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ERIC Number: EJ1454530
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1468-1366
EISSN: EISSN-1747-5104
"The Farmer, the Guide, and the Bridge": The Voice of Community Partners within European Service-Learning
Service-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 semistructured 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?; and (5) To what extent do community partners perceive that SL can promote civic responsibility among university students?
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Italy; Spain; Slovakia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A