Service Learning in Health Professons Education
What is Service Learning?
Service-learning is a structured learning experience that combines community service with preparation and reflection. Students engaged in service-learning provide community service in response to community-identified concerns and learn about the context in which service is provided, the connection between their service and their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens.
Service-learning differs from traditional clinical education in the health professions in that:
- Service-learning strives to achieve a balance between service and learning objectives - in service-learning, partners must negotiate the differences in their needs and expectations.
- Service-learning places an emphasis on addressing community concerns and broad determinants of health.
- In service-learning, there is the integral involvement of community partners - service-learning involves a principle-centered partnership between communities and health professions schools.
- Service-learning emphasizes reciprocal learning - In service-learning, traditional definitions of "faculty," "teacher" and "learner" are intentionally blurred. Each learns from the others.
- Service-learning emphasizes reflective practice - In service-learning, reflection facilitates the connection between practice and theory and fosters critical thinking.
Service-learning places an emphasis on developing citizenship skills and achieving social change. Many factors influence health and quality of life. The provision of health services is not often the most important factor. In service-learning, students place their roles as health professionals and citizens in a larger societal context.
Click here to learn about the benefits and components of service-learning.
