Service Learning in Russia: Scoping Review

Abstract

Over the past few years, the Service Learning approach has been increasingly introduced into the practice of Russian higher education institutions. Thereby researchers begin to take an active interest in this topic, and number of publications on service learning in the Russian context is growing. We are witnessing the emergence of a new area of educational research in our country. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to evaluate the successes in scientific knowledge, identify the existing gaps, and develop a programme for further research on service learning in our country. This circumstance determined the author’s interest in this topic and the choice of methodology in favour of a systematic review of the subject field. As a result, the author was able to identify an array of relevant publications, reconstruct the subject field, and identify seven main themes that have been covered to varying degrees in the literature: 1) specificity of the approach; 2) civicism formation; 3) application of reflective practices; 4) use of an evidence-based approach; 5) conceptualization; 6) external partners; and 7) the role of the teacher. The content analysis of the materials made it possible to identify the main characteristics of the publication array, identify lacunas and propose a programme of further research.