Conference Agenda

This paper responds directly to the growing need to better theorise and evidence how service-learning contributes to competences for democratic culture, as highlighted by the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC). It positions North Wales as a functioning model of place-based system change using the Well-being of future generations Act (Wales) 2015 as a framework for change (Welsh Government, 2015). Where a higher education institute operates as a civic anchor within a coordinated regional ecosystem to test and explore different approaches to democratic learning and civic engagement in collective challenges across educational phases. (Ruddle et al, 2020)

Drawing on two empirical case studies led by Wrexham University, the North Wales Children’s University Pilot 2023-2024 and Lle Llais 2025 Public Map initiative on the Isle of Anglesey, the paper examines how trauma-informed, place-based service-learning fosters democratic competences from early childhood (ACE Hub Wales and Traumatic Stress Wales, 2022). The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining participation data, programme evaluation, and qualitative analysis of children’s narratives.

The Children’s University pilot engaged over 1,100 children across six local authorities in structured extracurricular service-learning designed to build social capital, aspiration, and community connectedness. Findings demonstrate that when schools act as civic anchors within a wider system and structural barriers to access are reduced, children’s agency, participation, and skill development increase significantly. Notably, children from areas of highest deprivation achieved the strongest completion rates, suggesting that equitable service-learning can disrupt entrenched inequalities (Wood, 2024) .

Lle Llais 2025 extends this work through trauma-informed, arts- and nature-based engagement with 253 children across eight schools. Delivered in partnership with Welsh Bards and community organisations, the project evidences how culturally rooted, creative practice fosters emotional safety, empathy, voice, and belonging (Wood and Shepley, 2026). Children’s narratives identify six core dimensions of democratic wellbeing: happiness, friendship, nature, safety, creativity, and inner calm, which align with key RFCDC domains, particularly values (respect, openness), attitudes (empathy, civic-mindedness), and skills (listening, cooperation, critical expression).

The paper contributes empirical evidence to an underdeveloped field by demonstrating how democratic competences can be cultivated through integrated, trauma-informed service-learning ecosystems (Cherry, 2025). It further argues that North Wales offers a transferable model for the institutionalisation of service-learning, highlighting implications for pedagogy, system leadership and civic infrastructure, and curriculum design (Ruddle and Arriaga-Garcia, 2026) .