Community
Service-Learning Resource
This week the Community Service-Learning office at the
University of Alberta published a Canadian Community Service-Learning Studies Resource Base, a
comprehensive list (including links) of mainly Canadian research on
service-learning. Having personally
spent the past six months reading article after article, I was curious to see how
many of the resources I had knocked off the list. Turns out I’ve only read a handful of the 130
listed (and by a handful, I mean one). Clearly
my service-learning journey has only begun!
The 2015
Faculty Institute on Community-Engaged Learning
The University of Toronto held its annual Faculty Institute on Community-Engaged Learning, hosted by the Centre
for Community Partnerships. The
keynote speaker was Dr. Tania Mitchell, Assistant Professor from the University
of Minnesota. Inspired by her own student
experience, Dr. Mitchell uses critical service-learning
pedagogy, focused on social justice in her teaching practice
The focus of Dr. Mitchell’s keynote address
was on the importance of aligning intention and action in community
engagement. She mentions a several questions
practitioners should ask themselves before engaging in critical service learning:
- Am I partnering with people and organizations that are working toward systemic change?
- Do their practices reflect their philosophy toward system change?
- How does my work and the work of the students advance their missions?
- How do I engage individuals who have been systematically excluded, and am I working in ways to include them?
- What is my vision for a more just world? How do I bring us closer to the vision?
Dr. Mitchell makes it clear that she believes the function of critical
service-learning is about social justice and social change. She does not believe it is enough for students
to go through a service experience unless the final outcome means change. This philosophy of service-learning is not
without its critics including other faculty, students and administrators. For this, Dr. Mitchell makes the distinction
between traditional service-learning “that emphasizes service without attention
to systems of inequality” and the critical service-learning “approach that is
unapologetic in its aim to dismantle structures of injustice” (Mitchell, Spring
2008, p. 50) .
Specifically, the focus of the critical service learning includes
(p. 53):
·
Working from a social change perspective
·
Working to redistribute power amongst all participants
·
Developing authentic relationships in the classroom and in the
community
One course she ran began by finding a specific need within the local community. For this particular course, the need was helping to pass a bill of rights for foreign
workers in the state of California. Dr. Mitchell then designed a course that would engage students in
political and social activities aimed at petitioning the government and
participating in activities designed to advocate on behalf of migrant workers. Migrant workers were also hired (at
competitive rates) to teach classes and lead discussions. It was important to Dr. Mitchell that the
course be about the work and not the number of hours it took to get the job
done. The bill passed on its third attempt, and the class needed to be offered 4 times, the outcome was a viable systemic change.
Critical Discourse
Although I had not planned on discussing critical discourse
this early on, given the nature of the topic I thought I would at least introduce
some further reading for those who may be interested.
Service-learning is often described as a values-laden, even ‘liberal’
or socially minded practice. Some practitioners
embrace this idea, as we have seen from Dr. Mitchell, while others attempt to
demonstrate the neutrality of service-learning by using research that
demonstrates learning outcomes that compliment academic and educational
outcomes. Butin (2010) argues this is
done because “service-learning advocates want to show that service-learning is
a legitimate practice” (p. 37) .
Supporters of critical service-learning do see it as a non-neutral practice
and use it explicitly as a vehicle for social change as it “necessitates the
exposure of implicit presumptions and power dynamics within service-learning
and content knowledge; it fosters deep, consequential, and long-term experiences
within the field; and it fosters an openness to others’ voices and perspectives”
(p. 46) .
Regardless of your approach to service learning, Chambers (2009)
recommends that as practitioner's you begin by reflecting on what your philosophy and
approach is toward service-learning. He
groups service-learning approaches into three categories, philanthropic,
social-justice and social transformation. By doing this, you will be better able manage the course, the learning outcomes, answer
student questions and finally, allow you to align your intention with your actions.
References
Butin, D. W. (2005).
Service-learning as "postmodern" pedagogy. In D. W. Butin, Service-Learning
in Higher Education (pp. 89-104). New York, NY: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Chambers, T. (2009). A continuum of
approaches to service-learning within Canadian post-secondary education. Canadian
Journal of Higher Education, 39(2), 77-100.
Mitchell, T. D. (Spring 2008).
Traditional vs. critical service-learning: Engaging the literature to
differentiate two models. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning,
50-65.
