Service-learning (SL), particularly in its critical, transformative, and reciprocal form, has been described as one of the most effective methods of engaging university students in community-oriented scholarship, fostering the development of critical inquiry, understanding of needs assessment, and deep reflection on inequality (Coffey & Arnold 2022). In general, service-learning combines community service experiences with academic requirements and not only has an impact on academic learning; it also contributes to personal development by providing opportunities for critical reflection and analysis of one's own biased schemas (Rodríguez-Izquierdo 2021), building an activist mindset (Coffey & Arnold 2022) and cultivating a social justice stance (Shiller 2022).

In order to ensure the impact of service-learning for social justice in this way, a number of precautions need to be taken, and in particular the limitations imposed, for example, by the neoliberal constitution of universities (Clifford 2017) need to be considered. The symposium, therefore, brings together four service-learning projects from three different European countries to compare their contexts and to identify both challenges and opportunities in each case. In doing so, theoretical considerations and empirical findings from Austria, Germany and Spain will also address research desiderata, with the first two presentations from Spain, one focusing on the underrepresented voices of community partner organisations (Doran, Rhinesmith & Arena 2021) and the second linking service learning to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations 2015). The following two presentations will continue the discussion on socially and educationally relevant and topical issues that can be addressed through service-learning, such as inclusion (see the third presentation from Austria) and forced migration (see the fourth presentation from Germany as well as Fißmer, Rosen & tom Dieck 2023; Rosen in preparation). 

What the four papers have in common is that service-learning is seen as an activating, student-centred method in higher education didactics that can contribute to improving the quality of higher education teaching and students' academic commitment (Rodríguez-Izquierdo 2020), as well as enabling the development of university faculty in the direction of social justice (Rodríguez-Izquierdo 2017).

Coffey, H. & Arnold, L. (2022). Transformative critical service-learning. Myers Education Press. Doran, Meghan; Rhinesmith, Colin; Arena, Sarah (2021). Perspectives of Community Partner Organizations in the Development of Ethical Service-Learning Guidelines. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 27(1), 155-179. Fißmer, J.; Rosen, L. & tom Dieck, F. (2023). Freiwilligenarbeit in der Flucht*Migrationsgesellschaft. In T. Sturm et al. (eds). Erziehungswissenschaftliche Grundbegriffe im Spiegel der Inklusionsforschung. Barbara Budrich, 119-138. Rodríguez-Izquierdo, R. M. (2017). Service Learning as a collaborative Pedagogy for faculty development through action research. In O. Alegre de la Rosa (eds). Research on University Teaching and Faculty Development. Nova Publishers, 155-168. Rodríguez-Izquierdo, R. M. (2020). Service learning and academic commitment in higher education. Revista de Psicodidáctica, 25(1), 45-51. Rodríguez-Izquierdo, R. M. (2021). Does service learning affect the development of intercultural sensitivity? International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 82, 99-108. Rosen, L. (in preparation). Critical Service Learning in the Context of Forced Migration. In Rodríguez-Izquierdo, R. M. and Morlero, M. M. (eds.) (2023). El giro comunitario en el aprendizaje servicio universitario. Inclusión y sostenibilidad. Octaedro. Shiller, J. (2022). Critically Engaged in a Predominantly White Institution: The Power of a Critical Service-Learning Course to Cultivate a Social Justice Stance. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 26(1), 37-49. United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/9814.