Published paper “Service-Learning Tackling Educational Inequality”

Abstract: Service-learning (S-L) is an umbrella term that encompasses several different models and strategies to integrate meaningful community service into curriculum by reflecting and thinking critically about a real-world problem/need while working on a team project set to meet the existing need of the community. It is found to have both direct and indirect beneficial effects on all actors involved: students – positively affecting their academic performance, social skills and personal development, faculty – heightening satisfaction with quality of student learning and commitment to research by fostering civic mission of the university, and community members – enhancing their relations with university, getting not only useful service but also enthusiastic volunteers that may serve as role-models to diverse end-beneficiaries (Eyler et al., 2001). The latter refers to one level of tackling educational inequality (due to geographical, economic, cultural, or migrant background obstacles), where implementation of S-L provides assistance, knowledge, and motivation that encourages individuals in adverse conditions to continue with their education (Gruber, 2019). On another level, S-L empowers students engaged in S-L to continue and improve their education regardless of their own challenges, not only by positively effecting their own attitudes towards school and learning (Celio et al., 2011) increasing their learning (Warren, 2012) and affecting their personal insight (Yorio & Ye, 2012) but also by providing more understanding and tolerant social context for diversities and marginalized people within the educational system (Conway et al., 2009). This scientific article, written by Koraljka Modić Stanke and Nives Mikelić Preradović, also considers relatively new and still underrepresented types of S-L: rural Service-Learning and e-Service-Learning. It is published online in form of a book chapter within The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems - available in the following link: 10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_392-1