Building Community and Self-Efficacy: Student Perceptions of a Critical Service-Learning Curriculum

• In Event: Urban Education in the 21st Century

Abstract

This year-long intensive qualitative study explored student perceptions of their participation in the Need in Deed My VOICE framework. Focus group, interview, and observation data were collected to answer the following questions: 1) what meanings do students make of their participation in critical service-learning? 2) what relationship, if any, is there between the teachers’ attempt to amplify students’ voices and the students’ perceptions of their participation in critical service-learning? Analysis revealed that students felt a sense of community while experiencing the critical service-learning curriculum, and that teacher attempts to amplify their voices generated a greater sense of self-efficacy within the students. These findings are significant because they rely on an underutilized perspective – the students’ – and fill gaps in the literature.

Author

• Sara Gartland, University of Delaware