SME RESPONSIBILITY AND LEARNING BY DEVELOPING PEDAGOGY

Abstract

In recent years, teaching related to environmental responsibility and biodiversity loss has been implemented in Finnish comprehensive schools and upper secondary schools, for example, through various tasks related to forests, nature, and urban environments. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been part of higher education studies since the early 2000s. Large companies actively communicate about their level of responsibility and actions. Sustainability communication is at different levels in SMEs, and practical, responsible business implementation is not seen as vital through SME communications. The practical implementation of responsibility in SMEs is essential to meet the goals and requirements outlined in the UN 2030 Agenda and the EU Corporate Responsibility Reporting Directive. Finnish universities of applied sciences have good opportunities to promote responsibility and support practical implementation in SMEs through close regional and corporate cooperation. Laurea University of Applied Sciences' Learning by Developing Pedagogy (LbD) creates opportunities to develop the performance of responsibility and combine education and the practical work of SMEs, strengthening the competence of SME personnel and the practical implementation of responsible business as well as responding to other stakeholder demands through training. The SME cooperation between Laurea University of Applied Sciences and LAB University of Applied Sciences' Green Responsibility project revealed room for improvement in the practical implementation of responsibility competence and responsible business in the SME sector. Based on the observations made in the Green Responsibility Project 2021-2023, Laurea and LAB Universities of Applied Sciences created a follow-up project to implement responsible business and competence development. This article provides an outlook in the follow-up project: SME personnel members can strengthen their responsibility competence while participating in their studies and, at the same time, produce development and implementation plans for their operating environment, thus promoting the implementation of corporate responsibility in the company and further value chains. The goals of the studies are formed by combining theory related to the topic, small-scale research focusing on the operating environment, and various development and implementation tasks based on LbD pedagogy and company practices. Through the studies offered and implemented, it is possible to combine the promotion of responsible business in practice, the competence development of SMEs, and the theoretical and guidance support provided by educational organizations to promote global responsibility.