The reason for the development of this project week was the reform of secondary education in Flanders, requiring first-year pupils to make a broad choice regarding a particular subject cluster. By way of workshops, the project week enabled the pupils to sample the subject clusters of Economics & Organisation, Society & Welfare, Language & Culture, and STEM, thus discovering their talents in relation to those fields of study. For example, the schedule featured several creative labs to explore the concept of sustainability. Workshops focused on Greek, French or English enabled the pupils to sample different languages. Other workshops revolved around robotics and STEM. In other sessions, pupils explored their own body language and identity.

The workshops were developed and presented at four schools by a mixed team of students and teachers from the various schools. Third-stage pupils were also involved in teaching the robotics workshops. Each workshop was attended by the class teacher of the participating pupils.

The success of the project week can be attributed to the fact that it was prompted by an actual need in the professional field, boasted a strong bond of trust, and was developed in co-creation:

• The management teams of the four schools had already contacted one another prior to involving Odisee UAS and found one another in the joint ambition to provide pupils with a better perspective of their options. They chose to join forces with Odisee because of their bond of trust of many years’ standing with the programme involved, and because of their positive experience with work placements. The teacher has indicated Odisee’s openness and keen eye to the needs of (Brussels) schools as the entrance gate to this project. She has testified that the co-creation process has grown organically yet steadily, based on the bond of trust.
• From the very start of the project, all the parties pursued a win-win situation. All the partners contributed on an equal footing.
  • The students participated in the capacity f co-worker rather than trainee; the teachers did not assume the role of expert responsible for setting the course. The project involved a cllective searching process based n the ambition of having the pupils make apprpriate choices regarding the subject clusters.
  • The schols went to a great deal of trouble to receive the students as co-workers, for example, by giving them a tour to get to know the various schools and by setting up collective informal meetings. Rather than being delegated separate minor tasks, the students participated in the development team as fully-fledged members.
  • The need t explore an innovative concept and the cross-school collaboration required both the students and the teachers to step out of their comfort zone.
  • Virtually all the participants perated on a basis of intrinsic mtivation, cnvinced that the project would produce added value for the pupils and learning opportunities for all the participants. This has generated a positive energy in the collaboration.
    
    

After thorough preparations spanning a year and a half, the project week took place in February 2020. The students were involved from the start of the academic year 2019-2020.

Students

• Jointly developing instructional materials and workshops, and jointly teaching, familiarised the teachers and the students with each other’s educational approaches, while concurrently becoming acquainted with different school cultures. This has broadened the horizon of all the participants.
• Furthermore, the students and the teachers learned to differentiate and deal with diverse circumstances and school cultures, as the workshops were taught at different schools and involved different participants (e.g., general secondary education versus technical secondary education, differences in school accommodations, differences in school culture).
• Teachers and students spent a great deal of time together (the project featured, e.g., an introductory tour of the four schools and a collective meal), which provided many opportunities for exchange and informal learning. The work placement coordinator has identified this as the pre-eminent strength of the project.
• The teachers passed on their experience to the students (e.g., what activity is feasible in what context), whilst the students gained more co-developing and co-teaching skills.
• The students collaborated closely in the schools’ day to day operations, which immersed them more fully in the routines. This created learning opportunities that work placements generally do not involve (e.g., participating in difficult meetings with parents, involving parents in the project week).
• The project week has motivated the students to assume ownership: the authentic situation and the challenge to make the project week a success ensured that they continually adapted in order for the project week to achieve its goal.
• Some of the students lived at a considerable distance from the schools. In order to enable such students to participate in the project week without mobility issues, the schools offered them a stay in a nearby youth hostel. The ability to “live together” enhanced the intensity of the collaboration among the students and provided an added incentive to participate.
  
• Several students were subsequently offered jobs by the schools involved.

Teaching staff

Being able to offer students learning opportunities that do not arise during a standard work placement (cf. under “Added value for students”).

The programme

Reinforcing the network with the schools involved. The project has boosted their willingness to provide work placement positions.

The professional field

• Cf. the first three bullets under “Added value for students”.
• More manpower at the schools for the realisation of the workshops.
• The students came to know the Brussels schools as an attractive work environment. This boosts the probability of their wanting to work there.
• The teachers were provided with fresh, creative ideas from the students and their supervisors participating in the project week.
• The presence of class teachers during the workshops created a ripple effect. Several of them also became interested in participating in #fab4+1.

Participating pupils

• The pupils become aware of their talents;
• It increases the probability of the pupils making more confident study choices later on;
• The pupils become acquainted with the curricula offered by the four schools; this perspective enables them to make more targeted study choices.

•  Fitting the project into the Bachelor of Secondary Education curriculum required some effort. In 2019-2020, the project replaced part of the regular work placement; in 2021-2022, it will be accommodated in the alternative work placement track.
• The slight misalignment between the academic year calendar and the school year calendar posed something of a challenge in terms of scheduling time for collaboration.
• In a subsequent edition, Odisee would like to involve some subject teachers. These teachers will need to be aware of the fact that they are not participating as steering experts but rather as co-creators.

The first edition of the Sustainable Management International Summer School ensued from the HECOS FOR ETHICS (Higher Education and CompanieS Fostering ETHICal Skills) Erasmus+ project. The ninth edition is scheduled for 2021. Two editions have been set up abroad (Ecuador and Colombia). The founding core team of three teachers from Flanders (Odisee), Sweden, and Portugal is responsible for the organisation of the Summer School.

In this Summer School (3 ECTS credits), multi-disciplinary teams of (international) business managers, NGO managers, and (international) students formulate sustainable solutions and recommendations regarding current business cases for which the companies and organisations concerned are unable to find a solution (wicked problems).

The goal is for the participants, and in particular the students, to learn to understand the impact of sustainable management and to raise their awareness of its added value. They will discover opportunities and challenges within sustainable management, as well as new instruments and approaches. They will acquire five sustainability competencies, viz. systems thinking, strategic thinking, anticipating, normative competencies, and inter-personal competencies (selected on the basis of Wiek et al., 2011), in order to be able to formulate solutions and recommendations that bear application in actual companies and NGOs. The inter-personal competencies also include gaining co-creation skills. After all, solutions to wicked problems call for harnessing collective intelligence, combining a range of perspectives and forms of expertise.

Every year, the Summer School targets a different theme. Initially, these themes involved aspects of sustainable management (e.g., sustainable use of raw materials, encouraging customers to purchase sustainable products). With effect from 2019, the focus is on a specific product (such as coffee, chocolate, bananas et cetera).

The group of participants is highly diverse. In addition to Odisee, the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students come from various other universities and colleges across the world. Some of the students have already embarked on a professional career. The managers come from both commercial companies and NGOs (e.g., commercial coffee growers, coffee distributing NGOs, chocolate manufacturers…) from various countries and various stages in the chain.

The curriculum comprises a well-balanced mix of non-formal, formal, and informal learning, in a blended format. The students have two days to prepare via assignments forwarded by the teachers (literature study, MOOC on sustainable management, self-evaluation of their sustainability competencies). Subsequently, they physically meet for five days (see schedule below). The students familiarise themselves with the cases through a visit to the companies concerned. They attend several guest lectures in which they become acquainted with methodologies and tools that enable them to systematically map their case and to formulate and test realistic future scenarios. They apply these instruments to their case and review their progress with the companies and organisations at several moments in time, via email and by telephone. They also learn by participating in social activities relating to sustainability. At the end of the five days, they present their solution to the companies and organisations concerned and engage in a pertinent dialogue. The final days are spent on the written elaboration of their recommendations to the companies and on a self-reflection based on self-assessment and peer assessment tools. The students are assessed on the basis of permanent evaluation, their recommendations, and their self-reflection. The companies are also involved in the evaluation of the students.

The students work on the cases in teams that are composed by the core team. In addition to complementary forms of expertise among the students, the core team takes account of students’ values. Prior to admission, the students take a value test (moral DNA). They are paired with participants whose values are complementary. As a result, the co-creation process in the teams is challenging, yet also highly informative.

The team of teachers is international (Colombia, Finland, Spain, …). In each edition of the Summer School, ten teachers are involved to provide guest lectures and workshops. To this end, they are coached by the core team.

The teachers provide the students with group coaching whilst mapping out their sustainability case and elaborating a solution. Some of the teachers are present for the entire duration of the Summer School, for the purpose of providing such coaching. The teachers providing a guest lecture, e.g., on a methodology or tool, will also remain present to coach the students in its application. It is important in this respect that rather than assuming the role of expert, the teachers will join the students and the companies concerned in a co-participant capacity to collectively explore solutions. The companies are also encouraged to refrain from adopting an excessively steering attitude.

Students

The students broaden their perspective and learn to deal with (cultural) differences by working in multi-disciplinary, international, multi-cultural teams comprising participants from various educational levels and various companies and organisations. They learn from each other’s expertise.

The actual cases that provide opportunities to foster sustainability have a highly motivating effect.

Teaching staff

The teachers also step out of their comfort zone, in particular because they are challenged to assume the roles of coaches and co-participants (letting go of hierarchy, operating on the basis of equality, joining students and companies in an exploratory process whose outcome is uncertain).

Researchers

Bart Henssen, representing Odisee in the organising core team, also heads the research department of the Center for Sustainable Entrepreneurship (CenSe).

He and the CenSe staff have compiled a master class on the basis of the Summer School, which they are also offering to companies. The master classes have profited from the Summer School’s strong emphasis on optimisation of the methodologies.

Furthermore, the Summer School has prompted CenSe to join forces with a postdoc researcher, who will elaborate a test aimed at gauging sustainability competencies and attitudes in a scientifically substantiated manner.

The programme

The Summer School has given impetus to the further integration of sustainability into the curricula of the Odisee Business Administration programmes (e.g., the project week focused on sustainable marketing in business management, the week of sustainability in office management).

The professional field

The companies gain a broader perspective of the issue they are facing and thus expand their knowledge of sustainable management. In many cases, the answers that the students come up with are more diverse and less obvious than the companies expect.

Furthermore, the companies appreciate the opportunity to exchange views with peers, also because since 2019, the cases have pertained to the same product. Commercial companies and NGOs acknowledge that they are facing similar issues and can challenge each other in this respect.

•  The Summer School teaches students to systematically map out cases and review the issues from various perspectives, before formulating recommendations. First distancing oneself requires adjustment, not only on the part of the participating students, but also on the part of the companies and teachers participating for the first time. Occasionally, students who have already embarked on a professional career are slightly reluctant in this respect, as their professional environment has already moulded them to quickly look for solutions. At times, more coaching is required to encourage them to take a different view of the cases.
• Participation by students from various educational levels renders the Summer School interesting, yet also calls for differentiation, in order to ensure sufficient learning opportunities for all.
• Considerable adjustment is required from teachers, who are not used to assuming the role of coach and co-participant. Skills and attitudes that the teachers need to command include: ability to coach, promoting informal learning, permanent evaluation, adopting a humble attitude. This calls for a particular mindset. Some support was needed in this respect, inter alia with respect to the Latin American teachers who usually entertain a different, more hierarchical relation with their students.
• In a Summer School focused on sustainability, every detail must tally. One cannot preach sustainability without practising the same (e.g., meals, transfers to other locations during the Summer School).
• It is important to provide companies with an indication of what they can expect.
• At the start of the Summer School, the proper tools to support the students in strategic thinking, future thinking, systems thinking, et cetera were not yet available. The organising team has worked hard on collecting and optimising such tools. Every edition, this work is continued.