Service Learning

VINEYARD PRIMARY WING COMPLETED! WELL DONE TO ALL OUR SERVICE-LEARNING (Social Enterprise) VOLUNTEERS! Oue efforts since 2005 have now come to fruition with the completion of the primary wing of The Vineyard Academy complex, Ghana.

We passionately believe in Service- Learning and its value to both volunteers and recipients. This site celebrates Service- Learning projects as undertaken by Liverpool Hope University students who have become Rotaract members (‘ service above self’). Students follow a model of Service Learning developed in Merseyside called SIGNAL (Schools Intergenerational Nurturing and Learning Project). The framework of SIGNAL (engage, educate and celebrate) has been molded to support diverse school community settings. It is an ongoing process …shaped and researched by those who get active in serving their communities. The SIGNAL partnership is about Citizenship Education, creativity and cross curricular learning through ‘Excellence and Enjoyment’. It is about social enterprise, entrepreneurial learning and generating an ethos of service. What is Service-Learning? What is SIGNAL and how do they fit together? Service-Learning - examples: Picking up rubbish on a riverbank is service. Studying water samples under a microscope is learning. When science students collect and analyze water samples, document their results, and present findings to a local pollution control agency … that is service-learning. Service-learning is a teaching method that enriches learning by engaging students in meaningful service to their schools and communities. Young people apply academic skills to solving real-world issues, linking established learning objectives with genuine needs. They lead the process, with adults as partners, applying critical thinking and problem-solving skills to concerns such as hunger, pollution, and diversity. "Service-learning is education in action." — Sen. John Glenn. The most comprehensive definition of service-learning is offered by The National Service-Learning and Assessment Study Group in the USA. ‘SL is a teaching and learning strategy that combines the principals of experiential learning with service to the community…students develop as citizens, learn problem-solving skills, and experience a sense of social responsibility by engaging in thoughtful action to help their communities. Students…deepen and reinforce their newly acquired content knowledge and skills by using them to address real community needs. They experience themselves-and are perceived by others-as competent, contributing members of the community’. (The National Service-Learning and Assessment Study Group, 1999).