SERVICE LEARNING AS A PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: A THEORETICAL REVIEW
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56219/se.v26iExtraordinaria%20N°%201.5076Keywords:
service-learning, culture of peace, school coexistence, social transformation, rural educationAbstract
The article analyzes Service-Learning (SL) as a pedagogical approach in school institutions, in dialogue with contemporary challenges of inequality, social fragmentation, and peacebuilding. The objective was to interpret the international academic production published between 2019 and 2026, identifying conceptual convergences, emerging categories, and theoretical tensions regarding its implementation and formative scope. An interpretative theoretical review was conducted based on the PRISMA 2020 guidelines (Page et al., 2021) and methodological orientations for qualitative literature analysis (Snyder, 2019; Booth et al., 2022). The search in Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and SciELO enabled the selection of 18 relevant empirical and theoretical studies from North America, Europe, and Latin America. Findings indicate that SL strengthens empathy, student agency, and social responsibility (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2021; García et al., 2021), contributes to the reconstruction of social fabric in rural and post-conflict contexts (González, 2023; Chaves Obando et al., 2024), and promotes sustainability-related competencies (Manasia et al., 2023; Neumeier & Petersen, 2022). However, challenges related to curricular institutionalization and teacher training were also identified (Lavaux et al., 2025). It is concluded that SL consolidates itself as an integral pedagogical approach with ethical and political projection, whose sustainability depends on its structural integration into educational systems.
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