Student Leadership

This article focuses on how service-learning projects can help develop leadership skills in students from kindergarten through college. It discusses how the skills acquired while working on a community project can be transferred to the classroom and campus. Other direct and indirect benefits of service learning are also addressed.

Keywords Civic Responsibility; Critical Thinking Skills; Experiential Learning; Leadership Skills; National & Community Service Act of 1990; Reflection; Service Learning; Student Leadership; Volunteerism

Overview

A leader is one who leads or guides, and leadership is the process by which a person helps others accomplish their objectives and goals. Leadership differs from management in that it influences people to achieve goals rather than solely taking direction and completing individual work. Successful leaders can do this by applying various attributes such as values, ethics, knowledge, character, and persuasiveness. Conventional wisdom used to be that leaders are born; but people can acquire knowledge, gain character, develop a sense of ethics, and change their value system if need be. People can also learn to be persuasive, work well in a group setting, delegate, and many other traits that make an effective leader. Service learning can help students of any age develop all these characteristics through volunteerism.

The National and Community Service Act of 1990, as amended through December 17, 1999, defines service learning as a way by which students, through active participation in a service project performed in the community, learn and develop. Service learning projects are integrated into the academic curriculum or the educational aspects of the program, and the experiences must address actual needs in their community and help foster civic responsibility. For a project to be considered true service learning, it must also provide structured reflection time for students to reflect on and discuss what they may have learned and seen while servicing the community.

Service learning has become an important component of many educational programs from kindergarten through college. Service learning provides experiential learning by pairing classroom concepts with real-world community needs, which helps students see real-life applications of what they are learning in school. Service learning can help foster leadership skills in those who participate. Through service learning, students can take responsibility, learn new skills, develop presentation and persuasive skills, and become effective leaders. Service learning increases students’ critical thinking skills and helps them learn how to function as part of a group; both important leadership traits. For older students, service learning can also help define career goals and direct their collegiate studies by exposing them to professions they may not know exist and learning about the skills required of the profession. Students can meet government administrators, civil servants, college professors, social workers, scientists, health care workers, and others who work throughout the community. They are able to meet with leaders of professions and evaluate whether they have the same interests and leadership style as those with whom they come into contact. Interacting with community leaders provides real examples of leadership in action. Service learning projects help students acquire “skills necessary for effective leadership, including social and interpersonal skills, the ability to listen, and presentation skills, working in group settings, setting goals, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Students observe and analyze leadership skills and thus define their own” (Pleasants, et al, 2004, ¶ 11).

Leadership skills can be broken down into four categories: intellectual skills, participatory skills, research skills, and persuasion skills. Intellectual skills include interpreting, analyzing, summarizing, and evaluating information; understanding issues; being able to describe and evaluate; identifying criteria to make judgments; and identifying responsibilities. Participatory skills include solving problems and taking action, compromising, seeking consensus, and making decisions. Being able to understand the issues and make choices based on fact fall under the research category as does acquiring information from groups and individuals and reporting on meetings. Persuasive skills include being able to develop a rationale to support a particular point of view and building consensus ("Fostering Civic Responsibility," 2000).

Service learning projects can help youth enhance their leadership skills in many different ways. Students may offer to help other students who are working on the project but having difficulty completing their particular tasks or helping them to understand the project as a whole. Students may even contribute beyond what is expected of them or their particular assignment and continue to volunteer and work with the project host long after the community service project is completed. By working on one component of a project and having their classmates work on others, students are able to value the contributions of all team members. Students learn to respect their fellow team members and those individuals who are on the receiving end of the service project. They also learn to respect the philosophy of the organization and its accomplishments by their close association with the organization. Students learn to take responsibility for themselves and the project and learn to participate and collaborate in group activities. “Students learn about civic and social responsibility, their intellectual development is enhanced by answering engaging questions about themselves and their world; and they exercise moral/ethical reasoning when faced with difficult social issues while working on their projects” (Easterling & Rudell, 1997, ¶ 12).

Applications

All these leadership skills can be further developed by what they do in school. With the confidence and knowledge they gained from participating in service projects, students are ready for even more responsibility in school. Students involved in service-learning projects can come back in the classroom and help those who were not participants or who are too young to contribute to certain projects. For example, high school students could integrate information garnered on violence in adolescent relationships and conduct workshops on relationship violence and date rape for the entire school and develop an informational brochure or leaflet detailing the warning signs and where to go for help, thus all students benefit from a small group's desire to help others and the initiative they took ("Fostering Civic Responsibility," 2000).

Another example of how the leadership skills students acquire from service-learning projects can be used in the schools comes from the Eaton's Hill State School in Queensland, Australia. Teachers who instruct students in their early years there rotate opportunities for classroom responsibilities and leadership positions to give everyone a chance to participate. Students present at assembly with a few of their peers so they are not too overwhelmed or intimidated by the setting. Students show new students around the school on a one-on-one basis. They also present gifts of appreciation to classroom visitors on behalf of the class and share information about class activities as a group at special events or occasions. Students in the middle years do all of the same things as those in their early years but take on a little more responsibility and begin to act independently of the group. They present at assembly with peers or individually, or 'adopt' new students and help induct them into class and school routines and places. Students in their upper years at the school do everything the other students do, but they continue to build on their responsibilities and become tour guides, showing parents and guests around the school (Eaton's Hill State School, 2005).

There are now schools that are allowing students to become involved in decision making for the school. Students are assisting with textbook and instructional materials adoption with guidance from their instructors, which can increase their interest in school. They are serving on committees when vacancies occur at the school and helping the administration decide what new courses could be taught to be responsive to their needs and interests. Students are also helping to decide the scheduling of the school day, how the school building will be used, how available funds are spent, and issues concerning extracurricular activities (Fletcher, n.d.). These opportunities allow students to be fully engaged in their education, learn to appreciate all aspects that go into running a school and the employees that run it, and continue to hone their leadership skills.

Some assume that “leadership is an innate gift and is not something that can be learned. However, there is a teachable set of skills that can be learned; and any student can demonstrate leadership potential by showing good social judgment, responsibility, and confidence,” all of which service learning projects can help develop (Pleasants, 2004, ¶ 3). By allowing students to be immersed in all aspects of a service learning project, authentic leadership experiences will present themselves allowing students to enhance and change their guidance skills and management style when necessary.

According to a 2005 report by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the number of college students who volunteer is increasing. Over 30 percent of all college students between the ages of 16 to 24 (3.3 million) have donated their time, compared with 28 percent (2.7 million students) in 2002 (Farrell, 2006). This can partially be attributed to the fact that there are more service learning projects going on in the K-12 system and these students are carrying on the spirit of volunteerism that they learned while they were in grade school and/or high school. This is a positive sign for the future and shows that there are many students learning the positive qualities that comprise effective leadership.

Increased involvement can empower students “as future leaders. Students can gain practical experience that may help them determine career choices and give them a competitive advantage in the job market” since they will be able to incorporate all the work they did and the skills they learned to produce a more powerful resume (Easterling, 1997, ¶ 2).

Service learning can also help student leadership capabilities by developing the skills that help create productive workplaces, inspire a commitment to excellence, anticipate change and transitions, and build personal competence. A leader helps create a productive workplace by communicating clearly the organization's purpose, what is expected of each individual, how everyone's duties relate to the mission and goals of the organization, and includes people in decisions that could potentially affect them. Inspiring a commitment to excellence means taking responsibility, holding one-self accountable when appropriate, and implementing ideas for improvement. Anticipating change and transition involves being flexible and open minded to the suggestions of others and the ability to evaluate them, and learn from experience and use the knowledge gained for future projects. Building personal competence includes setting aside time to reflect and plan, assessing one's own abilities and being willing to work on professional development, and working to ensure personal credibility. Students involved in service learning projects have experience in all these facets of leadership.

Critical thinking skills are used in analyzing data and reports to determine which project the group elects to undertake, coming up with solutions to solve the problem, making decisions throughout the project, and during the reflection process at the end of the project. Students learn to function as part of a group throughout the entire project by deciding which project to do, determining how the project will be done, and deciding which students do which aspects of the project. Making the connection between what they learn in the classroom and how it applies to real-life situations helps prepare students to function in the world upon graduation. Service learning can help shape students' character by promoting responsibility because students must commit to a project, show up for the project, and see the project through to its conclusion. By working on a project to help others in need, service learning helps develop a sense of civic responsibility and the need to give back to the community in order to make it a better place to live for everyone. These are all skills that will be used throughout life and another example of how leadership skills are used to accomplish a service-learning project.

For students who have “great capacity for leadership but lack the social skills associated with leadership, service learning can also assist them in that it affords these students the opportunity to lead. When the opportunity to lead is combined with meaningful, guided reflection, it gives students personal insight into social issues and stimulates desire to get actively involved in the school and community” (Pleasants, Stephens, Selph, & Pfeiffer, 2004, ¶ 7). As they serve in the community, they deal with problems directly rather than just reading about them, which is why the experiential learning aspect of service learning is so important. As students get more actively involved in the project and gain confidence, they become motivated to sign up others to help in the projects, make a difference, and see great success. This direct experience can also create a desire for students to use their abilities to invoke change and make a difference.

Guided reflection “encourages students to discover their own personal style of leadership. This aspect allows students to see the difference their actions have made within the community” (Pleasants, et al, 2004, ¶ 16). This is an important component of service learning because it helps students see that all the little things they have done during the project. Reflection helps students learn that they can alter things and make a difference in the community both as an individual and as a group. When they realize the impact they have had on their community, they feel empowered and inspired to do even more. A project that could have seemed impossible to accomplish in the beginning is finished and has helped the community in indefinable ways. This builds confidence, a sense of self worth, a connection to the community, and a sense that everyone can help make a difference if they try and see a project through to the end.

By including students in the decision-making process, teachers help build leadership characteristics. Students are encouraged to identify a community need and persuade others to elect to work on that particular project. Presentation skills, persuasive skills, organizational skills, goal setting skills, research skills, and problem solving skills are all used to sway other students to want to work on a particular project. Students can be divided up into their area of initial interest (helping the homeless, AIDS awareness, animal welfare, the environment, etc.) to work on a proposal for their project. This helps students learn how to work with and be effective in small group settings. All of these are important leadership characteristics and are permanent skills that can be used in any subject or field of employment.

Service learning helps older students establish relationships that can affect the rest of their lives. Service learning can provide them with contacts and mentors and support as they go through the job search process. Service learning also enables students to add leadership and organization skills to their résumés. It can provide them with the self-confidence they need to succeed in an interview situation. When exploring college options, students can look into the service opportunities that are available and also discover special programs and scholarships just for students interested in service learning. Many colleges and universities offer seminars, workshops, or courses for credit that are directly related to service and incorporate student leadership into their general framework. There are other opportunities students can take advantage of while on campus, including becoming resident assistants, student ambassadors, orientation leaders, and also participating in mentoring programs. All these opportunities can help expand their cultural, social, and academic interests and help ease the transition to college. Participating in certain campus programs can also provide tuition waivers, scholarship, and free room and board to help students make college a reality without acquiring immense debt.

One example to show how student leadership concepts can be woven into a single service-learning project is a Habitat for Humanity service project conducted in Louisiana (Bonette, 2006). All homes built by Habitat for Humanity “are completed with volunteer labor and donations of money and materials. Objectives for students involved in the project were to understand the philosophy of Habitat for Humanity, develop an understanding of community service, develop new skills for collaborating and communicating design ideas on CAD (computer-aided design), demonstrate problem-solving skills and skills in analyzing information, work under the guidance of master builders and teachers, demonstrate an understanding of professionalism required in the workplace, and create detailed CAD drawings for the local community” (Bonette, 2006, p. 8).

According to Bonette (2006), students looked into the organization's founders, history and beliefs. After that, “meetings were set up with builders to discuss needs and to develop a plan to coordinate activities in compliance with Habitat's vision. The teacher and students met with the building supervisors at work sites to preview construction details. Students then began the detailed work of completing full sets of plans. The students divided into teams responsible for rendering drawings and overseeing other team members' work to check for accuracy and completeness. Students were part of an assessment and accountability process, holding meetings to receive feedback, review accomplishments, discuss concerns, and seek technical assistance. After drafts were reviewed and approved by team members and their teacher, the work was submitted to the building supervisor for evaluation. The supervisor worked with students to assure the quality of their work and provide technical instruction if necessary. To help students demonstrate an understanding of professionalism, discussions were held throughout the project, and a list of tenets and behaviors was provided as a framework for student discussions to assure they approached all activities with integrity and professionalism. Students also developed and submitted portfolios of their work weekly for evaluation. The portfolios were a component of a formative assessment that utilized pre-established benchmarks for the purpose of evaluating and tracking student performance over time” (Bonette, 2006, p. 9). By having weekly evaluations, students were able to modify their short-term goals to reflect their strengths and weaknesses and were able to reflect on the experience of the service activity. Students created two final portfolios: one which highlighted the individual student's successes, and the second, which showed the team's performance as a whole, both of which could be presented to any potential employer when students began their job search process. This project illustrates how many aspects of leadership development can be covered by a single service-learning project (Bonette, 2006).

A leader's characteristics are varied and far reaching. Leaders must have the ability to facilitate, plan, build consensus, make informed and responsible decisions, appreciate diversity, assess needs, build community, define roles and responsibilities, develop and use effective questions, acquire information, evaluate information, communicate, advocate, persuade, and work cooperatively. They also need to take risks, acquire new information, share influence and the burden of their success and failure when appropriate. Students can enhance their personality, the extent of their influence as a citizen, and knowledge as a result of leading service learning projects. Dividing the power and accountability between students and teachers helps students become interested and motivated leaders who take charge, solve problems or discover ways to fix things, and be attentive to the needs of the community. This helps make leadership authentic and meaningful. Each step needs to guarantee that service-learning experiences will be successful for all involved; but by assigning students very specific duties instead of letting them decide their own tasks to complete, they are denied the chance for decision making and action planning. This can also limit their understanding of how tasks are interconnected and refuses them any sense of just how complex the management and leadership skills are, which misses out on a great opportunity to help them understand the overall picture (Des Marais, Yang, Farzanehkia, 2000). By allowing students full participation-including taking responsibility for their mistakes-students can grow and develop into effective, competent leaders.

Terms & Concepts

Civic Responsibility: The commitment of a citizen to take into their own hands the health and function of a community as a whole. Service-learning and community engagement are usually related to the development of student’s civic and communal duties.

Community Service: Volunteerism that individuals participate in so that they can help a community reach its goals and maintain its well-being.

Critical Thinking: The process of actively using and evaluating information given from criticizing, reflecting, and experiencing the events around us.

Experiential Learning: Combines direct, real-world experience that relates directly to the student with critical thinking skills and assessment. The process focuses on the students and gives them the option of taking control of their own situations and learning experience.

National and Community Service Act of 1990: Renewed focus on encouraging volunteering in America. It was amended in 1993, and the Corporation for National and Community Service was established.

Reflection: The process of finding meaning and understanding from an experience and connecting the concept consciously with classroom learning.

Service Learning: Combines classroom concepts with real-world community needs to help students understand the importance of what they are studying while fostering concern for the community and its citizens.

Volunteerism: The performance of formal service to help individuals and the community while not receiving any form of payment in return.

Bibliography

Bonnette, R. (2006). Out of the classroom and into the community: Service learning reinforces classroom instruction. Technology Teacher, 65 , 6-11. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from EBSCO online database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=19708934&site=ehost-live

Bowman, R.F. (2013). Learning leadership skills in middle school. Clearing House, 86, 59-63. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=85221658&site=ehost-live

Constitutional Rights Foundation Service-Learning Network (2000). Fostering civic responsibility through service learning. Retrieved April 21, 2007 from http://www.crf-usa.org/network/net8_1.html

Des Marais, J., Yang, Y., & Farzanehkia, F. (2000). Service-learning leadership development for youths. Phi delta Kappan, 81 , 678. Retrieved April 21, 2007 from EBSCO online database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=3078348&site=ehost-live

Easterling, D. & Rudell, F. (1997). Rationale, benefits, and methods of service-learning in marketing education. Journal of Education for Business, 73 , 58. Retrieved April 21, 2007 from EBSCO online database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=9711130843&site=ehost-live

Eaton's Hill State School. (2005). Eaton's Hill State School student leadership framework. Retrieved April 25, 2007 from http://www.eatohillss.qld.edu.au/AboutUs/Schooldocuments/leadership.pdf

Farrell, E. (2006). More college students are volunteering. Chronicle of Higher Education, 53 , p. A40. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from EBSCO online database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=22984132&site=ehost-live

Fletcher, A. (2006). Student voice in school building leadership. Soundout. Retrieved April 25, 2007 from http://www.soundout.org/article.105.html

Lavery, S.D., & Hine, G.C. (2013). Catholic school principals: Promoting student leadership. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry & Practice, 17, 41-66. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=90498609&site=ehost-live

McClellan, J.L. (2013). Contributing to the development of student leadership through academic advising. Journal of Leadership Education, 12, 207-233. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88906258&site=ehost-live

Pleasants, R., Stephens, K., Selph, H., & Pfeiffer, S. (2004). Incorporating service learning into leadership education: Duke TIP's leadership Institute. Gifted Child Today, 27 , 16-21. Retrieved April 21, 2007 from EBSCO online database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=12218729&site=ehost-live

RMC Research Corporation. (2002). Impacts of service-learning on participating K-12 students. Retrieved April 21, 2007 from National Service-Learning Clearinghouse http://servicelearning.org/resources/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/impacts/index.php?search_term="student%20leadership

Suggested Reading

Burchard, B. (2006). The Student Leadership Guide. San Francisco, CA: SwiftKick Development.

Karnes, F. (1995). Leadership for Students: A Practical Guide for Ages 8-18. Austin, TX: Prufrock Press.

MacGregor, M. (2005). Designing Student Leadership Programs: Transforming the Leadership Potential of Youth, Third Edition. Morrison, CO: Youthleadership.com.

Parks, S. (2005). Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Zlotkowski, E., Williams, J. & Longo, N. (2006). Students as Colleagues: Expanding the Circle of Service-Learning Leadership. Providence, RI: Campus Compact.