Theorising Service Learning in Higher Education in South Africa

Overview & Synopsis

Policy on service learning is framed in the discourse of reciprocity, partnership and engagement. It is tasked with transforming higher education to bring about opportunities for integrating theory and practice, work-based learning and academic learning, so that higher education engages with knowledge created in other sites of practice. While policy is visionary, conditions on the ground bring to the fore complex challenges which relate to the nature of partnerships, reciprocity and engagement on the one hand, and the purposes and practices of higher education on the other. This begs the question, "Can service learning deliver on its espoused goals?" In this article we argue that critical education theory provides a lens which researchers and practitioners can use to illuminate the practice of service learning in higher education. We reflect on our own practice of service learning in teacher education to show the way in which critical theory can illuminate and expose imbalances and gaps in the mutuality and partnership promised in policy.