Service-learning and initial teacher training. Factors that determine the development of transversal skills

Abstract

Service-learning experiences bolster the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge and promote the development of transversal skills such as confidence, leadership, commitment and social justice. This study investigates the development of transversal skills through courses using the service-learning methodology. The qualitative research designed and validated a semi-structured interview and a focus group, involving 20 and 8 student teachers respectively, who were selected by accidental non-probabilistic sampling. Open coding was used to analyse the information collected. The findings show that the factors that bolster the development of skills during service-learning experiences are linked to the students' prior knowledge and the way in which they connect this knowledge to the experience; the opportunities presented to the students depending on the length of the experience, the characteristics of the context and the pedagogical support received, as well as the processes the students engaged with during the service, together with the spaces for participation and involvement that the practical experience included. The paper discusses and draw conclusions on how the presence or absence of any of these elements will affect the development of skills during the service-learning experience.