Partnerships in Education - Literature review Example

Partnerships in Education Name Institution Partnerships in Education Introduction/Problem Statement Development of strategic partnerships is currently at the forefront of the place-based education efforts. Strategic partnerships are projects, which focus on sharing, developing, and transferring innovative practices among the participating nations. Strategic partnerships are essential in fostering cooperation between organizations in diverse nations engaged in youth work, as well as non-formal learning for young people. The action of working together is valuable in enables involved entities to develop and implement new approaches to youth work while encouraging cooperation over longer periods. Young people have the tendency to benefit from the projects through learning about social entrepreneurship, as well as the taking of more active roles in their local economy and society. In the recent years, there has been an increase in the incidents of partnerships between diverse communities and higher educational institutions. In such instances, the strategy is critical for understanding the approach in which social change is gaining recognition and momentum. In spite of the best of intentions in their formation, realization or accomplishment of authentic partnerships is challenging. Academic partners have been able to document their experiences, as well as lessons from the partnerships with the communities. Nevertheless, the voices of community partners are largely missing. The development of this literature review will focus on bridging this gap in the course of understanding effectiveness and efficiency of the community-higher education partnerships in the 21st century. Perspectives of Partnerships in Education Previous researchers have focused on the integration of diverse perspectives in the course of understanding partnerships. One of the emerging perspectives in the understanding such partnerships in education is the integration of the community perspective. For instance, Leiderman, Furco, Zapf, & Goss (2002) sought to adopt and integrate community perspectives in the course of understanding the relationship between the college campuses and the communities. The article is an illustration of three critical issues, which partnerships (community and higher education) should address in the course of achieving authentic partnerships. In the first instance, there is a need to address the importance of the follow-through for building and realization of partnerships. Secondly, it valuable to illustrate the influence of community collaboration while weighing the costs and benefits of the partnerships with the higher education. Thirdly, community perspectives aim at exploring and examining the implications of the parity on the community members’ and attitudes towards realization of authentic partnerships in the learning institutions. In the same line of argument, Afshar (2005) focused on the utilization of the community perspectives in the course of understanding the roles and influence of partnerships for the achievement of economic development. According to this research article, there has been a substantial increase in the formal collaborations between the communities and educational institutions with the intention of promoting the economic development in the past two decades. Most of the researchers have focused on the evaluation of the experiences of institutions of higher learning rather than the community experiences, thus, the need to engage in the evaluation of the community perspectives to achieve effective bridging of the gap. The research article illustrates diverse case studies demonstrating the learned lessons by the participating communities in the partnerships with the learning institutions to promote economic development. Similarly, Sandy & Holland (2006) focused on the utilization of the community perspectives in the evaluation of the campus-community partnerships, thus, the concept of exploring diverse worlds and common ground. In the course of addressing the research, the qualitative study sought to incorporate focus group of 99 experienced community practitioners across eight communities in California. The approach was essential in the course of capturing the community perceptions in the midst of the community-based research techniques. The practitioners focused on commenting on their perspectives relating motivations and benefits to the academic institution, organization, and student learning, as well as areas for improvement of the partnerships. From this perspective, it is essential to note that characteristics of the effective partnerships of multiple well-established models of effective partnerships are essential in the course of improving the performance of the learning institutions. Nonetheless, the community practitioners tend to have a diverse element of prioritization among the partnership factors. Partnerships in education tend to demonstrate a commitment to the student learning. Additionally, this research article provides an effective understanding of the challenges while offering recommendations in the achievement of success of the partnerships through bridging their worlds and improving aspects of learning, sustainability, and reciprocity. Partnerships in education have also focused on using perspectives of the institutions and communities in an attempt to narrow the gap between the educational practitioners and community entities. According to Ansari, Philips, & Zwi (2002), there continues to be interested in the community involvement in health through community partnerships. Integration of community partnerships proves to be complex and challenging for the stakeholders in the change process. The research article plays a critical role in the course of understanding the domains of expertise in partnerships concerning educational competencies, community involvement expertise, change agents proficiencies, partnership fostering skills, and strategic and management capacities. Alternatively, Creighton (2008) focused on the utilization of the community partner perspective in the course of examining and evaluating the critical results in the campus-community engagement. This is through increased focus on the examination of the community partner indicators such as the importance of the service-learning, relevance of research, and equality in the treatment of the relevant practitioners in pursuit of competitiveness in the educational sector. Reciprocity of Partnerships in Education Various researchers have focused on the utilization of diverse perspectives in the exploration of the reciprocity in the community-learning institutions relationships. For instance, Kecskes (2006) focused on the utilization of the cultural theory approach in the evaluation of the rhetoric behind the community-campus partnerships, thus, a platform for the examination of the negative and positive implications. Cultural theory approach is valuable in incorporating hierarchical, fatalistic, individualistic, and egalitarian in the context of community-campus partnerships (Holton, Howard, & Jettner, 2013). The research is critical in enabling service learning and partnership building practitioners to recognize the preconceptions influencing diverse approaches. According to Cowan, Torrie, Hausafus, & Swanson (2004), engagement in the family and consumer sciences tends to lead to action aiming at improving the human condition. Collaboration and Reciprocity in Education (CARE) is essential in the provision of the platform for instruction, research, and academic and community agencies in the establishment of the local and international partnerships to improve the condition of students, families, and communities. Effective partnerships associate with mutual characteristics of interaction, commitment, and reciprocity. These effective partnerships aim at improving the welfare of others in the formal and informal educational settings. These partnerships are essential in generating advances in the cognitive, reflective, and affective learning. It is essential to note that every perspective tends to count in the course of understanding the true implication of reciprocity in partnerships. Certain researchers have focused on the evaluation of the observations and patterns emerging from the national-scale research. One of the critical patterns is the motivation, which affects the students and educational departments, as well as the communities’ involvement in the service learning. In the course of understanding reciprocity, Wiewel & Lieber (1998) focused on the exploration of the challenges of university-community strategic patterns while considering goal achievement, building of the relationship, and instrumentalism. In the development of their research, these researchers focused on the utilization of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Neighbourhoods Initiative as the case study. The case study focused on exploration of the concept of how planning occurs in the context of shared power, as well as the relationship between the participants’ goals and the actual achievement. The research article is also valuable in the course of understanding the role of the planners in the course of linking knowledge to action. In the course of pursuing effective collaborative planning, there is need for the planners to emphasise on the communicative and political skills in the achievement of the goals and targets of the students. Role of Learning Institutions (Higher Education) in Partnerships Researchers have also focused on the exploration and examination of the role and influence of the higher education in the strategic partnerships in the 21st century. According to Benson, Harkavy, & Puckett (2000), academic-practitioner divide proves to be an outcome of the platonic false dualism between the superior pure theory and the inferior applicable practices. From this perspective, there is need to focus on the construction of the local neighbouring communities to facilitating academic-practitioner collaboration and fulfilment of the national democratic promise. Such approaches are essential in the course of improving scholarship and communities and forging democratic, as well as mutually beneficial and respectful university-school-community partnerships. In the same line of argument, Williams (2000) focused on the exploration of the role of service in the process of improving both community and campus. The strategic partnerships have enormous influence in encouraging higher educational centres to create environments with the objective of fostering service to the larger community. Moreover, learning institutions have the obligation to facilitate the development of citizenship through integrating of commitment to sending the work-study students into the community. These attributes are essential in the course of enhancing the growing demand for the strategic partnerships in the learning institutions. Additionally, Peters, Jordan, Adamek, & Alter (2005) focused on the examination of the need to engage communities by the learning institutions. In this context, it is vital to note that scholars are active entities aiming at contributing participants in the economic, social, and cultural, as well as political spheres of their communities. Categorically, the image of the scholars as engaged citizens depict ideal elements in the higher educational institutions as evident in the 21st century. The researchers believe that the prospect of an engaged academy continues to surface as a critical theme in the educational literature, thus, holding the promise to the larger tasks of renewing democracy. On the other hand, Buys & Bursnall (2007) sought to explore the processes and benefits in the establishment university-community partnerships in the contemporary society. In their article, researchers have focused on the evaluation of the experience of seven academics, which did establish community partnerships effectively. This is vital in understanding the processes and role of the higher education in the establishment of the strategic partnerships under the influence of the Sargent and Waters’ framework of academic collaboration. The findings of the study tend to indicate that such strategic partnerships are valuable in improving benefits in research, teaching, and recognition of the community roles and influences. The model is also valuable in the creation and description of the collaborative processes in the determination of effective and efficiency university-community partnerships (Stewart & Alrutz, 2012). Conceptualization of Strategic Partnerships in Education In the course of understanding the strategic partnerships, it is valuable to define the concept of a partner. Partner tends to refer to individuals or groups who care about an issue or project while associating with others actively in pursuit of the goal and objective. In addition, partners tend to have shared responsibilities, thus, the obligation to work towards the achievement of the collective and common goal or target (Lerner & Simon 2014). There are diverse types of strategic partnerships in the course of illustrating partnerships between academic entities and communities. Some of the common types of such partnerships include single event, project-specific, long-term sustained partnerships. Scholarship incorporates embedded in all the types of partnerships. One of the examples of single-event partnerships is teaching. In this context, students might volunteer at an event in the course of fulfilling a class assignment, thus, encouraging communal growth development (Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2014). On the other hand, project-specific partnerships relates to actions such as an approach by the institutions to utilize engineering students to execute capstone project while working closely with the community practitioners and partners. In the third context, researchers have focused on the exploration of the long-term partnerships in the educational sectors. In this context, there are projects such as the Grand learning network for teaching teachers in duration of six + years. Strategies towards Overcoming Challenges in Strategic Partnerships In the course of pursuing strategic partnerships in education, researchers have focused on the exploration of the mechanisms to overcome the challenges or obstacles. From this perspective, it is valuable to explore strategies towards overcoming such issues. In the first instance, researchers have focused on the adoption and integration of the asset-based solutions as the most effective approaches in pursuit of quality strategic partnerships in the educational sector (Bringle & Hatcher, 2002). In this context, the strategy is vital in facilitating the building and development of the strengths of the communities and learning institutions in pursuit of one goal or common target. Secondly, researchers and practitioners have focused on the exploration of the need to build community capacity (McCall et al., 2014). In such instances, there is need for the educational practitioners to facilitate the building of capacities with the relevant families, businesses, and communities in the course of addressing the challenges. The approach is also critical in the building of opportunities to overcome the existing or emerging challenges in the contemporary society. Thirdly, researchers have focused on exploration of the need to strive for the mutual benefit to overcome the potential challenges in the development and utilization of partnerships in educational sector. From this perspective, there is need to ensure that both community and university practitioners and partners derive benefits in equal measure. This provides the platform for the achievement of mutual benefit in pursuit of one goal or collective target in the strategic partnerships. Furthermore, there is need to focus on becoming embedded in the communities for the learning institutions to execute their roles and expectations in the modern context. From this perspective, working in long-standing partnerships enables the learning institutions embedded in the communities, thus, the platform for the assessment and identification of the needs of families, business entities, neighbourhoods, and communal organizations. These approaches are critical in the development of the platform for the construction of the collaborative networks. Building of the networks among communities and organization might lead to the regional collaborations and innovations, which are sustainable in accordance with the needs and expectations of the learning institutions and communities in the contemporary society. Mechanisms of Realizing University-Community Partnerships In other instances, researchers have focused on the exploration of mechanisms to building university-community strategic partnerships in the course of improving the value and influence of education in the 21st century. From this illustration, there are diverse mechanisms both internal and external in the building of such partnerships. From the internal perspective, researchers have focused on the investigation of mechanisms such as the tendency to bring faculty, staff, and students together in the networks or research exchanges. In such instances, staff and students or faculty have the platform to utilize the networks, which aim at informing, supporting, and linking the valuable parties in the modern context. These networks link the faculty and staff with the community engagement opportunities, thus, the opportunity to inform, support, and assist such entities in pursuit of their goals and targets. Furthermore, there is need for the institutions to engage in the promotion of the collaborative/multidisciplinary partnerships with the community groups as a mechanism towards building university-community partnerships. Such collaborative techniques and partnerships are valuable in developing or pursuing and striving for the achievement of mutual benefit among the target audiences. Thirdly, researchers and practitioners believe on the need to offer a link with faculty members at the unit level in the course of informing them of the availability of the resources and assistance. The approach proves to be effective in the process of helping the members to connect effectively and efficiently with the community partners while facilitating quick responses to the funding opportunities (Strier, 2014). Categorically, these internal dimensions are valuable in maximization of the benefits of the strategic partnerships in the educational sphere. These strategies are crucial in facilitating quick responses towards realization of the funding opportunities. Alternatively, researchers and practitioners have focused on the exploration of the external techniques in the course of developing and building of the strategic partnerships in the modern context. For instance, there is need for the policymakers and educational practitioners to consider linking community requests for research and evidence-based practices, as well as models to appropriate faculty (Bowen & Martens, 2006). Secondly, external techniques might integrate developing, supporting, and nurturing the system-level community connections with the intention of facilitating partnerships. These techniques are valuable in the examination and evaluation of the community experience with engagement efforts while using the information to inform practice. Communities and learning institutions have the ability and potentiality to participate in the multidisciplinary campus-community partnerships in the modern context (Martin, Smith, & Phillips, 2005). From this perspective, the partners have the ability and potentiality to engage in the maximization of the goals and targets through promotion of the development, as well as exploitation of the strength-and-evidence-based models and intentions. These approaches are valuable in facilitating or enabling improvement of the capacity of those working in the issues concerning individuals, families, and faculties in pursuit of competitiveness of the outcome. Characteristics of Successful Strategic Partnerships in Education Successful strategic partnerships in education tend to have diverse benefits and characteristics. For example, successful partnerships provide the platform for the partners to share a common vision, thus, increased efficiency in pursuit of the collective goals and targets. Secondly, successful partnerships are essential in demonstrating flexibility and agility in spite of the focus on the common vision in the 21st century (Cooper, Kotval-K, Kotval, & Mullin, 2014). Moreover, successful partnerships facilitate the achievement of mutual benefits regarding the communities and the learning institutions in the contemporary society. Realization of successful partnerships must relate to the clear and careful communication and listening effectively and efficiently. Similarly, researchers believe that partners share power and responsibility in successful partnerships, thus, the ability and potentiality for the practitioners to work and operate effectively and efficiently in pursuit of collective goal and target (LeGates & Robinson, 1998). Successful partnerships in education are vital in enabling partners to enhance their capacity in pursuit of self-sufficiency. From this perspective, the achievement of success must relate to the existence of mutual trust and respect among the partners while working towards realization of the shared vision and responsibilities in the 21st century. Successful partnerships in education are valuable in enabling the partners to share agreement regarding goals and strategies for the benefits of the students and community members (Cox, 2000). Successful partnerships are valuable in the course of enhancing the member’s scholarly career, thus, the opportunity for the achievement of the goals and targets at the end of each educational year. Additionally, researchers have focused on the exploration of the benefits of the strategic partnerships in education. One of the benefits of such arrangements is the expansion of the influence and implications of the education vision among the students and communities (Rubin, 2000). Secondly, students and communities have the platform to realize and achieve mutual benefits for the accomplishment of social, economic, environmental, and political growth and development in the society. Eventually, students have the ability to give back to the society. On the other hand, the communities have the opportunity to engage in pursuit of the goals and targets of the learning institutions, thus, the platform for the realization of the collective vision and targets (Soska & Butterfield, 2013). Conclusively, strategic partnerships are essential in fostering cooperation between organizations in diverse nations engaged in youth work, as well as non-formal learning for young people. Strategic partnerships are valuable in the course of improving the image and influence of the learning institutions in the overall growth and development of the institutions. Previous researchers have focused on the exploration of diverse aspects regarding the development and execution of the partnerships in education. For instance, researchers have focused on the evaluation of the community perspectives regarding such partnerships to bridge the gap concerning numerous academic perceptions in the strategic partnerships in the contemporary context. References Afshar, A. (2005). Community-campus partnerships for economic development: Community perspectives. Public and Community Affairs Discussion Papers 05-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Benson, L., Harkavy, I., & Puckett, J. (2000). 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