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Engaging critically with developing student
‘employability’: reflections on introducing a volunteering module
into the Sociology curriculum
Dr. Andy Mathers (Department of Sociology & Criminology, University of
the West of England)
Policy Context• Future of Higher Education (2003), Lambert Review (2003), Leitch
Review (2006)
• Absence of statements regarding the wider ‘humanistic and social roles of universities’ (Robinson & Tormey, 2003: 20)
• New Economics Foundation (2008: 10) ‘it is the over-dominance of economic interests which is … fuelling an increasingly instrumental approach to higher education and crowding out the space for HEIs to fulfil other vital purposes for individuals and for the economy, the environment and society at large’
• Gaffakin & Morrisey (2008: 101) 3 stages of developing a new ‘engaged’ university mission of ‘engagement with disadvantaged communities’
• McLennan (2008) – against instrumental engagement
Engaging with Engagement
• Levidow (2002: 1) ‘Universities represent the needs of the state and capital as the needs of society, while adapting the skills of professional workers to labour markets. Despite this role, often spaces are created for alternative pedagogies and critical citizenship’
• Lambert, Parker & Neary (2007) – critical engagement with entrepreneurialism
Local Context
• Voluntary sector forum
• Project Manager for volunteering in the curriculum
• National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement
The Module
• 30 credits at level two
• Year 1 = 13• Year 2 = 23• Year 3 = 16?• Not skill
acquisition, but critical reflection on experience
• NOT a placement
Learning Themes• The Life Course &
Personal Development• Communication &
Leadership• Working in Groups• Working in
Organisations• Managing and Working
in the Voluntary Sector • Equality • Social Responsibility &
Citizenship• Applied Research
Assessment
Learning Journal:
- Outline of aspect of lecture/key reading
- Critical incident
- Reflections on experience
Presentation
Identification of key, pertinent sociological themes and issues
Assessment• Extended Essay- Discuss the sociological explanations for homelessness in the context
of broader developments in welfare policy and provision.
- Outline and account for the formation and development of the hospice movement
- Assess the usefulness of the life cycle model in understanding the lives of people with disabilities
- Describe and analyse the main forms of resistance to the McDonaldisation of food.
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of increasing the role of
faith based organisations in the delivery of education and welfare services?
Reflections on Community engaged learning
• Socialisation into dominant values of public service?
• Avis (2004) – learning for or learning about work/community service
• Workplace/community as contradictory places/spaces
• WBL and CEL as ‘deeply ambivalent’ (Avis, op cit)
• Strand (1999) tension in ‘service learning’: service v. social justice orientations
Models of Community Engaged Learning
Based on Stier (2004)
• Instrumental Model
• Educationalist Model
• Idealist Model