Mapping Service-Learning Practices to foster Competences for Democratic Culture
Timeline: 1/11/2025 – 31/10/2026
During the first phase of the SL4DC project, we aim to identify existing service-learning practices that contribute to competences for democratic culture in the European higher education context. Service-learning practices from different European countries that explicitly refer to learning outcomes as described in the EU Reference Framework on Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) will be selected.
We will analyse the collected experiences, interpreting the underlying mechanisms and linking them to the four dimensions of the EU RFCDC model: values, attitudes, skills and knowledge & critical understanding. This will provide empirical evidence on the impact and key elements for effective service-learning to foster democratic competences.
Outputs
1) State-of-the-art Report on Service-Learning to foster Competences for Democratic Culture
A report will be created identifying the key factors that contribute to the effectiveness of service-learning practices in fostering competences for democratic culture.
The report will contain:
- A state-of-the-art overview describing how service-learning fostering competences for democratic culture is implemented within consortium universities and their countries. It will identify key factors contributing to its effectiveness and will cover comparative insights across institutions, highlighting differences in approaches, challenges and successes.
- A research-based analysis identifying the structural and functional elements that make service-learning transformative for developing democratic competences. This includes: the organization of service-learning experiences, the nature of student participation, and the role of reflection in reinforcing learning and competence development.
- Practical guidelines for higher education teachers and policy recommendations for higher education administrators to enhance the design and implementation of service-learning initiatives that support democratic competences in European higher education.
2) Online Repository of Good Practices
An online repository showcasing a selection of real-life examples that demonstrate how service-learning can foster competences for democratic culture. The repository will contain detailed descriptions of successful service-learning experiences including goals and intended outcomes, used methodology, impact on students and communities, lessons learned and challenges encountered. The cases will serve as models for higher education institutions seeking to implement or improve service-learning initiatives and will encourage the wider adoption of service-learning as a teaching method to foster competences for democratic culture.
Activities
To develop the WP2 outputs, the consortium currently focusses on two main activities:
1) Case Study Collection & Analysis
Throughout the period of March-June, the SL4DC consortium collected examples from service-learning fostering competences for democratic culture. Consortium members interviewed teachers from higher education institutions all around Europe to map existing practices and to identify key indicators for service-learning fostering democratic competences.
Cases were collected through an open call, launched by the European Association of Service-Learning in Higher Education in multiple regional and national service-learning networks. This resulted in over 40+ responses from European HEI teachers. Together with the cases collected from the partner institutions in the SL4DC project, we collected a total of 68 cases showcasing diverse and contextualized examples of service-learning courses contributing to the development of competences for democratic culture. The case studies display a large variety across disciplines, institutions, geographical positioning and educational levels.
The case studies that we have collected will be analyzed to identify key aspects of service-learning fostering competences for democratic culture. We are also looking for inspirational pedagogical approaches, educational tools, and assessment and reflection methods that contribute to the development of democratic competences, both in students and community members. The results of this analysis will feed the 'State-of-the-art Report on Service-Learning to foster Competences for Democratic Culture'.
From the 68 collected cases, we will select 35 practice examples to showcase on the SL4DC Online Repository. These cases will be selected based on their quality, relevance and transferability. The 35 selected cases will serve as inspiration for higher education teachers seeking to implement or improve service-learning initiatives and will encourage the wider adoption of service-learning as a teaching method to foster competences for democratic culture in higher education.
2) Scoping Literature Review
To identify existing empirical research on the effectiveness of service-learning for the development of competences for democratic culture, the SL4DC consortium decided to conduct a Scoping Literature Review in Web of Science and Scopus to identify relevant empirical research published in academic, peer-reviewed journals. An initial search on key words resulted in over 2000(!) relevant articles. After careful review of these results, the research data used in the SL4DC report will be 94 articles on empirical research conducted in the European context. These articles will go through an in-depth analysis proces to identify mechanisms for effective democratic competence development through service-learning.