PART TWO: Service learning and community engagement advantages

Service learning and community engagement advantages

According to Eyler, Giles & Gray (2001), the following are the advantages of community engagement and service learning:

For students

Hands-on use of skills and knowledge that increases relevance of academic skills. 2. Opportunities that accommodate different learning styles. 3. Interaction with people of diverse cultures and lifestyles. 4. Increased sense of self-efficacy, analytical skills, and social development. 5. Valuable and competitive career guidance and experience. 6. Opportunities for meaningful involvement with the university’s community. 7 Increased civic responsibility.

For the community

1. Opportunities for community development through capacity building.
2. Access to university resources.
3. Positive relationship opportunities with the University.
4. Awareness-building of community issues, agencies and constituents.
5. Opportunities for contributing to the educational process.
6. Affordable access to professional development.
7. Short and long term solutions to pressing community needs.

For the institution

1. Enhanced teaching, research, and outreach activities.
2. Faculty and student engagement in local, state, and community issues.
3. Expands opportunities to extend university knowledge and skills.
4. Builds positive community relationships.
5. Heightens development and preparation of university graduates.
   

Strengthening family engagement in high poverty schools

Parental involvement is defined as a two ways and meaningful communication to improve student academic learning. When a school has parents who are involved in their children’s education. It makes teachers do their job with ease because they know they are not the only people who are involved in the student’s learning but also the community and policy makers as well as parents.

Families who are involved should be given necessary support in order to understand their children’s learning. This implies that some families have children with special needs, so parents also need assistance in order to understand and find ways to help their children, example, should their children need hearing aids or an interpreter for the deaf, teachers can enlist help from professionals. The needs of such are:

• Conditions for effectiveness of community engagement
• Leadership commitment to family and community engagement in student learning.
• Respectful relationships with families and communities.
• A supportive and connected school culture.
• A team, reflecting the diversity of the school’s stakeholders, responsible for planning, organising, implementing and evaluating family and community engagement activities.
• School policies and procedures which explicitly state and clearly integrate the principles and dimensions of effective partnerships.

Strategies for community engagement in schools

Reform support network (2014:3), stipulates that for engagement to be effective in community school – community engagement should be made a priority and establish infrastructure. This means that communities need to be involved in school projects and at least appoint a parent to be a leader who can also be their voice.

Secondly, communicate proactively in the community, schools and universities should seek to engage communities in activities, keep them on alert on what is happening by sending out newsletters, emails or door to door messages because communities need to be informed about their children’s progress, behavior this way it will help them to be able to support and improve the students well-being.

Thirdly, listen to the community and respond to feedback and offer meaningful opportunities for communities to participate by involving them in focus group meetings and workshops. Lastly, turn community supporters into leaders and advocates, inspire the community to share their knowledge and enthusiasm and actively campaign for schools and universities.

Conclusion

White Paper on the transformation of higher education (Department of Education, 1997) sets out broad national goals, and refers to community engagement as an integral and core part of higher education in South Africa. On the other hand service learning can be defined as a learning outlook that combines objectives with community service in order to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs.

Parental involvement is defined as a two ways and meaningful communication to improve student academic learning. When a school has parents who are involved in their children’s education.

Lastly, community engagement should be made a priority and establish infrastructure. This means that communities need to be involved in school projects and at least appoint a parent to be a leader who can also be their voice.