When university students get to create real value for others, their motivation, self-confidence and academic performance increase. This is shown by a new study examining how university teachers use value creation pedagogy.
"Value creation pedagogy can make education more meaningful and relevant for society – but it takes courage, time and support to succeed," says Martin Lackéus, researcher at Chalmers University of Technology.
Value creation pedagogy (VCP) is about pupils and students learning by creating value for others beyond their own group. This may involve initiatives such as producing instructional videos or giving talks to external audiences, engaging with societal issues, or contributing to research projects.
In higher education, it often takes the form of collaboration-based teaching – an approach where teaching is deliberately designed through interaction between students, educators and actors outside academia. Through real collaborations with, for example, organisations, public authorities or civil society, students’ knowledge becomes meaningful beyond the course itself.
Martin Lackéus, a researcher and teacher in entrepreneurship and pedagogy at Chalmers, has previously shown the importance of value creation pedagogy for school pupils and for students in higher education.
“We know that value creation pedagogy has strong and multifaceted effects on students’ experiences, motivation, learning and study outcomes,” says Martin Lackéus.
Students’ contributions to society
Lackéus has now taken the research one step further by focusing on those who teach. Together with two Danish researchers, he has studied how teachers at different Scandinavian universities use value creation pedagogy in practice. The study included a wide range of disciplines, from engineering, healthcare and natural sciences to the humanities, arts and education.
“The results show that value creation pedagogy has several different effects. Students create not only economic value, but also social, cultural, ecological and knowledge-based value. This opens up a broader view of how students can contribute to society,” he says.
The study also shows that learning through value creation involves emotional work.
“It entails an emotional effort for both educators and students: uncertainty, setbacks and powerful positive experiences. This highlights the need for supportive learning environments and emotional guidance.”
Time and resources are needed
Sustainable pedagogical development takes time and resources, Martin Lackéus emphasises. For value creation pedagogy to be successful, long-term development is therefore needed.
“Value creation pedagogy can’t simply be ‘added’ to a course; it needs to grow gradually over several years.”
Because the approach is based on collaboration with the surrounding society, contact with external actors is central.
“It’s a challenging and often lonely journey for the educator, who becomes a ‘lone rider’. That makes networks, partnerships and collegial support important – but also institutional support. Without support and resources, value creation pedagogy risks becoming too heavy to drive at the individual level. Sustainable change requires leadership to prioritise and invest,” he says.
Another challenge concerns assessment and grading. The study shows that educators are experimenting with new ways of assessing what students learn when they create value for others.
“It’s clear that assessment practices need to be developed that capture more than traditional knowledge,” says Martin Lackéus.
Start small and develop step by step
The educators’ recommendations for others who are interested in getting started are to start small and develop in incremental steps. It is also helpful to collaborate in teaching teams, seek additional resources, and give students ownership.
“Only then does it become possible to handle the complexity inherent in value creation pedagogy.”
The scientific study is based on twelve Scandinavian cases and on the educators’ own accounts. This means the results can be difficult to generalise to other contexts, Lackéus notes, while still arguing that the overall patterns are clear.
“Overall, the study shows that value creation pedagogy can make higher education more meaningful and relevant for society – but that it requires courage, time and support to succeed.”
The scientific article Value creation pedagogy across disciplines in higher education: Approaches and motivations is authored by Martin Lackéus (Chalmers University of Technology), Jette Hyldegård (University of Copenhagen) and Helle Meibom Færgemann (Aarhus University). The article was published in The International Journal of Management Education in December 2025.
Photo: Henrik Sandsjö, Vicky Matthews (portrait)
Contact
- Teaching Fellow, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Technology Management and Economics