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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

III. Session 4 · Track C: Epistemic Justice, Diversity and Cultural Sensitivity in Service-Learning
Location: F21/02.55

Presentation 1

Beyond Respect: Rethinking Cultural Sensitivity in Rural Service-Learning through a Multi-Actor Perspective

Alžbeta Brozmanová Gregorová¹, Nives Nives Mikelic-Preradovic², Irene Culcasi³

1: Matej Bel University, Slovak Republic; 2: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia; 3: LUMSA University of Rome, Italy

This paper critically examines how cultural sensitivity – understood as a key democratic competence within the Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC; Council of Europe, 2018) – is constructed and enacted in service-learning (SL) partnerships with rural communities. While cultural sensitivity is often framed normatively as respect for diversity, this study argues that such a perspective remains analytically insufficient and risks obscuring underlying tensions related to power, inequality, and participation (Gregorová et al., 2025).

Drawing on qualitative data from 15 focus groups involving 45 students, 30 teachers, and 31 community partners, the paper adopts a multi-actor perspective to explore how cultural sensitivity is differently understood and operationalised across these groups.

Evidence from the cases collected in five European countries (Austria, Croatia, Italy, Slovakia and Spain) reveals that cultural sensitivity is differently understood and enacted across stakeholder groups. Data were collected through interviews , and the responses informed the creation of a framework structured around People, Purpose, Places, and Partnership (Mikelic-Preradovic et al., submitted). Students primarily emphasised respect for local customs, dialects, and traditions, alongside the need to adapt communication and project activities to community contexts, whereas teachers highlighted deeper structural dimensions, including power asymmetries, historical distrust toward external actors, and the importance of reflexivity in avoiding extractive or top-down approaches. In contrast, rural community partners framed cultural sensitivity as recognition of their lived realities and knowledge, stressing the importance of avoiding stereotypes, respecting local values, and engaging communities as equal partners through co-creation and inclusive participation.

The paper contributes to ongoing debates on democratic competences in higher education by proposing a shift from normative to critical and relational conceptualisations of cultural sensitivity. Furthermore, the study offers implications for the design of service-learning curricula that better prepare students to navigate complexity, engage in meaningful dialogue, and foster more equitable university–community partnerships.