Output details

Towards an ethical ecology of international service learning

This paper presents a theoretical discussion that lays the foundations for an original conceptualisation of International Service-Learning (ISL) that ensures its ethical integrity. This is achieved through the creative integration of philosophy, educational philosophy, the role of higher education and addresses a gap in the literature. This paper is conceptually driven and empirically grounded. It addresses a number of putative problems associated with ISL such as the proclivity to exploit through propagating a form of new colonialism that demands further interrogation if educators are to avoid exacerbating the social inequities they seek to address. The paper presents data generated from a total of 29 students who undertook periods of ISL. The dates of this experience vary from 1993 until 2010, and three different data collection methods were employed. Based upon this research, the researcher was awarded the 2013 International Education Faculty Achievement Award by the International Association of University Presidents for ‘outstanding leadership in research to prepare global citizens in schools and Universities’. The original definition of International Service-Learning presented in this paper led to an invitation to present this research at the annual International Association of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement in the USA. This paper has contributed to a newly emerged debate about the ethical integrity and aesthetic dimensions of such pedagogical approaches. The researcher has subsequently been asked to edit a special edition of the International Journal and Development Education and Global Learning on International Service-Learning.