Infusing the United Nations sustainable development goals in the teaching and learning of Business studies

Abstract

One of the greatest challenges posed by today’s globalised world is in the education domain. Educators should strive to transmit and instil knowledge, lifelong skills and values among learners that should prepare them to become active citizens leading a humane, morally upright life (UNESCO, 2017). Education for sustainable development (ESD) aims at instilling these competences, skills and values in learners. To this end, it is fundamental to incorporate the 2030 United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the mainstream curriculum. This study sought to explore how the SDGs were being infused in the teaching and learning of business studies and proposed suggestions about how this pedagogical process can be improved. A resource pack on the two new learning outcomes framework (LOF) topics of business studies - entrepreneurship and financial literacy – has been designed to facilitate its teaching while infusing the SDGs in them. A qualitative research approach was adopted in this study. Two sets of interviews were conducted with six business studies teachers. The aim of the first set of interviews was to explore whether the participants were aware of the SDGs and how they were infusing them in their teaching. The recommendations put forward by the participants were kept in mind while creating the resource pack. The second set of interviews sought to gather feedback about the resource pack and make the necessary modifications. The research findings highlighted the vital role of ESD in achieving sustainability, safeguarding future generations and enabling individuals to enjoy a better quality of life. To achieve this, efforts to promote sustainability should be stepped up by educating our young learners. Further awareness of the SDGs and their pedagogical implications, together with a shift in pedagogy to a learner-centred approach is needed to effectively implement ESD.