching and assessment methodology for EfS
- sustainability knowledge, skills and values
- tools to challenge thinking and behaviours of individuals and organisations.
My innovative learning, teaching and assessment approach to business sustainability delivers the hopes and demands of the three key factors in the complex, massified and marketised environment of HE (Lynch, 2006) and EfS: students, educators and employers. Students’ grades have improved and employment skills have been enhanced through ABL’s participatory user interactions advocated by Conole and Alevizou (2010) and Abdel Meguid and Collins (2017); student engagement, sustainability literacy and values for advocacy, that educators hope for have improved; students have become employment-ready and have graduated with the appropriate sustainability knowledge and employment skills that employers demand.
References
Abdel Meguid, E. & Collins, M. (2017). Students’ perceptions of lecturing approaches: traditional versus interactive teaching. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 8, 229–241.
Armier D., Shepherd, C. & Skrabut, S. (2016). Using Game Elements to Increase Student Engagement in Course Assignments.College Teaching, 64, 64-72.
Buck Institute for Education (2017). Why Project Based Learning (PBL)? Available at: https://www.bie.org/about/why_pbl (Accessed: 22 November 2017)
Conole, G. and Alevizou, P. (2010). A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in higher education. Available at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk. (Accessed: 16 August 2017)
Environmental Audit Committee (2017). Sustainable Development Goals in the UK. Retrieved from https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmenvaud/596/59602.html (Accessed: 22 November 2017)
Govender, I. (2016). Evaluating student perceptions on the development management curricula to promote green economy. Environmental Economics, 7, 1-10.
Laurinkari J. & Tarvainen M. (2017). The Policies of Inclusion. London, UK: EHV Academic Press.
Lozano, R., Lukman, R., Lozano, F. J., Huisingh, D. & Lambrechts, W. (2013), Declarations for sustainability in higher education: Becoming better leaders, through addressing the university system’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 10–19.
Lynch, K. (2006). Neo-liberalism and Marketisation: the implications for higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 5, 1-17.
Waddock, S. (2007). Leadership integrity in a fractured knowledge world. Academy of Management Learning and Education. 6, 543-557.