 From the desk of...
David Boardman, Senior School Principal
The past few weeks of activity with the Prefect Project and the Ladakh trip in the Senior School, and the Pasifika Project in the Middle School, has reminded me how integral service-learning is to Kristin. It is hard-wired into the school and, this is an ideal time to remind ourselves why we are so passionate about this experience.
Thoughtfully designed and implemented service-learning has many opportunities to benefit students inlcuding:
- Enabling students to achieve learning goals
- Engaging students in active learning
- Integrating disciplinary theory and knowledge with practice
- Deepening understanding of the complex causes of social problems
- Creating new knowledge
Andrew Furco (1996) distinguishes service-learning from other approaches to experiential learning by its intention to equally benefit the provider and the recipient of the service, as well as ensuring equal forces on both the service being provided and the learning that is occurring.
Students at Kristin have so many opportunities during their time at the school to participate in service-learning that it can be easy to forget it doesn’t need to take place overseas, it doesn’t need to be part of a school organised activity and it doesn’t need to be part of a curriculum. In New Zealand, we have many opportunities to join in with small projects linked to local needs around the environment, communities, social inequality, support programmes. The list is almost endless. All of these provide the opportunity to benefit the recipient while also enabling the provider to build skills or knowledge that they otherwise might not acquire.
My challenge to all our students is to not only actively participate in these opportunities while at school, but to continue with them long after they have left Kristin. Through this, the chances to learn a new skill will be available while potentially making a real difference to the lives of those you help.
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