Promoting environmental citizenship and corporate social responsibility through a school/industry/university partnership

A partnership was formed between King Edward VI School Morpeth (UK) and the pharmaceutical company Merck, Sharp and Dohme within the programme of ‘Joint Responsibility’ operated by the Dove Marine Laboratory (Newcastle University, UK). Pupils surveyed an ecologically important coastal area in northeast England and made 15 recommendations for its sustainable management. Company employees participated in ecological surveys in collaboration with some of the pupils and acted on one of the pupils’ key recommendations: reconstructing, and improving access to, a bird hide. Responses to questionnaires suggest that pupils and employees gained substantial benefits from their involvement in the project. Pupils’ views of industry changed positively as a result of it. Employees felt that public perceptions of industry were improved by projects of this kind. Some pupils and employees were positive about intergenerational learning that occurred as the groups worked together.