Building Teaching Dispositions and Service-Learning Practice: A Multi-Site Study

Service-learning is increasingly recognized as a valuable addition to teacher preparation programs (Donahue, 1999; Erikson & Anderson, 1997). In 1993, for example, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development recommended that teacher education programs introduce teaching candidates to service-learning (Anderson, 2000). A recent survey by the National Service Learning in Teacher Education Partnership (NSLTEP) revealed that service-learning has been adopted by more than 200 teacher education programs nationwide. Proponents of service-learning in teacher education argue that it can strengthen several teacher dispositions crucial to effective teaching, such as professional commitment and sensitivity to diversity (Boyle-Baise, 1998; Green, Dalton & Wilson, 1994; Vadeboncouer, Rahm, Aguilera, & LeCompte, 1995). Additionally, Education students who participate in service-learning are expected to more readily adapt it to their own teaching (Wade et al., 1999), a significant aim, given recent evidence on service-learning's effectiveness for K-12 students' academic and social development (Melchior, 1998). In the present study, we sought to test claims about service-learning's effects on preservice teachers. Specifically, we examined connections between participation in service-learning and the following preservice teacher development areas: teaching efficacy, commitment to teaching, service ethic of teaching, accepting diversity, intent to personally engage in community service in the future, and intent to utilize service-learning in future teaching. Based on research evidence that the quality of the service-learning experience can influence student outcomes (Astin, Ikeda, Vogelgesang & Yee, 2000; Conrad & Hedin, 1982; Eyler & Giles, 1999), an additional goal of this study was to examine the aspects of the service-learning experience's moderating influence on the dependent variables. In the following section, we explain the study outcomes in greater detail. Dependent Variables Teaching Efficacy Teaching efficacy has been defined as the teacher's belief in his or her ability to influence learning, even among students "who may be difficult or unmotivated" (Guskey & Passaro, 1994, p. 4). A Rand study (Armor et al., 1976) revealed two sets of efficacy beliefs: General Teaching Efficacy (GTE), the teacher's belief in the power of teachers in general to overcome external obstacles to learning, and Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE), the teacher's faith that he or she personally has the skill to bring about learning. Teachers who have a strong sense of efficacy are more committed to teaching and willing to adopt educational innovations, and bring greater planning, organization, enthusiasm, and clarity to their teaching (Allinder, 1994; Coladarci, 1992). Greater teaching efficacy is also linked to higher student achievement (Armor et al., 1976; Ashton & Webb, 1986; Moore & Esselman, 1992), efficacy (Anderson, Green, & Loewen, 1988) and interest in school. While Root and Batchelder (1994) found no effects for a child advocacy project on Education students' teaching efficacy, Wade (1995) observed improved self-esteem and self-efficacy among methods used by students who both participated in service and assisted an elementary teacher with a service-learning project. Thus, in this study, we expected that involvement in service-learning would be associated with gains in both GTE and PTE. Commitment to Teaching Commitment to teaching refers to a "belief in the importance of teaching and willingness to dedicate oneself to that career" (Goodell, 1968). Prospective teachers' initial commitment to teaching is the strongest predictor of their duration in the profession, while weak commitment has been linked to withdrawal from teacher education, failure to enter the teaching profession upon certification and premature departure from teaching (Schlechty & Vance, 1983). …