Teaching and learning for civic engagement: Sustainability through alignment
Josephine Boland (NUI Galway)
Abstract
Civic engagement, as espoused in the mission of many higher education institutions, encompasses a diversity of goals, strategies and activities. The rationale for civic engagement is multifaceted and complex reflecting the range of competing imperatives which characterise contemporary higher education. The pedagogy of ‘service/community-based learning’ now features explicitly in the strategies of many institutions. The pedagogy is espoused for its potential to realise academic, civic and personal development goals for students. It has the potential to meet an identified need and enhance the capacity of a community/civic partner while contributing to an institution’s realisation of its commitment to civic engagement. The potential outcomes – for students, community and society – are consistent with one of the central purposes of higher education; the preparation of graduates equipped to contribute positively to the processes of change in society. The socio-economic circumstances in which we now find ourselves suggest that such knowledge, skills and competences were never more needed.
The multifaceted rationale for these initiatives reflects the diversity of orientations to civic engagement discernable amongst key actors involved. These orientations, or dispositions, (namely; civic, personal, student learning and higher education) influence how the pedagogy is conceived of and practiced and have implications for its sustainability. Evidence from this study suggests that sustainability of the practice is most likely where there is close alignment between the civic values of the pedagogy and those of the academic (Boland, 2008). While the relationship between academics’ willingness to embed the pedagogy and the existence of an institutional civic engagement strategy is complex, the significance of the wider policy context is irrefutable.
Alignment with prevailing policy priorities is often advocated as a valuable means of legitimising any activity. In the case of civic engagement a number of un-tapped opportunities can be identified. The limited impact, in the discourse and practice of higher education, of the work of the Task Force for Active Citizenship, is but one recent example. This phenomenon is paralleled by the low levels of awareness of the ‘insight’ dimension of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), which states that, at higher level awards, learners should be able to ‘scrutinise and reflect on social norms and act to change them’. Furthermore, many academic units are currently engaged in a process of strategic planning using a template with no explicit reference to civic engagement. This also represents a lost opportunity to prompt and invite relevant responses and actions.
I make the case that for civic engagement to flourish as a core sustainable activity it needs to feature explicitly in a wide range of institutional policies and processes, thus realising the potential for alignment and ensuring inclusion of such strategies. The NFQ provides a basis for identifying relevant learning outcomes within the process of programme development, in a discipline specific context. If processes for the recognition/reward of academics afforded due recognition to the kind of academic citizenship which is required for these pedagogies to be sustainable, then they would be legitimised and incentivised. Where civic engagement is a strategic priority for the institution then academics units need to be prompted, explicitly, to indicate how they can contribute to the achievement of these goals. The significance of the meta-policy context is undeniable, in particular, in light of recent sectoral-level efforts to agree Key Performance Indicators against which Irish higher education institutions will benchmark themselves. In the current social-economic climate – and recent critical reappraisal of what society can expect from higher education – the case for inclusion of meaningful civic engagement as a Key Performance Indicator is incontrovertible. This process represents an unparalleled opportunity for advocates and champions of civic engagement to shape a higher education policy with which we can constructively align.
The paper draws on the findings of my doctoral research study ‘Embedding a civic engagement dimension in the higher education curriculum: A study of policy process and practice in Ireland’. It is informed by my experience as an educational developer, supporting curriculum development for service/community-based learning and by my experience as a practitioner of community-based learning in a partnership project; ‘Learning to Teach for Social Justice’.
Reference
Boland, J. (2008) Embedding a civic dimension within the higher education curriculum: a study of policy, process and practice in Ireland. Unpublished Ed.D thesis. Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh.
