Service learning as part of tertiary music programmes in South Africa: a framework for implementation

Abstract

As of 2009 service learning has been integrated into the music programme at the Odeion School of Music, University of the Free State (South Africa), as a compulsory module for final-year students. In order to uphold academic and institutional standards, it was stipulated that the said module had to include mechanisms that would promote quality interaction and engagement activities within a framework that would ensure the implementation and coordination of meaningful, sustainable service and learning. The need for the development of such a module formed the rationale for this study, which draws on relevant pedagogical theories and perspectives on the relation between service learning and the social and educational realms of music in order to formulate a framework for the implementation of quality service learning. It is believed that the framework presented in this article may offer a generic basis for the implementation of service learning at higher education institutions, specifically in music departments.

Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa, Volume 9 2012, 1–22