Exploring the developmental outcomes of service-learning in Higher Education for partner organisations : an exploratory study of two modules at Stellenbosch University

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Amidst debates over the transformation of South African (SA) Higher Education(HE), the core institutional function of community engagement is a possible means ofbolstering the developmental role of HE in relation to community needs. The potentialfor community engagement, and more specifically service-learning, to contribute tocommunity development is yet to be fully explored in the SA context.Broad policy mandates such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme(GNU, 1994) and the White Paper on Transformation of Higher Education (DoE,1997) have created a policy environment supportive of community engagement as aninstitutional function of HE advancing the state's developmental agenda. In the courseof the national reorganization of the HE system, the Joint Education Trust (JET) /Community-Higher Education- Service Partnerships (CHESP) initiative undertookfeasibility studies of community engagement in SA HE and consulted widely aroundcommunity engagement. The main outcome has been service-learning's promotion asan endorsed means of knowledge-based community engagement. Concerted efforts tobuild the institutional capacities for service-learning nationwide have since beenconducted and service-learning is now an increasingly prominent means ofcommunity engagement in HE.The conceptual origins of service-learning suggest that mutual student and communitybenefits are achieved in the course of service-learning programmes, with significantresearch substantiating student learning outcomes. However, there is limited researchavailable on community outcomes and a lack of empirical evidence on how thecommunity is engaged in service-learning. Conceptualizations of service-learningpartnerships in SA yield the introduction of a third party, the partner organization asthe host of the service-learning modules in addition to the university and thecommunity.The Triad Partnership Model applied at Stellenbosch University (SU) provides anopportunity to explore the experience of the third party, the partner organization, inwhat is conceptualized as a dyadic relationship between student and community. As aformer student, representative of a partner organization and co-facilitator in a servicelearningmodule, the author explores the experiences of representatives of partnerorganizations of service-learning in HE.This dissertation presents the experiences of ten site-supervisors from nine partneringorganizations of Stellenbosch University as evidence of some of the developmentaloutcomes of two service-learning modules. The study discusses the various stages inthe process of partnership as it pertains to outcomes experienced by the sitesupervisorsof the partner organizations. These experiences help clarify thedevelopmental implications of the Triad Partnership Model for the partnerorganizations of the two service-learning modules studied. The dissertation concludesby making recommendations for future areas of study and makes some considerationsfor prospective service-learning modules at SU.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University