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Social Justice Education Through Service-Learning in the Higher Education Curriculum

Social Justice Education Through Service-Learning in the Higher Education Curriculum. Glenn A. Bowen, PhD Barry University 13th Biennial Colloquium of Dominican Colleges and Universities June 13, 2014. Outline. Manifestations of Social Injustice Definitions Service Paradigms

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Social Justice Education Through Service-Learning in the Higher Education Curriculum

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  1. Social Justice Education Through Service-Learning in the Higher Education Curriculum Glenn A. Bowen, PhD Barry University 13th Biennial Colloquium of Dominican Colleges and Universities June 13, 2014

  2. Outline • Manifestations of Social Injustice • Definitions • Service Paradigms • Characteristics of Social Justice Education • Social Justice-Focused Service-Learning • Challenges

  3. Manifestations of Social Injustice

  4. Social Justice Defined • The movement of society toward more equality, support for diversity, economic fairness, nonviolent conflict resolution, and participatory democracy (Warren, 1998) • “When one’s goal is social justice, one attempts to alter the structural or institutional practices that produce excessive or unjustified inequalities among individuals or that treat people unfairly—for example, discriminating among people on the basis of race, sex, social class, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability status.” (Marullo & Edwards, 2000, p. 899)

  5. Social Justice Education Social justice education involves increasing students’ awareness of social inequalities, identifying the roles that individuals and institutions play in maintaining such inequalities, and taking corrective action. (Meyers, 2009)

  6. Service-Learning Defined A teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful communityservice with course work and critical reflection to enrich the learning experience, foster civic responsibility, and strengthen communities

  7. Service Paradigms

  8. Characteristics of Social Justice Education • Student-centered • Collaborative • Experiential • Intellectual • Analytical • Multicultural • Value-based • Activist (Wade, 2001)

  9. Examples of Social Justice-Focused Service-Learning Courses

  10. Social Justice Features inMy Service-Learning Course

  11. “When I feed the hungry, they call me a saint. When I ask why people are hungry, they call me a communist.” – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian Catholic Archbishop (1909-1999)

  12. Challenges • Faculty avoidance of politically oriented activities • Fear of questioning the status quo • Failure to develop clear understanding of social justice goals and issues • Limited time and other resources • Fear of loss of control • Changing faculty modus operandi – Experts/consultants vs. collaborators • Short-term nature of curriculum and projects

  13. References Bowen, G. A. (2014). Promoting social change through service-learning in the curriculum. Journal of Effective Teaching, 14(1), 51–62. Meyers, S. A. (2009). Service learning as an opportunity for personal and social transformation. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21(3), 373–381. Wade, R. (2001). “… And justice for all’’: Community service-learning for social justice (ECS Issue Paper: Community Service/Service-Learning). Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States. Warren, K. (1998). Educating students for social justice in service learning. The Journal of Experiential Education, 21(3), 134–139.

  14. Glenn A. Bowen, PhD Director Center for Community Service Initiatives gbowen@barry.edu

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