Critical Perspectives on Service-Learning in Higher Education

S. Deeley

• Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan
• Jahr: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781137383259
• Thema: Pedagogía
• Thema: Educación superior

Through innovative analysis of theory and practice, this book offers refreshing critical perspectives on service-learning in higher education. It constructs a theoretical paradigm for service-learning which extends to critical pedagogy, and investigates critical reflection and academic reflective writing, supported throughout by empirical evidence.

1

Introduction

Background

I first encountered service-learning in 1998 when I was asked to convene a course to international students at a Scottish university. I have taught the course annually ever since. The number of students on my course varied at different times: typically one year there would be perhaps three or four students whereas in another year there would be over twenty students. The course was not offered to home students until 2006, when, as the director of the Public Policy undergraduate programme, I introduced service-learning in the Public Policy curriculum to our honours students, as part of the MA (Social Sciences) undergraduate degree. This arrangement secured service-learning to the mainstream learning and teaching agenda at the university. To embed and support this further, I undertook a research study on the effects of service-learning on students for my dissertation as part of an MEd in Academic Practice, which I was awarded in 2007. Throughout these years of my teaching, I combed the extant service-learning literature in an effort to enhance student learning and to support my teaching. Unfortunately, it became increasingly frustrating as I struggled to find literature that would enable students’ further understanding of this innovative pedagogy. I could not find any particularly helpful literature that could be utilised appropriately as the main advanced text in the context of a university service-learning course. I was not searching for an instructional handbook, rather, I was seeking a more theoretical and analytical text that would challenge my students’ thinking and critical analysis of their service-learning, while also supporting my teaching. I felt that the dearth of appropriate resources was a disservice to my students and so I was motivated to write this book, which is a result of a culmination of various learning and teaching experiences and research activities.

The book involves the dissemination of recent findings from my empirical research on service-learning, authentic examples from my service-learning students’ coursework, examples from my own voluntary work service that I undertook at the same time as my students, and excerpts from my journal while participating in international service-learning in Thailand. Ultimately, my overall aims are to offer a unique and engaging insight to service-learning pedagogy and to begin to fill a gap in the literature with its critical and in-depth analysis of theory and practice in service-learning.

This first chapter presents the overall aims of the book and a brief overview of its content. It then provides a ‘navigational route map’ and a succinct summary of the contents of each chapter. The book does not necessitate a sequential reading as individual chapters can be extracted separately and used for discussion with students. This means that it can be used easily as a learning and teaching resource. Chapters 2–4 are more theoretically based than the later chapters. By contrast, Chapters 5–7 lean towards a practical approach and are grounded in my students’ learning experiences in this field and are informed by the findings from my empirical qualitative research on service-learning. Chapter 8 presents a summary of and a conclusion to the book. It involves a critical evaluation that leads to the identification of areas that are ripe for further research. I finish with some of my own reflections.

Aims

Overall, the book aims to provide an in-depth and critical perspective of service-learning, which is supported by empirical evidence from my practitioner research. One of the objectives of the book is to seek a conceptual framework for service-learning. This is found by asserting a theoretical paradigm which is grounded in extant learning theories. Another essential goal of this book is to venture further in an investigation to the possible function of service-learning, not merely as citizenship education, but as critical pedagogy.

There is a specific focus in the book on critical reflection, academic writing, and assessment in service-learning. Moreover, as the book examines reflective practice, it is also relevant for educational practitioners involved with students undertaking any type of work placement or vocational education. As I have said elsewhere (Deeley, 2014; 2010), service-learning is aptly placed to provide students with opportunities to develop advanced critical thinking skills, competencies, and attributes which are transferable to their future workplace. This is pertinent in a globally competitive workplace, where employers typically expect graduates to have more than subject-specific skills related to their degree (Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011; Knight, 2006).

The overarching rationale for the book is to provide service-learning students with the opportunity to gain broader knowledge and in-depth understanding of this type of experiential learning and to provide an in-depth theoretical analysis of service-learning, which can serve to inform the academic practice of service-learning teachers.

In order to achieve its aims, the specific objectives of the book are to:

•define and outline service-learning;

•provide a theoretical model for this type of learning;

•explore the potential functions and outcomes of this type of pedagogy;

•examine the practice and effects of critical reflection as part of learning;

•demonstrate examples of academic writing in service-learning through students’ coursework and model examples provided from the teacher’s experience; and

•evaluate the effects of students’ critical reflection within and on assessment in service-learning using empirical evidence from my research.

Summary of the book’s content

Service-learning unites theory and practice by drawing together aspects that are mutually informative. The book reflects this design through its underpinning thematic structure of theory (Chapters 2–4) and practice (Chapters 5–7). Beginning with a review of the literature, the book seeks to raise awareness and understanding of student learning by examining the nature of service-learning: what it entails; its purpose; and how it could be utilised in relation to citizenship education. Reaching further back to its roots, an exploration is made to the possible conceptual sources of service-learning by drawing on experiential learning theory. It is then argued that this type of non-traditional learning and teaching dovetails with critical pedagogy. After proposing a theoretical paradigm for service-learning and its possible function as critical pedagogy, the book moves on to examine critical reflection, which plays an essential role within service-learning. Critical reflection, as part of critical thinking, is an essential metacognitive skill for students to connect their practical voluntary work service experiences on placement with the abstract concepts and theoretical dimensions of the coursework. The practical aspects of service-learning are examined in terms of academic writing. Being a non-traditional pedagogy, it is appropriate that it is aligned with non-traditional assessment methods. Authentic examples of students’ coursework are used to exemplify such assessment methods as journal writing and the reporting of ‘critical incidents’. As a unique point in the text, there are also examples from my own service-learning experiences.

The assessment methods referred to in the book are transferable as reflective practice for use in other types of academic or professional courses. There is a dissemination of empirical findings from my recent research study on service-learning students’ reflections in and on unconventional assessment methods. Included in this is an innovative summative co-assessment method used for student oral presentations in their service-learning coursework. Its value to students’ future employment through the enhancement of their skills and attributes within service-learning is reported elsewhere (Deeley, 2014). Finally, the book concludes with a summary and analysis of the value of service-learning and its role, as seen through the lens of critical pedagogy.

A ‘navigational route map’

Following this introductory first chapter, the aim of Chapter 2 is to place service-learning in context. It begins with an exploration of its meaning using references to a metaphorical nautical journey. In the second chapter, an explanation of how service-learning is constructed as an accredited academic course, with specific reference to its use for undergraduate students in higher education, is given. Although service-learning is multidisciplinary and adaptable across the curriculum, the examples used in this book are applicable primarily to the social and political sciences. Initially, a historical perspective will be taken to discover and explore the essential origins of service-learning in practice. For fuller understanding and appreciation of a ‘technical’ perspective (Butin, 2010, p. 8) of this pedagogy, its definitions, characteristics, and principles are investigated through an in-depth literature review. Other aspects of service-learning are also examined, such as its role in citizenship education and its compatibility with socio-political activities, in particular concerning social justice. This chapter also includes summary observations from the literature concerning the overarching effects of service-learning and draws on references from my own empirical research in this field. This also connects to the more in-depth discussion of empirical findings from my further service-learning research disseminated later in Chapter 7.

Disappointingly, there is a dearth of evidence from the extant literature that provides in-depth critical analysis of the theoretical, philosophical, and educational sources of service-learning. Chapter 3 modestly attempts to address this gap by exploring theoretical perspectives and searching diverse sources that are compatible with, and offer an appropriate contribution to, a conceptual framework for service-learning. Drawing on the ideas of Dewey, Vygotsky, and Piaget this third chapter explores conceptual and philosophical approaches to the making of meaning and understanding, through experience, language, and thought. As service-learning involves learning through experience various forms of an experiential learning cycle can be used effectively in structuring students’ critical reflections. Experiential learning theory thus provides a major contribution to a theoretical paradigm for this pedagogy. Adult learning theories, including Mezirow’s transformative theory, are also pertinent to a theoretical paradigm for service-learning in higher education. In addition, the ideas of Rogers, Shor, and Freire provide a further dimension to a theoretical paradigm because they are analogous with the facilitation of collaborative and active learning in a democratic classroom. Although service-learning can take diverse forms, it consists of key components that can be effectively grounded in various extant theories. Service-learning is, therefore, the sum of its parts. Weaving the various threads or parts together with associated theories and influential ideas of significant individuals such as Dewey and Freire, for example, provides a theoretical paradigm for service-learning. Additionally, it is asserted that critical theory may also contribute an important strand to this paradigm, shifting service-learning into the realm of critical pedagogy. This contributes to an emerging complex pattern for service-learning and is the focus of the next chapter.

Chapter 4 provides an argument for service-learning as a critical pedagogy. With reference to critical theory and Freirean pedagogy, the role of service-learning in education as a social and political process is investigated. There is an exploration of the process of conscientisation and students’ raised awareness because these factors are inextricably linked as potential consequences of critical reflection in service-learning. Conscientisation, or raised consciousness, is examined with reference to examples from the writings of Freire and Malcolm X. Further reference is made to Mezirow’s transformative theory, which involves the effects and implications of change to students’ meaning schemes and meaning perspectives. The basis for change originates in, and emerges from, the exercise of students’ critical reflection.

Critical reflection, as a form of critical thinking and an essential component of service-learning, is closely analysed in Chapter 5. It follows on from the ideas presented in the preceding chapter on the concept of conscientisation and critical pedagogy. Questions concerning how and why critical reflection can be used are addressed. The facilitation of critical reflection is also a feature of this fifth chapter, in particular the use of critical incidents, which are then further explored in Chapter 6 on academic writing in service-learning. It is asserted that critical reflection, which connects theory with practice, can deepen student’s learning, raise their awareness of social and political issues, and have the potential of motivating students to engage in praxis, or informed critical action for social justice.

Chapter 6 focuses on academic writing in service-learning. This is typically different from traditional academic writing because of the personal and affective elements that are involved in experiential learning. Being more appropriate genres, reflective writing and the use of the narrative are examined. Reflective writing is an integral part of service-learning and serves two purposes. Firstly, reflective writing is used as a means of facilitating critical reflection and learning. For both formative and summative assessment in my service-learning courses, students are required to write ‘critical incident’ reports. Sample models of these reports written from my own experience are analysed by my students in class in order to help their understanding of this critical reflective and writing process. I use examples from my international service and from my service in the United Kingdom that I undertook at the same time as my students. To safeguard anonymity of service-users, however, only the international example is presented in this chapter. An interesting example from a student’s ‘critical incident’ report is also presented in this chapter.

Secondly, reflective writing is used for assessment as an academic requirement for accreditation. Students are not assessed for their voluntary work in the community per se. Instead, they are assessed for the written assignment resulting from their critical reflection on their service in the community and the connections they make with conceptual ideas within the academic coursework. Reflective journal writing is a process and results in an end product. In this respect, students may keep a ‘working’ journal or diary, and then submit a ‘formal’ journal to be summatively assessed. An excerpt from my own reflective service-learning journal is presented as a sample model. The excerpt is one that I use with my own students and is from my international service in Thailand. In addition, examples from students’ journals are also presented to demonstrate the connections students have made between their service and the academic coursework.

Following on from the previous chapter, Chapter 7 presents empirical evidence from my practitioner research involving students’ reflections in and on assessment used in service-learning. The assessment methods are outlined and explained, with particular attention to innovative summative co-assessment methods (Deeley, 2014), which are transferable to other academic courses and may contribute, not only to the enhancement of students’ employability skills, competencies and graduate attributes, but to deep and lifelong learning.

Chapter 8, as the final chapter, brings the ideas and critical perspectives that have been prese...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Title
• 1  Introduction
• 2  Contextualising Service-Learning
• 3  A Theoretical Paradigm for Service-Learning
• 4  Service-Learning as a Critical Pedagogy
• 5  Critical Reflection
• 6  Academic Writing in Service-learning
• 7  Reflections in and on Assessment
• 8  Conclusion
• References
• Index