HAL_T_02 Learning in Civic Engagement: Evaluation of Service-Learning Activities and Programmes in the German Education System

Objectives/ Research Questions

The project HAL_T_02 addresses pupils and students in the education system. The voluntary engagement of pupils and students is institutionally located in the education system and observable in many social action areas. Engagement in the sense of service-learning means, on the one hand, school-based and academic learning and, on the other hand, dealing with and working on concrete social tasks and problems (Backhaus-Maul/Roth 2013, Gerholz et al. 2018, Speck/Backhaus-Maul 2007).

During the research period, a formative – process-accompanying – evaluation will assess the existing and proven service-learning activities and programmes and be further developed together with the participants. The selection of schools and higher education institutions should consider the differences in the education system and the range from economically prosperous metropolitan regions characterized by immigration to structurally weak rural regions characterized by emigration.

The project HAL_T_02 is significant for the transfer strategy of the Halle section because, by linking the educational function of schools and higher education institutions with the promotion of civic engagement, it is possible to generate long-lasting motivational effects (Backhaus-Maul/Gerholz 2020). For the general transfer activities of RISC, it is relevant to further advance formative evaluation as an instrument of public science.

The formative evaluation includes qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, such as (partially) standardized questionnaires, expert interviews, participant observation, group discussions, and document analysis. The mutual transfer of knowledge between actors and researchers should firstly enable the actors to reflect on and further develop their actions on the basis of knowledge and secondly enable researchers to continuously update their empirical findings and further develop their survey and evaluation methods.

The foundations Learning through Engagement (Lernen durch Engagement, Berlin) and Active Citizenship (Aktive Bürgerschaft, Berlin), the university network Education through Responsibility (Bildung durch Verantwortung e. V.), the Federal Association of Volunteer Agencies (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Freiwilligenagenturen e. V.), the Volunteer Agency Halle-Saalkreis (Freiwilligenagentur Halle-Saalkreis e. V.), and the Saxony-Anhalt State Institute for School Quality and Teacher Training (Landesinstitut für Schulqualität und Lehrerbildung Sachsen-Anhalt) are planned as partners for this project.

Key milestones of the project are workshops with researchers, experts, and partners to discuss evaluation findings and further develop service-learning activities and programmes in the fourth quarter of the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, as well as the presentation of the report in the first quarter of 2024.

Thematic Reference to Social Cohesion

Civic engagement is considered a positive contribution to social cohesion. One form of civic engagement is the learning of pupils and students in civic engagement, a form of engagement that is referred to as service-learning in the international context.

Based on service-learning activities and programmes in the German education system approved by the stakeholders involved, the project will critically examine whether and, if so, to what extent these activities and programmes impact social cohesion. The current state of research on civic engagement also suggests differentiated results concerning service-learning. On the one hand, civic engagement can help overcome social boundaries marked by social class, status, and origin. On the other hand, civic engagement can promote social closure processes, for example by enabling socially privileged groups to increase their social, cultural, and economic capital in a self-interested manner and thus accelerating processes of social disintegration.

Knowing that the German education system favours inequality, the question arises whether learning in civic engagement of pupils and students either contributes to societal cohesion or possibly shows no corresponding effects or even reinforces societal disintegration processes. Against this background, it is of particular interest to examine the social composition (social class, status, and origin) of the pupils and students involved in service-learning activities and programmes and their ideas of social cohesion and the corresponding practices.

References

Backhaus-Maul Holger/Gerholz Karl-Heinz 2020: Feine Gelegenheiten zur Kooperation. Wissenstransfer zwischen Universitäten und organisierter Zivilgesellschaft, erscheint in: Hofer, Manfred/Derkau, Julia (Hrsg.): Campus und Gesellschaft. Weinheim: Beltz-Juventa.

Gerholz, Karl-Heinz/Backhaus-Maul, Holger/Rameder, Paul 2018 (eds.): Civic Engagement in Higher Education Institutions in Europe. Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung 13, Heft 2.

Backhaus-Maul, Holger/Roth, Christiane 2013: Service Learning an Hochschulen in Deutschland. Ein erster empirischer Beitrag zur Vermessung eines jungen Phänomens. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Speck, Karsten/Backhaus-Maul, Holger 2007: Service Learning an Schulen. Wissenschaftliche Evaluation des Programms „Service Learning – Schule gestaltet Gemeinwesen“ im Land Sachsen-Anhalt, Ergebnisbericht. Berlin: Deutsche Kinder- und Jugendstiftung.