Experiential learning plays a key role in pre-service teacher education at the Faculty of Education, University of Windsor. While practice teaching placements in elementary and secondary schools have traditionally served as the main mode of experiential learning, the University of Windsor has expanded such opportunities by requiring students to choose from a series of service learning electives in the second year of their B.Ed. program.
Service learning refers to an educational approach that combines the practice of pedagogical skills with active community service. With a focus on reflection and deepening one’s understanding of social issues, service learning not only provides teacher candidates with a pragmatic and ongoing learning experience, but also meets societal needs. The philosophy behind our service learning specialization is that teachers should design learning experiences based on who students are and where they come from, emphasizing the idea that we teach students, not subjects.
- To enhance teacher candidates’ understanding and appreciation of the relationship between students’ out-ofschool lives and their school experiences.
- To underscore the impact of poverty and exclusion on students’ educational experiences.
- To increase appreciation of service learning as a teaching strategy.
- To provide teacher candidates with firsthand work experiences within local and international marginalized and vulnerable communities.
- To enhance teacher candidates’ understanding of the social, cultural, and political aspects of teaching.
- To provide teacher candidates with opportunities for international and intercultural experiences in non-western contexts.
Service Learning Opportunities:
- Beginning Time Ab/Original Teachings
- Leardership Experience for Academic Direction (LEAD)
- Reciprocal Learning Program (RLP)
- Refugee & Immigrant Student Engagement (RISE)
- Urban Education Partnership (UEP)
- Vulnerability, Marginalization, and Education (VME)
View the 2024/2025 Service Learning Brochure
