Service a big part of learning
Service learning is a fundamental part of education at Faith Lutheran College, Redlands, south-east of Brisbane. We see the importance of exposing students to the needs of the world and, in turn, challenging them to use their God-given gifts in the service of others.
Faith Leaving a Trail (FLAT) is a key element of our service program. Recently two teams of staff and students travelled to our partnership school in Vanuatu, Fokona SDA School, to take part in our Serving and Learning Tour.
‘It is important for them to recognise they can now be advocates… for other social justice issues in our world.’
All students and staff involved in the tour took part in training to prepare for the trip. Training involved learning about core Service Learning concepts, such as ‘coming as guest’, ‘story’, and ‘innate dignity’. These models were the primary focus of our learning and we used them as the lens through which we reflected about our experience.
The FLAT Vanuatu tour has two significant purposes. Firstly, our focus is on building reciprocal relationships with our partnership school. Secondly, we work to fund and physically construct classrooms for the school, in order for our partners to build capacity and provide learning spaces for their classes.
Our Service Learning model at Faith involves a ‘head, heart and hands’ approach, in which reflection is an important part of the process. As such, students and staff returned home from the trip and participated in a reflection day, focusing on the responsibility students now have to share their learning with the whole college community. Further to this, it is important for them to recognise they can now be advocates for not only this project, but also for other social justice issues in our world.
We would do well to remember the challenge of Micah 6:8: ‘Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly’.
Helena Lambert is Service Learning Coordinator at Faith Lutheran College Redlands in Queensland.
What the students say
‘We have learnt that it is important we use our head, hearts and hands. We used our head when we completed our pre-training and learnt various concepts such as ‘coming as guest’ and also the concept of ‘story’. We used our hearts when we were over in Vanuatu to show love and compassion for the people we encountered, and we used our hands to physically build the classrooms.’
– Year 12 Faith student
‘I wanted to get involved because everyone has always said it is an amazing trip, and past students have always talked about how it changes your life and the way you look at things. It has certainly changed my life.’
– Year 12 Faith student
This feature story comes from The Lutheran October 2016. Visit the website to find out more about The Lutheran or to subscribe.
