Community psychology, millennium volunteers and UK higher education: a disruptive triptych?

Abstract

In this paper I critically explore the ideological underpinnings of pedagogical and political practices in UK Higher Education (HE). I first map out the political and pedagogical features of community psychology and then describe the Millennium Volunteers project at the University of Northumbriaa scheme that integrates voluntary placements into undergraduate degree programmes, reflecting on the political and pedagogical premises upon which it is based. I consider the political context and recent social policy trends in UK HE. Through exploring the ideological underbellies of community psychology and Millennium Volunteers I describe the tensions created once both are situated within a HE student's learning and a lecturer's teaching portfolio. I reflect on how each appears to share similar wish lists but conclude that a surface comparison of the pedagogical practices of each can leave unrecognized serious ideological, ethical and political differences that can cause disruption at the interfaces of staff, students and HE institutions. I recommend making the political and ideological assumptions behind pedagogical practices and education policy initiatives more transparent to both students and lecturers alike and outline the reasons for doing so. I conclude by reflecting on implications for the widening access agenda in the present political climate from the standpoint of a community psychologist. Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Key words: Higher Education; pedagogy; widening access; employability THE TRIPTYCH-HOW I WAS INTRODUCED TO ITCommunity psychology values, UK Millennium Volunteers (MV) politics and Higher Education (HE) social policy all collided for me as I accepted a lecturing position as a community psychologist at Northumbria University. The position was funded under the UK's MV Scheme to set up a project to incorporate volunteering into the university's academic curriculum. In addition to setting up the project I used my academic appointment to create two new community psychology modules in a Northumbria University psychology undergraduate degree programme. This was my first lecturing appointment

“Community Psychology is for Poor, Black People”: Pedagogy and Teaching of Community Psychology in South Africa

“…As in the case of community psychology, the lack of engagement with implicit notions of difference inherent in the construction of the discipline impinges on the legitimacy that students attach to various kinds of knowledge in psychology ). This contributes to leaving legitimate areas of psychology particularly marginalized (Carolissen, 2006;Duckett, 2002).…”

“…Seedat (1997) and Duckett (2002) suggest that community psychology does not have explicit pedagogical approaches. However, pedagogy has been implicit in community psychology literature on teaching but has referred largely to experiential learning (Pillay, 2003;White & Potgieter, 1996).…”

“…The teaching process becomes as important as the content of curriculum (Gregory, 2001;Alcade & Walsh-Bowers, 1997). For this reason, pedagogy is theoretically and practically important for community psychology (Duckett, 2002).…”

Exploring the relevance of feminist pedagogy to community psychology: continuing the dialogue

“…Similarly, in discussing the intertwinement of pedagogy, political values, and ideology, Duckett (2002) advocated ''making the political and ideological assumptions behind pedagogical practices and education policy initiatives more transparent to both students and lecturers alike and outline the reasons for doing so' ' (p. 94). This argument suggests the need for comparable development of feminist pedagogical strategies in community-psychology graduate courses.…”

“…From a more practical perspective, to promote reflexivity in the classroom we use multiple strategies to build awareness of the relationship between the personal and the political (Duckett, 2002;Hildebrand, 1998). For example, we consider continuums of power and oppression and discuss the larger context and social positioning of our academic lives in large and small group activities.…”