This book provides a comprehensive conceptual framework, case studies, workshop processes and designs for academic development programs supported by two key concepts: Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR)—a conceptual integration of action learning and participatory action research—and action leadership.

Participatory Action Learning and Action Research offers a concise yet comprehensive explanation of the theory, practice and process of this emerging paradigm, methodology and theory of learning. PALAR is a transformative, collaborative and democratic process for resolving complex problems within the context of sustainable professional, organisational and community development. The book draws on real-life examples from socially and economically challenged contexts, and features critical reflections on the strengths and challenges of this evolving methodology in relation to the increased interest in community engagement and project-based learning among institutions of higher education. Analysing theory in the context of sustainable professional, organisational and community development, this book: Provides a comprehensive, research-based manual on the use of PALAR within actual research projects. Explains a means of engaging in research that promotes the mobilisation of human potential relevant in a rapidly changing society. Addresses the challenges of doing participatory research within institutions. Provides applied, specific examples of how PALAR can be adapted for use in socially and economically challenged contexts, typical of developing economies. Offers critical reflections by researchers and community participants on the challenges and uses of PALAR. Innovative, and offering clarity on ethics and research questions, Participatory Action Learning and Action Research will be of interest to both emerging and experienced researchers looking to bring about change at a personal, professional, organisational or community level.

This book provides empirical evidence on how universities have considered social responsibilities as their prime focus, and engaged with civil society to enhance their values. Case studies from Indonesia to the United Kingdom enrich the book through experience, interventions and narratives.

In order to understand the relationship between social innovation and the reimagining of the knowledge economy necessary to reorient higher education most fully towards the public good, we must draw from the experiences of those working on the front lines of change. This collection represents diverse voices and disciplines, drawing together the critical reflections of academics, students and community partners from across South Africa. The book seeks to bring together theoretical and practical lessons about how research methods can be used in socially innovative ways to challenge the ‘apartheids’ of knowledge in higher education and to promote the democratization of the knowledge economy.

Action Learning and Action Research deepens understanding and contributes to new knowledge about the theory, practice and processes of Action Learning (AL) and Action Research. It clarifies what constitutes AL/AR in its many forms and what it is not.

This book applies and expands upon the concept of the ‘learning conference’ as a site of learning and development, using the paradigm and methodologies of participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). Making a significant contribution to the field, this is the first book to outline the characteristics and development of a learning conference culture in theory and practice. It demonstrates how application of the learning conference concept can maximise learning opportunities and successful research outcomes to bring about sustainable professional, organizational and community development. An international team of contributors offer their diverse perspectives on conferences and the practical and theoretical work conducted at these events. They contextualize these reflections in the light of global developments in this increasingly troubled twenty-first century marked by greater complexity through technology, globalization, neo-liberalism, climate change and other sources of practical and ideological change, all of which enhance the conceptual and practical utility of the learning conference.

"This work provides a comprehensive analysis of contemporary leadership scholarship that examines how leadership is conceptualized within higher education"--

This book establishes community engagement and service-learning as pathways to advancing human development and common good. Using the human development and capability approach as normative frameworks, with South Africa as a frame of reference, the author investigates the theoretical contributions and ultimate benefits of university-community partnerships. In doing so, this book demonstrates that three interrelated capabilities – affiliation, common good professionals and local citizenship – are developed through community engagement and service-learning. Subsequently, the notion of transformative change through community engagement and service-learning is illuminated, particularly when operating within the context of power differentials, inequality and extreme poverty. This book will be of interest and value to students and scholars of service-learning, and its implications for partnerships between universities and external communities.

This book advocates for community-based research with vulnerable populations within the field of higher education. The chapters outline how research can democratize knowledge generation to make it more accessible and socially relevant, and emphasizes the value of the lived and experiential knowledge of vulnerable and marginalized populations. Rooted in a critique of the current practices of higher education that fail to support participatory and transformative research, the research is structured at micro, macro and meso levels to ultimately emancipate colonized thinking of stakeholders about power, privilege and participation. Focusing primarily on various contexts within the Global South, the contributors argue that the time is ripe for community-based research which combines the theoretical knowledge of the academy with the local, experiential knowledge of those experiencing the consequences of social inequality to co-construct knowledge for change.

The concern that the democratic purposes of higher education -- and its conception as a public good -- are being undermined, with the growing realization that existing structures are unsuited to addressing today's complex societal problems, and that our institutions are failing an increasingly diverse population, all give rise to questioning the current model of the university. This book presents the voices of a new generation of scholars, educators, and practitioners who are committed to civic renewal and the public purposes of higher education. They question existing policies, structures, and practices, and put forward new forms of engagement that can help to shape and transform higher education to align it with societal needs.The scholars featured in this book make the case for public scholarship and argue that, in order to strengthen the democratic purposes of higher education for a viable future that is relevant to the needs of a changing society, we must recognize and support new models of teaching and research, and the need for fundamental changes in the core practices, policies, and cultures of the academy. These scholars act on their values through collaboration, inclusiveness, participation, task sharing, and reciprocity in public problem solving. Central to their approach is an authentic respect for the expertise and experience that all stakeholders contribute to education, knowledge generation, and community building. This book offers a vision of the university as a part of an ecosystem of knowledge production, addressing public problems with the purpose of advancing a more inclusive, deliberative democracy; and explores the new paradigm for teaching, learning, and knowledge creation necessary to make it a reality.