Service-Learning in Initial Teacher Education: Incorporating Sustainable Development Goals into Higher Education
Abstract
Several studies grounded on well-established theories identify Service-Learning (SL) as a transformative approach. However, there is a lack of research showing how these theories may look like at a practical level. Consequently, providing higher education lectures with best practice examples seems to be necessary. Against this backdrop, this paper has two objectives: (1) to describe a SL practical proposal whose main aim was to promote education for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the field of teacher education and (2) to investigate how such a proposal may emerge as a praxis with a transformative potential. A qualitative-interpretative descriptive study is presented. First, the study describes how 22 SL projects were carried out in a General Didactics course (MI1846) in the Early Childhood Education degree at Universitat Jaume I (Spain). A total of 130 pre-service teachers participated in the SL proposal. The analysis of the SL dossiers showed that they revolve around two broad categories: personal transformation and social transformation. In conclusion, this study presents an example of best practices in the form of an SL innovative proposal. In conclusion, this paper shows how SL may be an effective pedagogical strategy to align higher education with the 2030 Agenda, generating a tangible impact on the learning of preservice teachers and, to a smaller scale, on society.
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References
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