Exploring Social Justice through Service Learning in a Western Australian Catholic Secondary School: GRACE in action

A fundamental role of Catholic education is to enable young people to display faith in action thus embodying the love, compassion and justice of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (CEWA, 2019). Jesus Christ’s challenge to create a loving, kind and just world, is encompassed in Service Learning Programs in Western Australian Catholic Secondary Schools. According to Lavery (2007) service-learning is a teaching method where classroom learning is deepened and extended through service to others. Service Learning Programs enable students to develop as global citizens of service and justice. These programs invite students to move from a personal understanding of God’s love to a communal understanding in order to follow Jesus’ commandment of loving one another in order to ‘make the world a better place for all’ (Mandate, 24). This paper reports on an investigation of a Service Learning Program in a catholic secondary school in Western Australia. The main aims of this project were to determine how past students perceived service learning and to explore if these students have continued to be involved in service beyond their school years. The main questions explored were (i) How was service learning implemented through a secondary school curriculum? (ii) To what extent did the service learning program influence past students to continue service beyond their experiences at a Western Australian Catholic School? This study responded to limited literature reviewing the effects service learning programs have on students beyond their school experiences. The research explored how students carried the grace of God residing within them into their communities beyond the compulsory service learning program. The study relied principally on the audio-recorded exchanges between the researchers and the participants through individual semi-structured interviews. Such exchanges were opportunities for the participants to express in their own language, their perceptions, opinions, and ‘lived experience’ of service learning. The information was analysed and interpreted by the researchers and recorded almost exclusively in the ‘natural’ language of the participants as they attempted to articulate their understandings and experiences of the service learning program. Qualitative journaling was also used by the researchers to record participants’ reflections on service learning as they emerged during the course of the data collection stage. Drawing meaning from the collected data required methods of qualitative data analysis, and the adoption of a qualitative, interpretivist paradigm (Neuman, 2003) to inform the methodological conduct of the study. This approach placed high importance on interpreting and understanding meaningful social interactions and the empathetic understanding of everyday lived experiences (Neuman, 2003) from the perspective of those who lived those actual experiences. Qualitative data from the interviews was analysed and explored for common themes (Miles and Huberman, 2014). The initial findings from the participants in this study have revealed three main themes: Knowledge of the service learning program, continued participation within the community beyond the service learning program and global citizenship. The interview questions permitted participants to discuss their experiences within the service learning program. Most participants clearly outlined the program and indicated that it was a positive experience. The second theme revealed that ex-student participants felt that they benefited from participating in the service learning program and that it allowed them to look beyond their own personal needs and consider the communal needs of others. The final theme was evidenced by some students utilising their experience in the service learning program to become global citizens. Having been inspired by their experiences within the Service Learning Program, students had chosen career paths in which they ensure social justice is administered not only within their own communities but in a global perspective. There are many signs of grace within this study. Service Learning Programs enable young people to display values that are consistent with the Gospel to develop a profound understanding of service from a Catholic perspective. Providing opportunities for students to have the lived experience of Jesus’ commandment love one another allows for grace in action