The Scholarship of Engagement for Politics: - Higher Education ...
The Scholarship of Engagement for Politics: - Higher Education ...
The Scholarship of Engagement for Politics: - Higher Education ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Scholarship</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Engagement</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Politics</strong><br />
<strong>Education</strong> Service Partnership (CHESP), and in many other countries<br />
internationally where community-based learning and research are<br />
developing (Annette 2002).<br />
<strong>The</strong> Dearing Report (NCIHE 1997) follows on from an increasing<br />
range <strong>of</strong> work done since the 1970s which has emphasised the importance<br />
in HE <strong>of</strong> the development <strong>of</strong> what has been termed transferable, personal,<br />
core or key skills. <strong>The</strong> challenge <strong>for</strong> HE, according to the Dearing Report, is<br />
to provide an academic framework based on the acquisition <strong>of</strong> critical<br />
knowledge, which is mostly structured upon the present framework<br />
established by the academic disciplines and which provides students with<br />
the opportunity to develop essential key skills and capabilities. This<br />
emphasis on learning not only <strong>for</strong> academic knowledge but also <strong>for</strong> key<br />
skills and capabilities, including student leadership and civic engagement,<br />
can also be found in the USA in the work <strong>of</strong> Ernest Boyer and the Carnegie<br />
Foundation and more recently in the writings <strong>of</strong> Thomas Ehrlich (Ehrlich<br />
2000; Colby et al. 2003). It is increasingly being recognised that an<br />
important way in which students can develop key skills through work<br />
experience and also experience an education <strong>for</strong> citizenship is through<br />
service-learning in the USA or community-based learning and research in<br />
the UK.<br />
An important way in which students can develop key skills through<br />
work experience and acquire an education <strong>for</strong> citizenship is through<br />
volunteering as well as service-learning or community-based learning and<br />
research. Student volunteering has since the 1960s been an exciting and<br />
important part <strong>of</strong> UK HE, and today leadership is provided by Student<br />
Volunteer, England, and also by the new organisation <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essionals who<br />
support student volunteering, Workers in Student Community<br />
Volunteering (WiSCV). This has been assisted by the <strong>Higher</strong> <strong>Education</strong><br />
Active Community Fund (HEACF), which is assisting universities and<br />
colleges <strong>of</strong> HE in England to promote volunteering and community<br />
partnerships and has been rolled into Teaching and Quality Enhancement<br />
Fund (now Teaching Enhancement and Student Success).<br />
22