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What Does Field-Building Mean for Service-Learning Advocates?Melinda Fine, Ed. D.

Prepared for the Academy for Educational Development, October 2001

In 1998, as part of the work undertaken by the Academy for Educational Development for theW. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Learning In Deed initiative, I conducted an inquiry into “field-building,” a change strategy often cited by the leaders of nonprofit agencies. I interviewed avariety of experts to learn more about what the term means and how it is pursued by public andprivate organizations. Drawn from an earlier synthesis of my findings, this brief discussion offield-building can help service-learning advocates choose an effective array of strategies forexpanding high-quality K-12 service-learning.

What is a Field?A field is an area of specialized practice encompassing specific activities carried out by trainedpractitioners in particular settings. Typically a field’s practitioners require preparation inresearch- and craft-based knowledge, share a common language (including jargon), and have accessto ongoing opportunities for professional education. They also acknowledge standards forpractice, use vehicles for communication and information exchange, and enjoy credibility in theeyes of critical constituencies. These common factors are often called the “elements” of a field.For new fields of practice, advocates often aim to build the field by pursuing strategies toimprove these “field elements” and thus strengthen, scale up, and sustain standard practice.

Eleven essential elements of a field include:

• Identity. A field is based on a distinct and recognized practice that can be clearly described.

• Knowledge base. A field has credible evidence, derived from research and practice, of results, as well as of thebest ways for practitioners to obtain these results.

• Workforce and leadership. A field has trained practitioners, researchers, and practitioner educators; thestructures and institutions for training, credentialing, supporting, and retaining this workforce; incentives andorganizations for leaders and leadership development; and ways of attracting a workforce reflecting those servedthrough the practice.

• Standard practice. A field has descriptions of standard practice that meet an acceptable level of quality. Acommon language is used to describe practice. Interventions meriting best-practice status demonstrate a capacityto achieve desired outcomes in culturally and developmentally responsive ways.

• Practice settings. A field needs places that are appropriate and equipped for practice.

• Information exchange. A field has vehicles for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information andknowledge, such as newsletters, conferences, journals, websites, and graduate curricula.

• Infrastructure for collaboration. A field has structures and institutions that facilitate collaboration among itsmembers and critical allies, including professional organizations, special convenings, networks, andconferences.

• Resources. A field has adequate financial and other resources to ensure standard practice.

• Critical mass of support. A field has the support of key constituencies––organizations and individuals criticalto sustaining it––including practitioners, researchers, administrators, policymakers, clients or customers,influential leaders, and so on.

• Advocates and systemic support. A field has adherents who work to foster the support of criticalconstituencies, garnering good will, securing various forms of support, and ensuring an appropriate policycontext at all levels of government and within pertinent institutions.

• Systemic support. A field also has systemic support, including appropriate public policy and incentives thatencourage practitioners to learn and use standard practice.

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Is K-12 Service-Learning a Field?Some people question whether K-12 service-learning is a field. Indeed, service-learning can beconsidered a subspecialty within other areas of expertise, including experiential education andyouth services. However, since K-12 service-learning is emerging as a distinct educationalpractice, a field-building framework can help advocates organize an effective array of strategiesfor increasing use of best-practice service-learning.

How Does Field-Building Happen?The following table offers some examples of specific strategies used for field-building.

FieldElements

Strategies

KnowledgeBase

Conduct relevant research studies.Establish communities of researchers.Create forums for debating research methodologies and sharing findings.Support ways of collecting and sharing craft-knowledge.Develop mechanisms for information exchange among researchers andpractitioners.

StandardPractice

Codify standards of exemplary practice.Showcase exemplary models to guide practitioners and inform others.Develop and disseminate curricular guides, how-to materials, and other resources.Ensure adequate training and ongoing education for practitioners.Encourage shared language.Nurture practitioner leadership.

WorkforceandLeadership

Provide educational opportunities and technical assistance.Establish support networks among practitioners, researchers, or advocates.Support grassroots peer-support efforts.Create structures to encourage and reward leadership.

Infrastructureforcollaboration

Create networks, professional organizations, conferences, think tanks, web-sites,andclearinghouses.Provide incentives for joining and contributing to field-focused organizationsand events.

Resources Identify public, philanthropic, and corporate sources of support.Deepen the knowledge base of potential and current funders.

Such strategies are most powerful when undertaken in relation to one another: for example,“growing” a credible knowledge base is needed to strengthen standard practice, and buildingstakeholder support is crucial to creating a favorable policy climate. However, with service-learning, as in other fields, challenges inevitably arise when various approaches to field-buildingare pursued simultaneously. The classic dilemma is as follows: efforts to broaden practiceinadvertently constrain the ability of those within the field to maintain high standards. Obviouslyadvocates must pursue the right mix of field-building strategies.

The challenge facing the service-learning community is to use a field-building framework to assesswhat specific strategies are needed to strengthen various field elements, which strategies havepriority, how to leverage current efforts of relevant organization, and which organizations (orgroups of organizations) are best suited for leading new work.

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