ABSTRACT
Service-learning emerged in the United States as a grassroots movement in the 1960s and 1970s and more recently has been gaining recognition in many regions of the world. As “Americanized” conceptions of service-learning circulate internationally, educators need to develop clarity about which aspects of service-learning can be adapted to diverse social, cultural, and economic contexts so as not to repeat the mistake of “exporting Western ideas and practice methodologies which may or may not be relevant”. This chapter presents an investigation that was an exploratory pilot interview study designed to compare service-learning in Ireland and in the United States in order to discern the ways in which culture and social context shape practitioners’ perceptions and practices. Service-learning in the United States and Ireland has very different histories. Yet, respondents shared similar challenges related to institutionalization, whether they were involved in a nearly 25-year project in the United States or an initiative in existence for less than a decade in Ireland.
