Learners’ Reflections on Service Learning Pedagogy in the Teaching of Civic Education Lessons in Zambia

Service learning practice in the recent past has been a focus of scholars in Zambia and is gaining popularity and attention among academia as alternative pedagogy in the Civic Education secondary school curriculum. In the quest to find a better pedagogy for teaching Civic Education, the study explored pedagogical practices from the learners’ perspective in trying to understand the service learning practices that could be prevalent in schools. Using an explanatory sequential design, this study was done in two phases. The first stage involved collecting quantitative data through a structured questionnaire while the second stage involved collecting qualitative data using focus group discussions. Three elements were critically considered during this procedure, that is, how the learners rank methods of teaching in a classroom in accordance with what they deemed as most interesting to the less interesting methods; the service learning practices they are engaged in and lastly, the service learning practices that address pedagogical shortfalls. Among the major findings of this study were that the teaching of Civic Education in Zambia was not premised on learner centered pedagogies. Learners were keen about learning Civic Education using interactive pedagogies but were not receiving the desired learning environment. Another finding was that learners’ academic learning was not linked service learning activities. The study concludes that there is still a weak link between schools and communities and the gap can only be bridged by institutionalizing service learning pedagogy in the teaching of Civic Education.