Service-Based Initiatives in Teacher Education: Bridging Communities and Universities through Field Experiences

Abstract

This chapter highlights a College of Education’s revision of required undergraduate courses into service-based initiatives engaging students with their local communities to enact change. These courses include a 20-hour field experience component, where faculty provide education majors with hands-on experiences illustrating the importance of reciprocal community–university partnerships, linking theory and practice, and demonstrating the ways in which students can become engaged citizens. This chapter focuses on the development of one such partnership with a secondary school. In particular, the author discusses two course-specific projects: a mentoring program for students labeled as “at-risk” and a multicultural learning community where future educators taught students in In-School-Suspension (ISS). Both illustrate the importance of utilizing critical multicultural education (CME) and intersectionality as a combined framework for teacher education partnerships, but also for projects in other majors, disciplines, and colleges. This year-long qualitative case study shows that such a foundation can provide a space for all participants to understand cultures other than their own, participate in knowledge construction, and understand their roles and responsibilities in contributing to socially just environments. This is not a one-size-fits all approach to community–university partnership development, but such studies can highlight the challenges and successes faced along the journey.

Citation

Hardee, S.C. (2015), "Service-Based Initiatives in Teacher Education: Bridging Communities and Universities through Field Experiences", University Partnerships for Community and School System Development (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 5), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 43-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120150000005003