“Developing business education for sustainability – change and scope for subjectivity in educational practice” Andersson, Pernilla, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Education, Stockholm University
Calls for the inclusion of ‘sustainable development’ in the business curriculum have increased in the wake of financial crisis and increased concern about climate change. As a result, new initiatives involving the integration of ‘sustainable development’ in the business curriculum are emerging and new teaching approaches are being developed. At the same time, the integration of sustainability in the business curriculum has been described as particularly challenging, which relates to assumptions underpinning mainstream business theories and different views about how business education should deal with values. In addition, sustainability issues are often complex and uncertain, which implies severe challenges for predominant responsibility regimes relying on science as a source for reliable knowledge. This ‘wicked’ character of sustainability issues implies that we need to be able to make decisions also in the absence of previously established principles. Accordingly, education needs to make students prepared to make wise decisions also in the absence of such principles. This workshop will focus on how this can be done in educational practice and also how teachers can create and take care of the room for subjectivity in classroom practice. Examples from empirical studies of business education ‘for sustainability’ at upper secondary level in Sweden will be used as a point of departure for discussions. I will also present a typology (based on the empirical studies) consisting of three different business roles (adapting to, adding or creating ethical values). The typology could be used to: analyse and assess initiatives of incorporating ‘sustainable development’ in business education, initiate discussions with students about the role of business, and/or in assignments involving for instance analysis of annual reports.