The concept of Global Civil Society as an 'imagined global community' is raising questions that challenge perceptions of a border-free, footloose, global community. The era of 'hyper-individualism', accompanied by the virtualization of the public sphere, is offering support for collective action and processes in the face of rising economic and social anxieties, such as inequality, poverty, terrorism, xenophobia, nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction. Global Civil Society is now equipping itself to negotiate with resurrected boundaries, calls for decelerating the flow of people, identity clashes and throwbacks to tribal politics. Contestations in Global Civil Society examines the ways in which the global community is dealing with heightened destabilization, entering what has been dubbed an 'Age of Fracture', and takes a close look at contemporary shifts that accompany the resurrection of multiple normative civil society discourses such as political mobilization, polarization, responsibility, and participation. What are the contestations within global civil society? What is our current perception of global civil society? How is it coping with the huge changes that are happening all around us? What will global civil society look like in the future?

This insightful volume details the implementation and challenges of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), developed in the UK to ensure equal access to higher education for all social classes. It posits that a modern higher education institution requires a robust set of mechanisms - specifically mentorship, leadership, and research - to create high-quality teaching and learning. Noted contributors pose and answer key questions about the TEF in such areas as solution-focused teaching, mentoring for the job market, and social science curriculum development, using best practice examples in the field. These ideas and strategies carry great potential to improve the caliber of teaching and learning in universities, and with it, students' social mobility. Among the topics covered: * Why have mentoring in universities? Reflections and justifications. * Working with students as partners: developing peer mentoring to enhance the undergraduate student experience. * The employers' reach: mentoring undergraduate students to enhance employability. * Learn it and pass it on: strategies for educational succession. * Mentoring mentees to mentor. * Interdisciplinarity in higher education: the challenges of adaptability. Mentorship, Leadership, and Research will play a pivotal role in UK higher education since currently there is scant academic literature on practical tools to help universities to succeed at the TEF. A resource with international implications, it should interest sociologists of education and professionals in business strategy and leadership, social work, and community development. Michael Snowden is a Senior Lecturer in Mentoring Studies at the University of Huddersfield, UK. Jamie P. Halsall is a Reader in Social Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, UK. "Given the recent introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in the United Kingdom, this timely book outlines effective practices to help earn the "Gold" standard. While considering TEF within the current climate of academic competition and critical evaluation, a diverse group of experts lay out why mentoring is one highly effective answer to the TEF standards and without compromising productivity in other service and research agendas. This book is a must read for academics and higher learning administrators alike." Leda Nath, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin

This far-sighted volume describes emerging trends and challenges in university-level social sciences education in an era marked by globalization, austerity, and inequity. It spotlights solution-focused and interdisciplinary methods of teaching, developed to match influential academic ideas, such as self-directed learning and learning in communities, as students seek to engage with and improve conditions in their immediate environments. Chapters offer real-world applications of foundational concepts in the modern practice of teaching, learning, and curriculum development. Accordingly, the editors emphasize the relationship between pedagogy and curriculum, as both are critical in encouraging student autonomyand promoting optimum academic and societal outcomes. Included in the coverage: * Towards a concept of solution-focused teaching: learning in communities. * Heutagogy and the emerging curriculum. * Collaborative working in the statutory and voluntary sectors. * Delivering a community development curriculum to students with multiple identities. * Photography and teaching in community development. * A model for change: sharing ideas and strategies. The Pedagogy of the Social Sciences Curriculum will inspire sociologists, social workers, and health and sociology educators to take a deeper role in community well-being as students, faculty, and communities collaborate to make lasting contributions to society.

This far-sighted volume describes emerging trends and challenges in university-level social sciences education in an era marked by globalization, austerity, and inequity. It spotlights solution-focused and interdisciplinary methods of teaching, developed to match influential academic ideas, such as self-directed learning and learning in communities, as students seek to engage with and improve conditions in their immediate environments. Chapters offer real-world applications of foundational concepts in the modern practice of teaching, learning, and curriculum development. Accordingly, the editors emphasize the relationship between pedagogy and curriculum, as both are critical in encouraging student autonomyand promoting optimum academic and societal outcomes. Included in the coverage: * Towards a concept of solution-focused teaching: learning in communities. * Heutagogy and the emerging curriculum. * Collaborative working in the statutory and voluntary sectors. * Delivering a community development curriculum to students with multiple identities. * Photography and teaching in community development. * A model for change: sharing ideas and strategies. The Pedagogy of the Social Sciences Curriculum will inspire sociologists, social workers, and health and sociology educators to take a deeper role in community well-being as students, faculty, and communities collaborate to make lasting contributions to society.

This insightful volume details the implementation and challenges of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), developed in the UK to ensure equal access to higher education for all social classes. It posits that a modern higher education institution requires a robust set of mechanisms - specifically mentorship, leadership, and research - to create high-quality teaching and learning. Noted contributors pose and answer key questions about the TEF in such areas as solution-focused teaching, mentoring for the job market, and social science curriculum development, using best practice examples in the field. These ideas and strategies carry great potential to improve the caliber of teaching and learning in universities, and with it, students' social mobility. Among the topics covered: * Why have mentoring in universities? Reflections and justifications. * Working with students as partners: developing peer mentoring to enhance the undergraduate student experience. * The employers' reach: mentoring undergraduate students to enhance employability. * Learn it and pass it on: strategies for educational succession. * Mentoring mentees to mentor. * Interdisciplinarity in higher education: the challenges of adaptability. Mentorship, Leadership, and Research will play a pivotal role in UK higher education since currently there is scant academic literature on practical tools to help universities to succeed at the TEF. A resource with international implications, it should interest sociologists of education and professionals in business strategy and leadership, social work, and community development. Michael Snowden is a Senior Lecturer in Mentoring Studies at the University of Huddersfield, UK. Jamie P. Halsall is a Reader in Social Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, UK. "Given the recent introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in the United Kingdom, this timely book outlines effective practices to help earn the "Gold" standard. While considering TEF within the current climate of academic competition and critical evaluation, a diverse group of experts lay out why mentoring is one highly effective answer to the TEF standards and without compromising productivity in other service and research agendas. This book is a must read for academics and higher learning administrators alike." Leda Nath, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin