Societies increasingly demand citizens who actively promote social justice, inclusivity, and fairness. To meet this need, higher education institutions must rethink their educational objectives to foster socially responsible, engaged citizenship. In this context Service-Learning (SL), which involves embedding community service within the curriculum, has emerged as an impactful approach, preparing students not only with technical skills but also with the competencies needed to navigate the complexities and uncertainties of a globalised world, leading them to social action. In teacher education, SL is recognized as a critical approach that enables (future) teachers to participate in activities addressing community needs. This engagement fosters critical reflection on their experiences, helping them to develop key competencies such as real-world application, interpersonal skills, social responsibility, cultural awareness, critical thinking, global citizenship, and teacher efficacy.
THEME
The Erasmus+ Project BOLD (Building on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity for social action within and beyond European Universities) focuses on service learning in initial teacher education, specifically in the domain of linguistic and cultural diversity. The project involves HE staff, students (future teachers of different scientific areas) and civil organisations and associations. In the past two years, the project has focused on: promoting linguistic and cultural diversity in initial teacher education both as a tool and goal for civic engagement and active citizenship; and building on collaboration between formal, informal and non-formal institutions to provide SL education opportunities across initial teacher education programs. Against this background, the BOLD Summer School aims to bring together all those involved in the project in order to collectively think of global concerns attached to the management of multilingualism and interculturalism and envisage ways to foster social action on linguistic and cultural diversity in local contexts and beyond.
Supported by the Erasmus Program of the European Union.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
PROJECT CODE: 2022-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000086001