Abstract:

iTEACH is a Service-Learning project in which students from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) provide direct online school-based support to children and teenagers from vulnerable families. In particular, it is developed in cooperation with the social and cultural centre Casa San Cristóbal, which belongs to Fundación Montemadrid. It is located in the district of Villaverde, one of the most depressed in Madrid and with the greatest early school leaving. In order to offer customised assistance, the class format is one on one. The pairing is carried out taking into account the participants' profiles and always in a coordinated manner between both institutions. UPM students play an active role every step of the way during the development of the project, and are direct mentors and trainers of the children and teenagers taking part in the programme. To facilitate their task, the students go through basic training by professionals from the Casa San Cristóbal aimed at understanding the context of the children they are working with. In addition, they have the support of the volunteer coordinator of the centre as well as the teachers involved in the project at all times. This experience of bidirectional learning is described in this communication. On the one hand, this support and personalised attention is beneficial for children's school performance. And, on the other hand, university students complement their training in values by acting as mentors and trainers within different activities, thus becoming a positive reference. The results have been very positive, so during the next academic year it is even planned to expand the activity with other organisations, such as the Asociación Barró. In this case, through the iTEACH project we will cooperate by teaching specific English classes to those Roma women who are preparing their Secondary School Certificate or university entrance examinations.

Keywords:

Service-Learning, school-based support, online teaching.