Date of Award
2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Schools and Centres
Education
First Supervisor
Associate Professor Shane Lavery
Second Supervisor
Professor Dianne Chambers
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to firstly, explore the perceptions of Year 11 students in four Catholic secondary schools in Western Australia towards Christian Service-Learning (CSL), and secondly to assist improvement in the delivery of CSL programs through an understanding of the students’ perceptions. The study explored Year 11 student perceptions regarding their understandings of CSL, as well what they perceived to be the benefits, challenges, and impacts of participating in a CSL program. A key informant (KI) from each school provided contextual understanding about the CSL program within their school and how the program is delivered within the school. This research is the first study of student perceptions towards CSL in Catholic secondary schools in Western Australia.
The study’s literature review identified five areas of literature that formed the conceptual framework of the thesis. These five areas were experiential learning, Service-Learning (SL), benefits and positive impacts of Service-Learning, challenges associated with Service-Learning, and Christian Service-Learning. The epistemology underpinning this predominantly qualitative research was constructivism and the theoretical perspective was interpretivism, specifically symbolic interactionism. The methodological approach for this research was an instrumental case study entailing four Catholic secondary schools in Western Australia. The methods of data collection used in this research were a structured online questionnaire open to all Year 11 students from each school, focus group interviews with a group of Year 11 students from each school, document search, semi-structured interviews with a KI in each school, and a researcher reflection journal. The strategy for the analysis of the qualitative data in this research followed the process outlined by Miles et al. (2020). The quantitative responses from the structured online questionnaire were reported on by descriptive statistics and graphs.
The results of the study indicated that the Year 11 students had four key understandings of CSL. These understandings were related to the Christian aspect of CSL, the purpose of CSL, the differentiation between CSL and volunteering, and the compulsory nature of CSL. The study found that the Year 11 students perceived numerous benefits of CSL. These benefits were related to positive attributes such as the value of CSL, connection with others, the importance of reflection activities, personal enjoyment, and development of a positive attitude towards CSL. The students perceived benefits of CSL including personal development, development of values, leadership development, learning life lessons and skills, preparation for future careers, and civic responsibility. The study identified that the Year 11 students perceived several challenges to their participation in CSL. These challenges included negative perceptions towards the requirement of written reflection activities within the CSL program, the requirement of photography to demonstrate evidence of abilities, the minimum number of hours for the successful completion of the CSL program, and the use of incentives and awards in a CSL program. The students’ perceptions about challenges included the time required to complete CSL, individual circumstances, academic requirements of other courses, an understanding of the purpose of CSL, and liaising and connecting with service placement providers. The Year 11 students proposed seven suggestions for overcoming their perceived challenges associated with CSL to improve CSL programs. These suggestions included the importance of support from school staff; the need for support with transportation, alternative forms of reflection activities, undertaking of CSL during school time, incorporating CSL into the Religious Education (R.E) curriculum, the potential for connection between CSL and other learning areas, and flexibility with completion dates.
The study indicated that the Year 11 students perceived numerous positive impacts as a result of their participation in the CSL program. These positive impacts were personal growth, making a positive contribution, development of perspective, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, an increased awareness of social justice issues, and positive standing within the community. The student responses also revealed three factors which they believed influenced the impact of CSL. These impacts were the attitude of the individual, friendship and family influence, and preparation for CSL participation.
The semi-structured interview with the KIs provided contextual understanding about the delivery of the CSL program within their school. The KIs also shared their perceptions of CSL for the Year 11 students. These perceptions were related to positive and negative Year 11 student attitudes towards CSL. The KIs also shared their perceptions of impacting factors within the CSL program. These impacting factors of CSL were: making a difference through contributing to society; the inclusion of incentives and awards; parental involvement; and the importance of reflection activities within the CSL program. The KIs all noted that their CSL programs are impactful on the students.
Publication Details
De Luca, S. P. (2024). The Perception of Year 11 Students in Catholic Secondary Schools Towards Christian Service-Learning [Doctor of Education]. The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/430