Transform Higher and Compulsory Education via Service-Learning and Mentoring

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of a service-learning and mentoring program on university students professional competencies, school students performance and their teachers-tutors satisfaction. The intervention consisted of 352 mentoring sessions with compulsory education students, 67 sessions of coordination with their teachers-tutors and 84 sessions of family counseling, delivered by university students, who were previously trained and continuously monitored by the programs coordinators. The results yield significant statistical differences on the university students' competencies, as well as a tendency to improve school performance by school students, and high levels of teachers-tutors' satisfaction. This intervention has contributed to improve the efficacy and efficiency of compulsory Education as well as the university training.