Conference Agenda

In light of ongoing global transformation processes and increasing societal polarization, higher education is challenged to strengthen students’ civic responsibility and democratic competences. Service-learning offers a promising pedagogical approach by linking experiential, action-oriented learning with meaningful community engagement (Bringle & Clayton, 2012). Reflection, alongside real-world experience and reciprocity with community partners, is considered a core element in fostering such learning processes (Godfrey, Illes & Berry, 2005).

Based on the example of a service-learning module in a vocational teacher education program, the study focuses on how structured reflection supports students‘ competency development and civic attitudes. Using a formative reflection portfolio, the study addresses the following research questions:

- How do students perceive their own performance and competency development at different stages of the service learning process??

- How does students' attitude toward civil society change over the course of the semester?

The positive impact of service-learning on willingness to engage, attitudes toward social engagement, and self-efficacy has been empirically confirmed in several studies (Gerholz & Losch 2015; Slepcevic-Zach & Fernandez, 2021). Reflection is intended to enable students to consciously perceive and systematically analyze their actions (Godfrey, Illes & Berry, 2005). The goal is for students to recognize the connection between project work and their study program and to understand the development of their attitudes toward societal challenges.

In the module, the concept of reflection is implemented through a reflection portfolio consisting of guided initial, interim, and final reflections during the semester. This approach adopts a process-analytical perspective to address the research questions. Reflection prompts address both project-related experiences and students’ perceived roles within civil society. The data consist of reflection portfolios from two cohorts (n = 26), which are analyzed using content-structuring qualitative content analysis (Kuckartz, 2018).

Preliminary findings indicate that at the beginning of the semester, students primarily focus on task-related aspects of their projects and often express uncertainty regarding their roles. Over time, reflections increasingly shift toward broader civic perspectives. In the final reflections, students demonstrate a more differentiated understanding of civil society and report changes in their self-perception as socially engaged actors. The study contributes to the empirical understanding of how reflection processes in service-learning can support the development of civic attitudes and democratic competences in teacher education. It highlights the importance of structured, longitudinal reflection formats for fostering transformative learning processes.

This contribution examines Service-Learning (SL) as a didactic procedure for democracy education, with particular attention to the reflection step, the moment when community engagement becomes explicit civic learning. Rather than presenting a single case study, the paper synthesises the procedural knowledge generated within the Erasmus+ GIRLS project, including the Service-Learning Course Handbook, curricular implementations in the partner countries, and the international activity carried out in Morelia and Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico.

The study is grounded in the GIRLS SL sequence: observation of community needs, preparation, action, reflection, data registration, evaluation, and recognition. This sequence was used to guide students from identifying authentic social needs to co-producing meaningful services with community partners. In Mexico, 20 students from Portugal, Spain, Romania, and Mexico, enrolled in engineering, health sciences, and language-related programmes, worked with local partners on public health education, kidney health awareness, water consumption issues, statistical analysis, and intercultural communication. Reflection was deliberately intensified through individual, small-group, and collective moments, following the Think-4-Share methodology, and generated a substantial corpus of written and oral data.

Methodologically, the paper combines reflective practice analysis with qualitative content analysis of student reflections and pedagogical artefacts produced during the GIRLS project. The analysis focuses on what students did for the community, and how the structured reflection step helped them reinterpret service experiences in terms of democratic competences: empathy, solidarity, critical awareness of inequality, intercultural dialogue, shared responsibility, communication, and civic agency.

The emerging results suggest that reflection operated as a transformative didactical device. In the Mexico corpus, students’ reflections evidenced learning outcomes, ethical awareness, perceived social impact, challenges and adaptation, cultural awareness, civic engagement, communication skills, and personal transformation. These outcomes indicate that democratic learning was not produced automatically by “being in the community” but by guided opportunities to question assumptions, listen to others, connect disciplinary knowledge with social vulnerability, and articulate responsibility towards collective well-being.

The paper contributes a transferable model for designing and assessing SL in higher education by showing how reflection prompts, dialogue routines, and learning rubrics can make democratic competences visible, discussable, and pedagogically intentional.

For twenty five years, the 'Home-based storytelling' project has brought stories, language, and connection into the homes of young children, mostly coming from disadvantaged families. What began as a small local project has grown into a sustained partnership between teacher education programmes, local schools, community organisations, and families. The project continues to demonstrate how meaningful community engagement can transform both children’s learning opportunities and students’ professional identity.

The project is embedded in a broader Community Service Learning framework in which students apply theoretical insights from courses on language development, early literacy, inclusive education, and intercultural communication (courses: Multilingualism in the classroom; Engaging and valuing families; Nonviolent communication). Concepts such as scaffolding, dialogic reading, affective learning environments, and equitable learning opportunities come to life when students enter the homes of families whose backgrounds, languages, and experiences differ from their own. By navigating real interactions with children and their parents, students deepen their understanding of pedagogical theories. They learn that literacy development is not only cognitive but also relational, cultural, and situated. This interplay between theory and practice helps students internalise educational principles in ways that traditional coursework alone cannot.

Structured reflection is a central pillar of the project. Before, during, and after home visits, students participate in guided reflection seminars, write reflective journals, analyse critical incidents, and exchange experiences through peer dialogue. These moments allow them to examine their assumptions, recognise their biases, and develop cultural humility.

Students are owner of their own learning process within the project. They select books, design the flow of each reading session, and adapt their approach to the needs and interests of each child. Their voice matters: students co create learning moments with families instead of simply implementing prescribed activities. Students also shape the project’s collective learning. Their observations feed back into course development, partnerships with schools, and the continuous refinement of the programme. Assessment within the project focuses on growth rather than performance. Students are evaluated through a reflective portfolio and collaborative discussions with peers and teachers.