• Service-Learning Advocacy
• Declaration of Principles
• Conferences & Workshops
• Consulting
• Publications
• Research
• Distinguished Partners
• Alumni Center
• Contact IPSL

IPSL Declaration of Principles

Contents

• What is service-learning?
• Why is service-learning important, valuable and necessary?
• Where and how is service-learning practiced?
• Principles of Good Practice
• What is the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership?
• How can universities, colleges, nongovernmental and related organizations participate?

Principles of Good Practice

The best-designed and executed service-learning programs ensure that:

• there is reciprocity between the community served and the university or college, and their relationship is built on mutual respect and esteem.
• the learning is rigorous, sound, and appropriate to the academic level of the students. The studies do not offer foregone conclusions but rather, in the spirit of academic inquiry, expose students to a wide range of points of view, theories, and ideas, asking that they critically examine these ideas and their experience in service, thereby reaching their own thoughtfully considered insights.
• the service is truly useful to the community or agency. Experience has shown that the agency or community is best qualified to define what is useful. The time and quality of the service must be sufficient to offset the agency time spent in planning, supervising, and evaluating the program; otherwise the institution and the student are exploiting the very people they intend to assist.
• there is a clear connection between the studies and the service. The studies may focus on the general culture of those served or be more specific in relating subject matter and the service experience. Either pattern is effective.
• students are allowed and, indeed, encouraged to develop and demonstrate leadership skills, using their own initiative when appropriate, bearing in mind that they should first listen to the community and be responsive to its values and needs.
• opportunity for personal reflection on the meaning of the experience in relation to the student's values and life decisions is built into the program in a structured way. The keeping of a journal is a common means of providing this opportunity for the students to connect what they are learning and experiencing with their own lives.
• support services are provided. Students are prepared for their service and the community in which they will serve. Provision is made for their health care should it be needed, and students are advised on issues of safety. Ongoing advising services are available.

<< Previous

Next >>