Since the launch of the international volunteer service programs International Citizenship Service and the weltwärts-Program in Germany and UK, both focusing on development related issues and attached to the respective ministry of international development, the discussion on global learning, global engagement and the impact of volunteer services has currently received new attention in academia and practice. The overall theme of the new german program weltwärts, for example, is claimed with “learning through helping”. But who learns and who helps whom?  Program evaluations (e.g. Stern 2011) state that those programs cannot have substantial impact on local development. Yet, they do help the participants to develop their awareness for global issues and make them capable of acting in a globalized world. Considering educational concepts like  Global Education (Scheunpflug; Schröck 2000), Education for Sustainable Development (Michelsen 20 02) and learning theories like Informal Learning (Overwien 2009) and Transformative Learning (Mezirow), volunteer services can be interpreted as “Learning Services” rather than “Development Services”. Furthermore, impacts on the participants personal development can be expected in reference to empirical studies in educational sciences (Düx et. al 2008; Furco, Schelly 2002), social scienes (Bachner, Zeutschel 1990; Grunenberg, Kuckartz 2003) as well as by analyzing findings from intercultural (Alexander 2007) and environmental psychology (Homburg, Matthies 1998).

While we know about the learning impact we only have very little scientifically proofed knowledge on the quality of the learning impulses that initiate learning processes. What exactly do volunteers learn in that special learning setting? Which individual or organizational conditions help them to learn? Scientific based knowledge about structure and relations of learning impulses is needed to improve current discussions of further development of volunteer service programs towards a scientific level.

This dissertation project claims to contribute additional findings to this new research area focusing on the aspect of learning within volunteer services. The presented approach assumes that learning impulses and learning processes are based on individual experiences within his or her environment. As environment is different during serving in a different cultural and professional surrounding, it is fundamental to first identify experiences in that special environment. Secondly, those experiences have to be interpreted regarding to their (self-designated) value as a learning impulse. Therefore the way of contextualization experiences and individual and organizational preconditions are as well considered as classical learning theories. Furthermore, experiences within the preparation phase and the follow-up-seminars are included.

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