Service-learning: a Pedagogy to Promote Competences for Democratic Culture in European Higher Education

Service-learning is a proven methodology enhancing students’ academic learning and cultivating a sense of responsibility and social commitment. By engaging students in real-world problem-solving with local communities, service-learning fosters critical democratic competences for active and responsible citizenship. In the face of growing challenges to democracy, this type of learning is indispensable for higher education institutions pursuing their civic mission.

At this training, participants will be introduced to the service-learning pedagogy and how it contributes to democratic competences as described in the European Commissions’ Reference Framework on Competences for Democratic Culture. For this, we will draw from insights from the first phase of the SL4DC project, in which we identified existing service-learning practices fostering competences for democratic culture in different European higher education contexts, varying across countries, disciplines and educational levels. Participants will be introduced to the resources developed so far in the project, and together we will explore how these tools can be implemented at their own higher education institutions.

The SL4DC project supports European higher education institutions to become key players in strengthening democracy, fostering a new generation of engaged, critically literate and socially responsible citizens through collaboration with communities. The training at the Higher Education Transformation Week will provide participants with tools to contribute to this process.

Part of the Higher Education Transformation Week. Register at https://highered-transformation.eu/#register