Curriculum requirements and subsequent civic engagement: is there a difference between ‘forced’ and ‘free’ community service?

Abstract

Despite figures showing the growth of mandatory community service programmes, there is mixed empirical evidence of their effectiveness. This paper addresses the relationship of mandated community service to one of its purported aims: subsequent volunteerism. It compares current volunteerism among four university student cohorts: those doing no service in secondary school, those volunteering with no requirement, those volunteering both before and after the introduction of a requirement, and those introduced to service through a requirement. The analysis indicates that (1) students who were introduced to service through a mandated programme exhibit current levels of engagement no greater than non-volunteers; (2) this relationship stems largely from the different service experiences of our four cohorts and relates to the fact that service satisfaction and duration, as well as background variables account for current levels of civic engagement. The findings suggest that mandatory service programmes might well be failing the very population they seek to target, particularly in weaker, less structured programmes.

How Participation Affects University Students’ Perspectives Toward Mandatory Service-Learning

“…To conclude, the study shows a very positive shift in students' perspectives toward service-learning after the service-learning experience, particularly among those who were initially disinterested or negative. This result offers tentative support for the argument that there is merit in making service-learning mandatory for students, particularly for those who would otherwise not participate voluntarily (Henderson et al, 2019). However, the study has a number of limitations that should be noted: First, the study was based on retrospective qualitative interviews of a small number of students who self-selected to take part.…”

“…Service-learning is an experiential pedagogy that can effectively foster students’ intellectual, social, personal, civic, and moral development (Jacoby, 2014). Although educators generally agree on the potential benefits of service-learning for students, they are divided on whether or not service-learning should be required (Andersen, 1998; Crews, 2002; Henderson et al, 2019). The major opposition is the assertion that when service-learning is made mandatory, students who are disinclined to participate may resent, and perhaps perform poorly in service.…”

The Top-Level Design Strategy of “Curriculum Civics” in the New Era of Universities Based on Machine Learning under the Perspective of Communication Science

“…Students receive notifications of assignments from teachers, complete the tasks according to the requirements, upload them to this module for centralized management, and submit them to the teacher-side system for review and inspection in the practice assignment module. In addition, the quiz module is for students to enter the system to answer questions after receiving quiz orders from the teacher to understand their learning situation based on the feedback results, and to check for gaps and continue to improve [26,27].…”

Gender-Atypical Learning Experiences for Men Reduce Occupational Sex Segregation: Causal Evidence from the Suspension of the Civilian Service in Germany

“…programs is an open question (Henderson et al, 2012(Henderson et al, , 2019, my analysis of the example of the German compulsory civilian service indicates that such services may have the unintended consequences of transgressing gendered socialization, even if they might fall short of their intended goal of affecting civic engagement.…”

“…Second, the compulsory civilian service speaks to discussions on mandatory community services, which have been proposed for instance in the US (Brooks, 2020) or France (France 24, 2019) increase civic engagement. While the effectiveness of such programs remains unsettled question (Henderson et al, 2012(Henderson et al, , 2019, my analysis of the example of the German compulsory civilian service indicates that such services may have the unintended consequences of transgressing gendered socialization and increasing openness to gender-atypical occupations, even if they might fall short of their intended goal of affecting civic engagement.…”