Service-Learning Curriculum

Service-learning has become a significant element of curriculum at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. It is distinguished from community service in that service-learning is credit bearing; it involves a reciprocity between those serving and those being served to satisfy an identified community need, either at home or abroad; and it is integrated into the curriculum content area. Service-learning is important to the field of curriculum studies because of its link between theory and practice, and the opportunity it affords to examine the cultural, political, and social underpinnings that influence the lived experiences of those served. A look at service-learning involves an examination of the potential it holds, as well as the obstacles sometimes encountered, for linking theory to practice; the role of collaboration between those serving and those served; ways to maximize the reciprocal nature of the process; and means by which to effectively integrate the service-learning experience into the content area being studied such that students develop a greater understanding of the significance of the role of civic engagement in the service-learning experience.

One of the main goals of service-learning is to provide learning opportunities for students outside the classroom in ways for which the classroom is not conducive. An example is students in a college teacher education course working with children in the community in some capacity. This might involve tutoring or coaching, for instance. The idea, in this example, is to allow students to engage in hands-on learning that both reflects and informs pedagogical concepts learned in the classroom. In some cases, this experience can affirm those concepts learned in the classroom, particularly when the site served, for example, subscribes to the same pedagogical philosophy and techniques learned in the classroom, or when students are allowed a significant degree of autonomy to work with the children in ways that they have been taught in the classroom. Conversely, there are situations in which students find themselves grappling with techniques and methods that do not align with those espoused in the classroom, sometimes techniques that are in direct opposition, in fact, to those taught in the classroom. Service-learning can involve one-on-one working with those served or working in cooperation with others to serve one or more individuals.

An integral component of service-learning is a collaborative effort by those serving and those served to identify and address the need(s) to be served through the service-learning process. This entails those serving being particularly sensitive to what the agencies/institutions request, and both parties entering into dialogue to determine if those needs can be addressed and met by those interested in serving. For example, although those serving might believe that the needs articulated by the respective agency/institution should be addressed in a particular way(s), it is not their place to impose their beliefs and practices on those served without the affirmation and input of the group(s) [Page 779]served. In this way the process is cooperative, with both parties working toward meeting the identified needs. Likewise, the agency/institution served should be fully involved in any assessment regarding the effectiveness of the service.

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