Abstract:

The study presents a Service-Learning (ApS) practice implemented in a public school for early childhood and primary education. The practice proposes to carry out a solidarity action at a nursing home for the elderly, within the framework of a contextualised project that addresses both local and global issues, aiming to foster engaged and socially conscious children. The objectives of the project are twofold: (1) to promote intergenerational dialogues by providing the opportunity to exchange values and knowledge between children and grandparents, encouraging mutual learning, and (2) to explore co-responsibility and the horizontal involvement of social agents, students, and teachers, along with its main educational benefits.

The nursery home lives how the elderly collective experience a significant setback due to Covid-19, resulting in emotional, social, physical and mental health impacts among its users. With the intention of providing support and forging connections (as many grandparents identify with loneliness), the proposal to initiate a pen pal exchange between the elderly residents and students was introduced in the 21-22 academic year. The aim was to increase social interactions among the residents, to promote their learning, to boost their self-esteem, and ultimately to improve their health and quality of life. The initial contact was a great success, and in the 22-23 academic year, it was decided to expand the project as both students and the elderly expressed a great interest and curiosity in meeting face to face, going beyond the limits of pen and paper.

In these meetings, music plays a significant role. The residents remember songs from different times and genres, despite their poor memory of words and memory. It was decided to move forward with an interdisciplinary proposal where music, language, mathematics, movement, interpretation, and the arts, in general, are involved. Moreover, it's worth mentioning that between each meeting, the students analyse the songs that are sung to create a repertoire, which they learned and performed in front of the elderly. Referring to Ferrer's research (2011, p. 139), "in any artistic discipline, there is no communication without expression. Songs become a special path from an educational and, above all, a human point of view. There is nothing more intimate than communicating through singing, and nothing more sensitive than expressing oneself through song."

Our project relies on co-teaching and curricular co-design as strategies used by teachers and students to construct learning situations. In this sense, the time dedicated to reflecting, expressing, formulating doubts, and questioning among professionals is a great value, as it allows them to assess their own practice and, at the same time, to reframe and reconstruct their learning. The result of this implementation process translates into emotionally competent students and their consequent improvement in interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, empathy, and personal satisfaction and commitment, all while they are working for a common good. The children have felt part of an intergenerational project that has provided them with emotional well-being in their day-to-day lives.

References:
[1] Ferrer, R. (2011). El cant coral infantil i juvenil educa en valors, hàbits i competències. (Doctoral Thesis, University of Girona). http://hdl.handle.net/10803/77826

Keywords:

Service-learning, intergenerational dialogues, co-teaching approach, transversality.