Higher Education and Civic Engagement: International Perspectives

This book is a major contribution to the international study of higher education civic engagement and also service learning. It offers some insightful and powerful analysis of conceptual issues, the institutionalising civic engagement and the pedagogy and professional practice of service learning in higher education.Professor John Annette, Birkbeck College, University of London, UKBringing together an an international team of contributors, this book provides an original and powerful contribution to debates about the civic purpose of higher education. It persuasively argues that universities can best realise their civic mission by making it central to their policy and practice. This book provides an original and powerful contribution to debates about the civic purpose of higher education. It persuasively argues that universities can best realise their civic mission by making it central to their policy and practice. Bringing together researchers from three continents, the book offers an international perspective based primarily upon first-hand pedagogical experience. A transatlantic overview of the purpose, place and practice of one such pedagogy (service learning) is provided and its potential as a foundation for civic engagement assessed. In its last section the book moves from the theory of citizenship to practical considerations. This part of the book offers advice on establishing civic engagement to all those involved in teaching and learning within higher education.Contents: Foreword, Elizabeth Hollander; Introduction, Iain Mac Labhrainn and Lorraine McIlrath. Part 1 Higher Education and Civic Engagement: Conceptual Issues: Concepts of citizenship in the context of political education, Richard Taylor; Love, reason and the future of civil society, Michael Edwards; Recovering the civic university, Ronald Barnett; The case for service learning, Edward Zlotkowski. Part 2 Institutional Considerations: Rethinking the place of community-based engagements at universities, Ahmed Bawa; Institutionalizing service-learning in higher education, Andrew Furco; The process of localising pedagogies for civic engagement in Ireland: the significance of conceptions, culture and context, Josephine Boland and Lorraine McIlrath. Part 3 Embedding Process and Practice: Identifying and teaching civic engagement skills through service learning, Marshall Welch; Towards enhanced citizenship: the potential of service learning in teacher education a national and international perspective, Timothy Murphy; Service learning's challenge to the educator, Mark Doorley; Serving, learning and reflective practice at Roehampton University, London, Jennifer Iles; Civic youth work and implications for service learning lessons from Northern Ireland, Ross VeLure Roholt and Paul Smyth; Pace matters: partnerships for civic learning, Nan Kari and Nan Skelton; Service learning as a shared developmental journey: tapping the potential of the pedagogy, Brandon Whitney, Julie McClure, Alissa Respet and Patti Clayton; Index.About the Author: Lorraine McIlrath and Iain MacLabhrainn are both from the Community Knowledge Initiative, Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland.