Building Professional Competencies Through a Service Learning ' Gallery Walk' in Primary School Teacher Education

Abstract

This article reports on a service learning project in a South African primary school teacher education programme, as experiential and practice-based pedagogy in a social studies methods course. We aimed to broaden understanding of service learning as a form of non-placement work-integrated learning for the development of teacher professional competencies. Student teachers drew on topics in the middle school social studies curriculum and incorporated Indigenous geographical elements with local community history in the design of a service learning ‘gallery walk’ for Grade 5 learners. Using a generic qualitative design, data were generated from students’ and teachers’ reflective journals, lesson plans, photographs and video recordings. It was analysed for common content themes and prominent discourse markers of students’ developing professional knowledge and competencies. The findings provide evidence of deepened student learning, particularly on the influence of context and curriculum differentiation and how their struggles with group work enabled the development of collaboration and cooperation required by professionals. In addition, the service learning prompted changing notions of citizenship and reciprocity of learning.

Developing Early Graders' Collaborative Skills through Group-Work, Play-Based Pedagogy

“…Today's work life depends heavily on education to raise a commensurable workforce that meets the functional requirements of operating in the workspace (Ramsaroop, & Petersen, 2020;Valtonen et al, 2017). Among the functional requirements are information analysis skills that lead to knowledge creation (Valtonen et al, 2017).…”

“…Undoubtedly, some teachers still struggle to facilitate learning when using the most appropriate learning pedagogies (Walton, Nel, Muller & Lebeloane, 2014). However, competent teachers with twenty-firstcentury pedagogical prowess are central in facilitating collaborative skills (Ramsaroop & Petersen, 2020). This is because collaborative skills are among the core skills of the twenty-first century; hence, teachers' pedagogical approach plays a crucial role in their realisation (Kaendler, Wiedmann, Rummel, & Spada, 2015;Ramsaroop & Petersen, 2020).…”

“…However, competent teachers with twenty-firstcentury pedagogical prowess are central in facilitating collaborative skills (Ramsaroop & Petersen, 2020). This is because collaborative skills are among the core skills of the twenty-first century; hence, teachers' pedagogical approach plays a crucial role in their realisation (Kaendler, Wiedmann, Rummel, & Spada, 2015;Ramsaroop & Petersen, 2020). Play-based pedagogy is a well-appreciated twentyfirst century teaching and learning pedagogy for early-grade learners (Ekeh, Venketsamy, Thuketana, & Joubert, 2022;Pistorova & Slutsky, 2018).…”

Pandemic Partnerships: Community/University Experiences with Community-Based Learning in the COVID-19 Era

“…Service-learning facilitates community-based learning through reciprocal partnerships that engage students, faculty, staff, and community members (Bringle et al, 2016). Many disciplines implement service-learning to enhance academic learning outcomes across competency areas (e.g., Capella-Peris et al, 2020; Ramsaroop & Peterson, 2020).…”

Developing a university-voluntary sector collaboration for social impact

“…There is ample evidence, particularly in the US, of how universities integrate community and civic engagement in their university via service-learning, community service and applied research within and beyond the curriculum (Ehlenz, 2018(Ehlenz, , 2021Ramastroop and Peterson, 2020;Reardon, 2006). Service-learning involves students drawing on their academic learning while providing a service in response to identified community need, emphasising the mutual benefits that all parties gain from the learning experience (Ramsaroop and Petersen, 2020). Although these initiatives have met with mixed results (see Harris, 2019;Hartley et al, 2010;Watson, 2008), university-wide strategic focus of civic engagement and collaboration beyond the private sector has been practiced since the early 2000s in the US.…”