Designing a sustainability-driven entrepreneurship curriculum as a social learning process: A case study from an international knowledge alliance project

Abstract

Integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education curricula requires innovative ideas and approaches how to combine educational, sustainability and disciplinary knowledge, skills, experiences, and motivations. Curriculum developers are challenged to be open to new concepts in their discipline regarding what should be taught and how it can be taught to facilitate learning processes to prepare students for shaping a sustainable future. The European project ‘Competencies for A Sustainable socio-Economic development’ (CASE) follows a participatory, inter- and transdisciplinary approach to design a Master’s program on sustainability-driven entrepreneurship. This study presents an analysis of the social learning process that has taken place in the interdisciplinary, intercultural CASE team during the participatory development process of the new Master’s program. The methodological design of the study is based on qualitative, participative evaluation research. The process of learning is discussed based on how the group reflected on and developed their “action theories” on how to design a supportive learning environment in which a Master’s program with innovative scopes and goals can be created. The findings highlight the importance of sharing and processing the experiences, mental models and interpretations concerning concepts, ideas, perspectives and new input within the group. This seems crucial for developing the capacity of the group to bring together diverse knowledge and perspectives for innovative, feasible solutions and ideas as well as to cooperate and collaborate effectively as a team. The implications of a culture of dialogue, participation and learning in diverse teams as important principles for developing innovative ESD-based curricula in different disciplines are discussed. It is emphasized that not only students, but also curriculum developers have to acquire the corresponding ESD-related competencies.