The starting point of this paper is the need to promote a people-centred corporate social responsibility framework in a context where many human needs and rights remain unsatisfied and where businesses may have both a positive and a negative impact on the quality of life of human beings today and tomorrow and may even lead to irreversible damage. Our normative definition of CSR is consistent with the criteria established by the EU Commission in 2011. We conceive CSR as a responsibility (...) towards human development in two complementary ways: a holistic responsibility shared by companies together with other actors to safeguard humanity and a direct liability of each company for its impact on stakeholders' capabilities. We apply Nussbaum's list of central capabilities and concept of thresholds to specify the nature and extent of corporate responsibilities towards employees, subcontractors, investors, customers, and humanity as a whole. In addition, we leverage fieldwork in developing and developed countries to analyse the effect of business activities on human capabilities. We demonstrate that by quantifying the impact of businesses' activities on various dimensions of stakeholders' lives, and especially on the most vulnerable ones, these businesses can be held accountable for the negative externalities they produce. (shrink)

This article explores the possible convergence between the capabilities approach and utilitarianism to specify CSR. It defends the idea that this key issue is related to the anthropological perspective that underpins both theories and demonstrates that a relational conception of individual freedoms and rights present in both traditions gives adequate criteria for CSR toward the company's stakeholders. I therefore defend "relational capability" as a means of providing a common paradigm, a shared vision of a core component of human development. This (...) could further lead to a set of indicators aimed at assessing corporate social performance as the maximization of the relational capability of people impacted by the activities of companies. In particular, I suggest a way of evaluating the contribution of extractive companies to the communities close to their industrial sites in extremely poor areas, not from the viewpoint of material resources and growth, but from the viewpoint of the quality of the social environment and empowerment. (shrink)

Transition education is a major challenge to be taken up. It is not simply a question of teaching a person a specific area of ​​knowledge – in this case ecological and societal questions – but rather recognizing that individuals are built by their reflections, with their feelings and according to their experiences. None of these dimensions should be left aside if we want to promote the full development of each individual. In this sense it seems important to us to explain (...) the values ​​that underlie our educational offer and the goals pursued by transition education, as well as its founding roots. This chapter thus starts by presenting the pillars for head-heart-body learning, namely a pedagogy that is relational and transformational, integrative and holistic, inter- and transdisciplinary, rooted and open. Secondly, we structure the pedagogy of the transition around six major areas of questioning, corresponding to the six gates of the FORTES approach. Eventually, drawing on the competency-based approach we present the six main transversal skills to be acquired. (shrink)

Implementing a head-heart-body pedagogy in higher education institutions needs the mobilization of all the actors currently involved in education, to identify those who are absent today and surpass the logic that feeds on silo effects in order to support actors towards sustainable educational actions. By transforming campuses and courses, the university can thus become a learning organization where everything is about learning not only for students, but also for all actors in the university community. This chapter mentions first students, who (...) are the direct beneficiaries of education as well as the future actors of the transition. Secondly, it calls upon teacher-researchers to incarnate the multifaceted role of mentors, which far beyond the transmission of knowledge involves accompanying the students in a holistic transformation. Third, it turns towards pedagogical support services, whose diverse disciplines and skills are essential to develop the pedagogical methods required for transition education. Finally, the chapter underlies the role of public authorities to systematize good practices, to allow bottom-up incentives to grow, to put in place the necessary conditions and resources as well as to engage the whole of society. (shrink)

To meet the ecological challenge, higher education must face many challenges: the educational offer, which is currently limited in many aspects, must evolve by renewing its methods while adapting its content. An “ecological awakening” is necessary to stimulate student awareness and action. This awakening is already present in some establishments which have transformed their educational model as well as their training in order to integrate and incarnate a more holistic vision of the world. These examples are all sources of inspiration (...) that can serve as a basis for reflection to modify university courses in depth. This chapter outlines first the shortcomings of the current educational model – in terms of content and methods – drawing on the authors’ insights, mostly from France. Then, the chapter turns towards recent evolutions, be it structural or transient, as well as incentives at various levels that could contribute to a transition of higher education. (shrink)

This introduction draws on Charles Dickens’ analysis of schooling in England during the industrial revolution to highlight the connection bethween the Anthropocene epoch we currently live in and education. While we outline points for critique, we are far from making a simple judgment. In reaction, we present the Great Transition Handbook with its systemic approach based on six gates, and we call on pedagogy to be more holistic in order to integrate all dimensions of humanity. We also clarify our understanding (...) of the Great Transition, as a process interweaving both social and ecological concerns. (shrink)

Some universities have set up courses relating to the systemic integration of ecological and social issues into their curricula. We are presenting two types of initiatives here: first, those that come directly from universities or higher education institutions, such as the University of Lausanne; secondly, those which emanate from small organizations created to constitute a higher education transition laboratory, linked to a university institution, as is the case of Schumacher College (United Kingdom) linked to the University of Plymouth or the (...) Sustainability Institute (South Africa) attached to Stellenbosch University. (shrink)

In this chapter we identify seven transversal principles which guide our pedagogical approach, and which are today widely shared by teachers. These principles also seem to us to be consistent with research in neuroscience, in particular that of Stanislas “Dehaene, Stanislas. Apprendre! les talents du cerveau, le défi des machines. Odile Jacob, Paris, (2018)” and his four pillars of learning – attention, active engagement, error and surprise signals and the consolidation of acquired knowledge – or those of Antonio “Damasio, Antonio (...) R. L’erreur de Descartes: la raison des émotions. Odile Jacob, Paris, (1995)” on the fundamental role of emotions in supporting learning. The principles advocated are: solicitation of curiosity and commitment; learning through sensitive experiences; connection of knowledge, emotions and values; reappropriation of assessment methods; multifaceted posture of the teacher; politicization of education; self-awareness and striving for common good.The principles highlighted in this section represent the major levers to be operated in order to provide students with truly transformative learning. Tools and examples of real-life implementation of these principles will be detailed in the second part of this book. (shrink)

Teachers may be skeptical about the possibility of implementing transition pedagogy, as outlined in the first part of this book, given the current context of higher education. Here we synthetize therefore the pedagogical tools that we have identified in the courses offered by establishments that have practiced a transition pedagogy for a long time, as well as those being used at the Campus de la Transition since 2018. We also draw on interviews with experts and practitioners, psychologists, teachers and explorers (...) of new practices. (Interviews with Chrysoline Brabant – clinical psychologist and certified coach, Mark Swilling – founder of the Sustainability Institute, Jacques Tardif – professor at the University of Sherbrooke and specialist in university pedagogy, Laurent Van Ditzhuyzen – co-founder of the Université du Nous, Thibault Griessinger – PhD in cognitive sciences and founder of Acte Lab, Hubert Trapet and Valérie Fayard – Emmaüs France CEO and vice-chair). The chapter starts with the lightest tools, which can be set up quite easily in a classroom, moving towards the most ambitious, and resulting in a coherent picture of the higher establishment in service of the Great Transition teachings. (shrink)

This paper provides a conception and qualitative analysis of a recent innovative pedagogical experience, a two-week program called “Understand and Change the World”, which is designed to help business schools generate an impetus towards change within students, faculty, and administrators and more generally to the institution’s systemic sustainable capability. We argue that harnessing the ends rather than the means is the key to meeting sustainability challenges within business schools. The conceptual basis of our program provides broad avenues for business school (...) pedagogy. The pedagogy relies on students’ sense of meaning and practical wisdom to raise empathy, awareness of the common good, and the fundamental relevance of such empathy and awareness for the business world. This implies taking a step back from the traditional instrumental approach to business education and, more broadly, to careers and business. (shrink)

This book functions as a practical guide to support teachers and higher education institutions in the construction of their courses and programmes in light of the Anthropocene. It is divided into two complementary parts. The first part lays the theoretical foundations of what is a transition pedagogy and provides a pedagogical framework. It offers practical tools and didactic levers to be used by teachers and institutions to build a truly transformative pedagogy for students, with reference to universities already experimenting such (...) alternative methods. The second part presents an analysis of the pedagogical tools and levers experienced in worldwide institutions, by teachers, as well as philosophers and experts of pedagogy. The authors of this book advocate for an embodied pedagogy which not only gives students access to content but also to ways of thinking and acting in all conscience. A pedagogy of the Anthropocene epoch therefore encourages the mobilization of reason, emotions and senses as well as systemic reflection in the questioning of our lifestyles and the development of transversal skills. Based on internationally recognized research and practical experiences of institutions and teachers all over the western world, this book gathers the knowledge and experience of professors and researchers, coming from a wide variety of disciplines and cultural context. Their reflections have led them to develop a “head-heart-body approach” and a “6 Gates questioning method” to remodel pedagogy. This book is of interest to those working in the education sector. (shrink)