Power and Service-Learning: Salience, Place, and Practice

In this chapter, we challenge the notion that service-learning is opposed to critical theoretical approaches to education. We demonstrate six principles that can help guide service-learning practitioners to address power imbalances that appear in service-learning practice. These six principles are developed through a synthesis of critical theoretical influences in the service-learning literature. The chapter will further demonstrate these principles in action through two critical service-learning experiences. It is argued that service-learning can become a truly transformational pedagogy when implemented with attention to power dynamics within the service experience. [authors]