PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAMME
5. Partnership
>-- CHESP brought the partnership together at the training on 13-16th !v1arch2001. Plior to this no cOffilnunication or contact had heen Inade between the palinership.
;,. The partnership \vorked together to identify different projects
).- The acadel11ic partner took on the role of co-ordinator for the entire Inodule
);.- The acadernic and interspersed contact with the other partners oncc~the module began
CHESP took initial responsibility in selecting and introducing our partnership. Prio' to
lh th 0 \ . .
the training workshop held at Valley Trust (13 -16 March 20 1) no communIcatIOn or contact had occurred between the partnerships. During this training period the partnership discussed what they saw as their overreaching roles and obj ective~) £::sapartnership.
During the nlodulc development phase of the partnership, ail three of the partr.ers equally participated in identified COITIlTIUnity areas that would' be worked in, identifying areas in need of enhancelnent in the different scttings, designing the course outline, making decisions about the course focus, deciding on the asseSSlnent process and 111ark weighting for the coursc. In addition son1e dccisions were taken on the responsibilities of each respective partner. (These roles and responsibilities have already been discussed earlier in the report).
The acadelnic component of the module was co-ordinated prirnnrily by the acadelnic partner who took full responsibility to book venues, schedule test and exams, set up assessment days and book equipment for these days. In addition the academic partner took on the responsibility of managing the budget for the project as th,~other two partners felt that they would not be available on campus frequently enough to sign any relevant forms.
The practical c0l11ponentof the Inodule was co-ordinated and ilnplelnented by the partnership. The actual tin1e in the con1munities was overseenby each respective paIiner.
However, again u lot of responsibility during this component restc:d on the academic partner who. ran weekly reflection sessions with each group, purchased necessary . resources for each groups projects and read and commented 'on tbeir weekly wlitten
reflections.
The closure phase of the nlodule was overseenby the acadclnic rncrHber who made sure that claim were sublnitted and processed for people who had worked on the module, subn1itted transport c1ailns, organised the student conference, marked the students final reflection papers, n1urked the students final examinations and subn1itted their marks to
the School for entry into the mark systen1. In addition the academic took responsibility for distributing and ensuring the return of the questionnaires that had to be completed by scrvice agencies, comn1unity representatives and students. The 2cademic also took prin1ary responsibility for ensuring that this case study was written up and cOlTIpleted.
The service provided issues of importa ce and comments throughout the report. Again, the reasons for this are largely due to time constraints, diffj~::.:~·:~· :~1 meeting with the partnership due to the additional responsibilities and pressures on cad1 individual in the partnership.
Due to the fact that wc had so ITIany projects and had also reworked our notion of cOlnmunity, the pm1nership was very beneficial in working tl) identify various cOlnnlunity placernent sites for the students. This was a result of the pre-existing relationships that these r'~:tners had with a number of cOl11rtlunity sites or service agencIes.
The skills and experience of the three partners were also extremely beneficial in the design and implementation of this service-learning module. The com.rnunity and service partners were able to contribute significantly to the preparation ~.nd training of the students prior to their field work as a result of the years ofexpld:,~U~\; these t\\'o partners have had in the field of COlTIITIunity work and the development of cOlnmunity partnerships. It is argued that the experience of these two partners contributed signi ficantly to the success of the module. In addition, the practica~ training skills and knowledge of the acaden1ic supported the work of the partnership.
Please not that challenges and lessons learnt have already been discussed in the course of the case study, in par't:::::.:lar please not under point 4: R('~su1ts of the First Inlplclncntation.
6. lligher Education Policy and J>racticc
At this of the process it is difficult to comment on potential implications of this n10dule for higher education policy. However, as it has already been noted the School of Psychology has recognised the ilnportance and merit of the service-kaming 1110dule and has planned to have it integrated into the third year psychology cour:;e on an on-going basis.
7. Support and CapacityBuilding
• The financial support fro111 CHESP was certainly a huge ena'Jling factor to the service-learning lTIodule.
• In addition the training provided at V Jl!cy Trust in ~y1arch2001 played a critical roie in the partnership f01111ation and conceptualisation of the project.
(It was decided that suggestions about what kinds of support and capacity building would ._. be helpful to the di fferent partners should be discussed under the folIc·wing heading so as
to avoid unnecessary repetition)
8. Suggcstions/Recolnnlcndations
• The workshops were :_~:t~~itl, however it was not always ea:;y working with a westernised, American IDOdel in the South African context. For example, what is considered to be a cOlnmunity changes from one context to anothe·.·.
• A separate workshop for cOlnn1unity representatives, over and above the first workshop, would also be beneficial where cOlnmunity concell1S that emerge from the first workshop can beac~:~owledgedand debatcd openly.
• It would be very helpful to havc the students involved in the process right from the start. The way the project ran this tilDe meant that the students had no idea of how the partnerships had come about.
• It would be helpful to have another training workshop half way through thc year where other partnerships are able to share their experiences, difficulties and accomplishn1ents with each other
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• A conference at the CJl~'vi'each pilot phase would be extrernc1y b,~neficial where all partnerships are able to present papers on their experiences and findings
• We felt that we provided a lot of feedback to the researchers and CHESP leadership but received vcry little feedback fonn them.
• We believe that a service-learning IDodule like the one that has just been completed is in fact a luxury nlodu~e. It is not a true reflection of the WJy i;1 which course like this would be run without the financial and capacity buiiding support. OUTconcenl is around sustainability!
• Wc would like to recumbent that in thc future the case-study be completed overa two or thrce day workshop where all palinerships can work in collaboration and should
;ncJude studentvo'ices.
9. Resources and Information
Useful information resources and COlnIlnents:
• The academic partncr found that there was very little relevant reading lnaterial around service learning. The most useful information resource was the Introduction to Service Learning Toolkit, provided by Campus Compact.
• What appears to be rnissing is contcxtualised service-learning nlaterial., that IS
matcrial developed in thP ~()uthAfrican context
• In addition there was very little infomlation that was 'critical' of the notion of service-leanling, it is inlportant to get students to think criticl11y about service- learning and not sell it to them as an unproblematic initiative. Service-learning can go seriously wrong if students are not encouraged to think critically about their motivations and intentions. The acadenlic had to borrow literature from the discipline of developlTIent to provide readings to the students that would engage them in crit;..:-,J thinking (please see a copy orthe course reader attached).
lnfornlation dissemination:
• A newspaper article appeared in the Sunday Tribune on the Stiglna \Vorkshop
• A video presentation \V:1S made at an lIlY/AIDS conference in Zambia. The video outlined thc course and its objectives, pron10ting service-learning as an ideal course in which HIV/AIDS can be integrated.
• A newspaper attic1e is expected to be published in The Witnesi in the near future which will cover the service-learning conference
• A papcr was presented at thc Annual lIIV/AIDS Conference Oft Pietermaritzburg Canlpus, this paper outlined the coursc, promoting set \~~,-,-:can1ing as an ideal course in which HlV/AIDS can be integrated.
• NU Partners (a Natal University publication for external audiences) will be publishing an article on the HIV AN and Service Learning Partnership in the near fut.ure
• NU lofo (an intcrnal Natal University publication) will be VJbLshing an article on the students Red Ribbon Drive and Service-Learning Conference
• The partnership plall~ L\.) publish a paper on their reflections early In 2002 111 a relevant journal.
• Onc of the students conference presentations IS currently beicg worked on for submission for publication in the AIDS Bulletin magazine.
(Please note that copies of these articles will be forwarded once they have been published)
10. CostImplications (Please see Appendix)
11. Completion of this H..eport
Although thc acadcInic pJrtnership took primary rcsponsibility for the completion of this report the service partner was actively involved in the process by reading drafts and nlaking valuable c01nnlcnts, additions and suggestions. The community partners valuable ideas and concerns, that clnerged in the f01111 of discussion, \vere integrated into the report throughout the process.
APPI~NDIXV