Lorraine McIlrath

Higher education and civic engagement : international perspectives

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 engagement at universities, Ahmed C. 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 A. 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 R. Murphy Service learnings 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 Place 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.

Understandings of citizenship education in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland: Public discourses among stakeholders in the public and private sectors

Internationally, citizenship education has come to the fore in the past decade. It may be particularly important within the context of societies with a legacy of political conflict, such as Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, where it is being implemented as part of the statutory curriculum.This article explores understandings of citizenship education among stakeholders in the private and public sectors in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with the aim to compare these with curricular conceptualizations of citizenship in both contexts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in both societies involving non-governmental organizations, political parties, trade unions and the police. Results indicated that levels of awareness about citizenship education varied substantially and understandings mainly reflected current theory and curriculum practice in citizenship. Commonalities emerged as in both societies similar key concepts were identified while differences transpired over issues relating to national identity and political conflict, which may raise questions for history and citizenship education in both societies.

Community Perspective on University Partnership—Prodding the Sacred Cow

The aim of this chapter is to explore service learning from the perspective of the wider community, examining service learning as an approach to learning and teaching that challenges ideas of higher education as a “sacred cow” that is distant, elitist, and exclusive. Service learning promotes student attainment of knowledge, values, skills, and attitudes associated with civic engagement through a structured academic experience within the community. It aims to bring reciprocal benefits to both the student and the community partner, and the sharing of knowledge across community-university boundaries. As a pedagogical approach, its purpose is to enable the development of links, relationships, and partnerships between educational institutions (schools, colleges, universities) and the wider community, creating opportunities for mutual gain to emerge.

Emerging Policy and Practices on Community-Based Research—Perspectives from the Island of Ireland

It is our shared understanding that one of the core roles of higher education is “to reconnect economy, culture, science and society” as argued by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, and, in doing so, evolve scholarship that creates positive social change through the fostering of collaborative partnerships with community and the wider society. Higher education is going through a period of rapid change as globally the economic recession has caused a shift in conceptual thinking from economic foci toward engagement with community and society (Escrigas et al., 2014; Inman and Schuetze, 2011). It is widely agreed, in principle, that higher education institutions can play a pivotal role in terms of societal wellbeing through their three core activities of research, teaching, and service (also called engagement or outreach). Watson (2007) argues that it is through an intentional civic or community engagement strategy and practice that higher education can impact positively upon community and society.

The Civic University: A Legal and Policy Vacuum?

The purpose of this chapter is to define, characterise and critique the concept of the ‘civic university’ (Goddard J, Re-inventing the civic university, 2009) from scholarly, legislative and policy domains within the context of Ireland, drawing from international and national dimensions. The rationale and context for universities to play a civic role within society has been well documented within the literature and this chapter seeks to ascertain if these convincing arguments exist within a legal and policy vacuum or plenum within Ireland. An opening quote from the current President of Ireland forms the foundation of this chapter, where he posits that the fundamental challenge for universities is to be both apart as a critical agent and a part of society playing a pivotal civically engaged role in terms of the application of knowledge towards the common good of society (Higgins MD, Remarks by President Michael D. Higgins at the launch of the Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research, Galway. Available at http://www.president.ie/speeches/launch-of-the-irish-centre-for-autism-and-neurodevelopmental-research/. Accessed 1 Oct 2012, 2012).

Knowledge, Action, and Hope: A Call for Strengthening the Community-Based Research Movement

The purpose of knowledge is to enhance the well-being of all people and not just for economic growth or intellectual property rights.

Main Issues and Perspectives: An Introduction

Community-based research (CBR) has become an integral element of the contemporary university’s repertoire of activities. It may take different forms and respond to different priorities but it is no longer a marginal activity. It now joins community-based learning—which has a much longer history—as a key component of what is becoming known as the engaged university. We could say, then, that community-based learning and research has been mainstreamed, normalized, or brought into the field. CBR can even be seen as an activity that grants a competitive advantage to those institutions that promote it. It may serve to develop interdisciplinary research skills, provide students with “real world” experiential learning, promote the “public purpose” of the university, and even attract funding from philanthropic donors. These very real issues—especially salient in a period of economic and philosophical crisis—add a note of urgency to current attempts to generate local, national, and transnational platforms for community-based research as part of the broader engagement mission.