Democratic Engagement as Socially Just Leadership Education

Download or read book Democratic Engagement as Socially Just Leadership Education written by Julie Beth Leblanc and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic engagement and socially just leadership education are emergent approaches to community engagement and leadership education. Three critical and timely tensions set the stage for this study: tensions between higher education's exclusionary roots and public purpose; tensions between leadership education's neoliberal foundations and social justice values; and tensions between community engagement's oppressive foundations and democratic principles. The study used case study approach to explore how the principles of democratic engagement and socially just leadership education are operationalized through community engagement initiatives. Data collection involved the review of 26 documents and interviews with 13 participants, including community partners, faculty, administrators, and students. Findings from this study revealed accreditation, professional competencies, and the curriculum; the international alternative spring break program; and case-based learning allow for democratic engagement's enactment. Democratic engagement's enactment is restricted by a lack of centralized structure, disconnects with and within partnering community organizations, and a lack of horizontal integration in the curriculum. Conditions allowing socially just leadership education to be enacted include accreditation and professional competencies, the diversity and social justice course requirement, and the diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic plan. Socially just leadership education was restricted by a mismatch in leadership and social justice terminology and internal college dynamics. The study's major themes have broad implications for higher education's community engagement movement in a multitude of ways, including findings which illustrate universal definitions of community engagement do not exist, democratic engagement and socially just leadership education are mostly synonymous, minimal institutionalized support structures exist for leadership education, and community partners are co-educators in social work education. This study proposes a model for situating democratic engagement as the operationalization of socially just leadership education in the social work profession. Implications for community partners, faculty, and administrators include considerations that social work educators are socially just leadership educators, significant power dynamics are at play in community-university partnerships, community engagement is diversity, equity, and inclusion work, and the transdisciplinary of community engagement should not be underestimated. Keywords: democratic engagement, socially just leadership education, social work education, higher education