University-community engagement : exploring service-learning options within the practicum

Since 1999, pre-service teachers undertaking the Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) Program at the University of Western Sydney have participated in an alternate practicum called Professional Experience 3 (PE3). This practicum encourages students to engage in broader educational settings within local communities. Increasingly, a number of service-learning opportunities have been developed, most notably, senior student tutoring programs and the involvement of students in the Plan-It Youth project in conjunction with the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the South-western Sydney Institute of TAFE. A focus of these programs has been to address the issues related to students at risk of leaving school early within the local South-western Sydney community. In this paper we discuss the benefits of these programs to the university, pre-service-teachers, school students and school communities, and the broader local community. Specifically, we examine service learning as a conduit for the development and maintenance of meaningful symbiotic relationships between the university and the educational community, and pre-service teachers and the local community. Finally, we look towards the future and highlight the challenges and opportunities for service-learning programs within the practicum.