Supporting academic staff as champions of service learning

Erasmus, Mabel

doi:10.1080/16823200709487183

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…( 2008 :58), pervasive conceptual confusion (Bender 2008 :82) and a scarceness of conceptual frameworks to concretise community engagement activities ( Hall 2010 :24). The pivotal role that academics play in successful SL institutionalisation (Bender 2007 ; Bringle & Hatcher 1996 ; Erasmus 2007 ; Furco 2002b ) is affirmed by the mandate given to HEIs. The South African SL policy documents, published by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), obliged HEIs to provide the necessary institutional support for academics to become involved in and develop SL (Bender et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cracking the nut of service-learning in nursing at a higher educational institution

2015

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BackgroundThe readiness of academics to engage in the service-learning (SL) institutionalisation process is not accentuated in research on SL institutionalisation in South Africa. The argument has been advanced that SL scholarship and willingness of key stakeholders are crucial for SL institutionalisation at the academic programme level.AimThe research focus of the study being reported here was on readiness of respondents to embed SL in the curricula of the nursing programme.MethodThis study used a quantitative, exploratory and descriptive design. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a stratified sample comprising 34 respondents. The data were analysed for descriptive statistics using SPSS 19.ResultsThe demographic profile of the respondents indicated that 31 (66%) were between 31 and 50 years old; 36 (75.16%) had a minimum of 10 years’ nursing experience; 19 (39.6%) had a master's degree, two (4.2%) had a doctorate; and 29 (60.4%) had been employed by the school for a maximum of five years. The results indicated that the nurse educators were in need of SL capacity-building because 9 (18.8%) had limited or no knowledge of SL and 24 (50%) confused SL with other forms of community engagement activities. However, only 15 (33%) of the clinical supervisors and 13 (27%) of the lecturers indicated a willingness to participate in such a programme.ConclusionThe school was not ready to embed SL in the academic programme because of a lack of SL scholarship and willingness to remediate the identified theory–practice gaps.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cracking the nut of service-learning in nursing at a higher educational institution

2015

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“…Service-learning (SL) is a relatively new field in the social and educational landscapes (HEQC 2006b :138; Le Grange 2007 :3). Butin’s ( 2006a :1) claim that SL is actively supported by governments because of the inherent potential that SL has to contribute to the societal transformation agendas of governments is confirmed by other scholars (Bender 2008 :84; Erasmus 2007 :110; Weerts & Sandman 2010:632–633). SL scholars and practitioners, however, have raised concerns about SL issues related to sustainability (Brukardt et al 2004 :4), transformative practice (Butin 2006b :478) and authentic institutional commitment (Brukardt et al 2004 :17).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Julie ( 2014a :37) agrees with Erasmus ( 2007 :110) that some of the institutional indicators of the framework are ambiguously phrased, specifically indicators 4 and 7. The institutional input indicator 4 refers to ‘adequate resource allocation for delivering quality SL as part of the institution's [ sic ] core functions’ (HEQC 2006a :38).…”

Section: The South African Service-learning Good Practice Guidelinesmentioning

confidence: 95%

The development of an implementation framework for service-learning during the undergraduate nursing programme in the Western Cape Province

Julie

2015

curationis

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BackgroundService-learning (SL) is a contested field of knowledge and issues of sustainability and scholarship have been raised about it. The South African Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) has provided policy documents to guide higher education institutions (HEIs) in the facilitation of SL institutionalisation in their academic programmes. An implementation framework was therefore needed to institutionalise the necessary epistemological shifts advocated in the national SL policy guidelines.ObjectivesThis article is based on the findings of a doctoral thesis that aimed at developing an SL implementation framework for the School of Nursing (SoN) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).MethodMixed methods were used during the first four phases of the design and development intervention research model developed by Rothman and Thomas.ResultsThe SL implementation framework that was developed during Phase 3 specified the intervention elements to address the gaps that had been identified by the core findings of Phases 1 and 2. Four intervention elements were specified for the SL implementation framework. The first intervention element focused on the assessment of readiness for SL institutionalisation. The development of SL capacity and SL scholarship was regarded as the pivotal intervention element for three of the elements: the development of a contextual SL definition, an SL pedagogical model, and a monitoring and evaluation system for SL institutionalisation.ConclusionThe SL implementation framework satisfies the goals of SL institutionalisation, namely to develop a common language and a set of principles to guide practice, and to ensure the allocation of resources in order to facilitate the SL teaching methodology. The contextualised SL definition that was formulated for the SoN contributes to the SL operationalisation discourse at the HEI.

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“…It is acknowledged that higher education institutions in South Africa, as in many countries all over the world, have actively taken up the challenge of becoming more engaged with local constituencies and more responsive to the challenges faced by the various communities with which they interact. Those working in the field of higher education community engagement tend to experience obstacles and limited support that seem out of proportion with the emphasis that is placed on this third core function as a transformative mechanism (Erasmus 2007b). In the context of this book parallels may well be drawn with the precarious situation that organisations of the non-profit/civil society/third sector in South Africa find themselves.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Political Unconscious of Higher Education Community Engagement in South Africa

Erasmus¹

2014

Knowledge as Enablement

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Contradictions and contestations seem to plague the notion of community engagement in South African higher education. This is surprising in view of its overt links to Utopian ideals espoused by policy directives for higher education transformation in a democratic South Africa. This situation has an impact on the knowledge enablement potential in the interaction between higher education and the third sector. In this chapter I propose a perspective on this state of affairs that is influenced by Marxism. Creative tensions between ideological limitations and Utopian impulses in the field were investigated, using Fredric Jameson's notion of the Political Unconscious (Jameson 1981) as an exploratory tool. Based on a review of literature I illustrate manifestations of the dialectic between ideology and the Utopian vision of a classless society. I contend that this reading deepens our understanding of political factors in the broader society that maintain contradictions between public pronouncements and the experience of scholars, civil society organisations (the third sector) and community members involved in engagement practices. It also enables engaged scholars to reimagine South African society and the role of higher education. Erasmus M, Albertyn R (eds) 2014. Knowledge as Enablement. Stellenbosch: SUN PRESS

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Supporting academic staff as champions of service learning

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Cracking the nut of service-learning in nursing at a higher educational institution

Cracking the nut of service-learning in nursing at a higher educational institution

The development of an implementation framework for service-learning during the undergraduate nursing programme in the Western Cape Province

The Political Unconscious of Higher Education Community Engagement in South Africa

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