All Ireland Society for Higher Education
| Name: | Timothy Richard Murphy |
|---|---|
| Email: | timothy.murphy@nuigalway.ie |
| Institution: | National University of Ireland Galway |
This paper will recount on the experience of introducing an optional Service-Learning (SL) component into a teacher education preparatory course at NUIG Galway. For that purpose, SL was defined as a teaching/learning method that connects meaningful community service with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility, so as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility (AACTE, 2002). More specifically, the optional SL element was introduced into the core 'Education and Society' module. After completing the said course, it was anticipated that the pre-service teacher-education students would have arrived at a greater understanding of the social context within which education takes place, particularly with respect to core pivotal issues surrounding equity and diversity. Diversity issues and the role of education in the globalized economy informed important aspects of the said cou rse. It was anticipated that those pre-service students who elected to complete the SL option would significantly enhance their understandings concerning the aforementioned issues. It was also anticipated that those students would also be able to fuse their initial emergent understandings, arrived at from their critical engagement with recommended course readings, with the reflected learning that emerges from their actual engagement with SL projects. The author's expectation that increased awareness with respect to equity and diversity issues in the local context initially would facilitate an increased appreciation and more informed understandings of those same issues in the wider global context represented an important underlying premise for the introduction of SL into the 'Education and Society' course.