service-learning

Service-learning has spread significant­ly in higher education in recent decades. Its effects in the academic field (students and teachers) and in the community (disadvan­taged groups at risk of social exclusion and socio-educational partners) are backed by re­search. However, few works have considered the evaluation of these projects, and there are few instruments available for guiding their de­velopment and for assessing their quality. The aim of this study is to develop criteria to eval­uate university service-learning projects. To do so, we used the Delphi method with three rounds of expert consultation. The result is a university service-learning, indicator matrix with 9 dimensions and 43 indicators. We con­clude that, as well as evaluating the quality of service-learning projects, this instrument could also be valid for validating social inno­vation from the educational sphere. The prin­cipal limitations to overcome are the still-ex­isting welfare perspective and difficulties with involving the recipients of the service.

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A culture of training teaching staff in specific¡ teaching skills is spreading throughout higher education in Europe and other regions. In recent years, service-learning has been one of the active methodologies that has attracted the most attention in educational literature and in training practices. This piece uses an ex post facto cross-sectional study to quantify and describe service learning training provision in Spanish universities, using an information recording sheet to gather evidence from institutional websites and an unstructured questionnaire as a complementary data source. Our results support the claim that teaching training activities are growing and that there are some advances in the consolidation of this trend. However, significant limitations were identified, such as a lack of a practice-based orientation in teacher training and the lack of a coordinated plan to facilitate learning ecologies, something that is hindering the reflective, cooperative, and transformative impact that is attributed to the service learning method. Based on this diagnosis, we suggest that training activities be incorporated into multi-year plans, and note that sociocritical and practical orientations would work better together, and that collaborative work between universities and community services should be strengthened.

 

 

Cite this article as: Álvarez Castillo, J. L., Martínez Usarralde, M. J., González González, H., & Buenestado Fernández, M. (2017). El aprendizaje-servicio en la formación del profesorado de las universidades españolas | Service-learning in teacher training in Spanish universities.  Revista Española de Pedagogía, 75 (267), 199-217. doi: https://doi.org/10.22550/REP75-2-2017-02