Learning from the unfamiliar: How does working with people who use mental health services impact on students’ learning and development?

Abstract

Service learning is an experiential pedagogic approach that is predicated on students learning in authentic situations. It is often problem orientated and provides opportunities for community engagement in ways that enhance a student's capacity as socially aware individuals. There is evidence that such learning opportunities can enhance personal development, team and collaborative skills as well as improve self-confidence. This paper reports on a qualitative research project that explored the experience of a group of students who worked in a service learning project with users of mental health services. Using the lifeworld (Ashworth 2003) as a means to analyse the data, provided a rich description of the impact it had on their learning. Three themes are portrayed, being together, encounters in the real world, and becoming. Important aspects of the findings include, the opportunity to learn without the constraint of pre-determined learning outcomes, learning through uncertainty, and learning from those who are different and unfamiliar. Considering the data from the perspective of Jarvis's (2006) learning theory we explore how particular situations stimulated disjuncture, those uncomfortable moments that instigate learning. The paper concludes by proposing the benefits of a tight-loose design to pedagogic approaches, and how learning from those who are different provide students with opportunities to engage with the messiness of the real world.

When Is a Partnership Not a Partnership? Reflecting on Inherent Challenges in University-Community Collaborations on Educational Programs

“…However, the lack of similar research in the literature related to community engagement and partnerships with nonmedical hospital-based projects meant that we were not able to benefit from case studies or projects that mirrored our own. Some research has explored the use of civic engagement projects, service-learning, or other experiential learning programs that afford students the opportunity to learn while giving back to the community (Asghar & Rowe, 2018;Holbrook & Chen, 2017;Jacobs, 2020;Mitchell, 2008;Wollschleger et al, 2020); however, this literature tends to focus on student development rather than other research-oriented goals.…”