Perception of faculty members involved in Service-Learning practices. A cualitative study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. In the last decades there has been a plethora of Service-Learning (SL) discourses and practices that have served to gradually broaden our understanding of its scope and limits. Research conducted has shown a positive impact on different dimensions of the university students, but has left grey areas around the impact of this hybrid pedagogical practice in two of the agents necessary for its implementation: teachers and community partners. To investigate this, the objective of this paper is to analyse the perception of teachers who carry out SL projects to know the reasons that support their involvement, the influence on their professional development and the obstacles. METHODS: It is an exploratory descriptive study of qualitative nature in which a content analysis has been conducted through a model of category development. The research involved 18 college faculty members from the universities of Almería, Extremadura and Querétaro-México. The in-depth semi-structured interview was used as data collection instrument. RESULTS: The findings show that: a) There are reasons of different nature to get involved in SL projects; b) SL practices have a positive influence on different issues of teacher´s professional development; and c) Institutional barriers and those derived from the time and effort necessary to launch the projects become barriers to expansion and their institutionalization. DISCUSSION: In line with other studies, the pedagogical potential of SL is evidenced to promote the teachers´ commitment to teaching and enhance their professional development. Difficulties associated with time, effort and little institutional recognition have also been identified. It concludes by stating the need to continue studying the influence of SL on teachers to know its incidence and expand the conceptual and methodological frameworks of this experiential educational practice.