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

Abstract

ABSTRACT 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 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?