The Irish Carnegie Community Engagement Classification Pilot: A critical analysis on culture and context from a community of practice approach

Abstract

This article provides a reflective critique of the process undertaken to pilot the Carnegie Community Engagement Framework in Ireland between 2015 and 2016. Of particular interest to the authors is the cultural specificity of employing a US-centric self-assessment data capturing tool in a heterogeneous Irish context. Taking the reader through from conception of the idea to its execution and post-pilot reflections, we examine the cultural appropriateness and translatability of the tool to Irish higher education. To frame the discussion of the process, we employ the concept of a community of practice, as defined by Wenger (1998). This was adopted to promote a culture of collaboration in an ever-growing neoliberal system that promotes competition between institutions, rather than facilitating their co-construction of knowledge. In the analysis, we demonstrate how forming this community of practice allowed for a cohesive assessment of the challenges and opportunities that arose through the pilot process. This was particularly important since each participating institution had different motivations for engaging with the pilot. Reflecting with some distance, we consider the value that comes from operating as a community of practice, as well as some shortcomings that we identified as specific to this pilot.