“The farmer, the guide, and the bridge”: the voice of community partners within European Service-Learning

Abstract

ABSTRACTService-learning (SL) represents one of the actions for community engagement institutionalisation and a way to achieve the teaching and learning objectives of the university and answer local organisations’ needs identified by the community. Studies on the benefits and impacts of service-learning experiences among community partners (rather than students) are rare, especially in higher education and European settings. This study therefore drew on semi-structured interviews with community partners in higher education in three European countries – Italy, Spain, and Slovakia to explore their motivations to join, experiences of, and perspectives on service-learning effects (including organisational empowerment, reciprocity, and civic responsibility).This paper contributes to developing understandings of specific aspects of community partners’ service-learning experiences by exploring the role of reciprocity, how it is oriented and how it relates to the perceived impact of service-learning on community partners’ organisations, their motivations to join SL, and the organisational empowerment that SL can underpin. Consideration is also given to the space allowed to promote a sense of civic responsibility within the experience. Five research questions were posited:1: How do community partners perceive reciprocity? Does this perception change over time?2: What are the perceived SL effects for community partners?3: What are the community partners’ motivations for joining SL?4: What are the effects of SL on community partners’ organisational empowerment?5: To what extent do community partners perceive that SL can promote civic responsibility among university students?KEYWORDS: Service-Learningreciprocitycommunity organizationsempowermentcivic responsibility AcknowledgementThe authors would like to thank the former EOSLHE coordinator, Marta Alonso, Dr. Alvaro Ribeiro, and Dr. Anna Sujova, for conducting some of the interviews analyzed in this paper. They also thank the study participants who shared their experiences and insights on service-learning.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors