Service learning in musical education: Literature review and recommendations for practice

Abstract

In order to meet the needs of nowadays challenges, music education with a social impact is starting to gain attention, for example through sociocommunitary educational projects that include Service Learning (SL) as a methodological proposal. To explore the possibilities and limitations of SL in musical education, the present review attempts to provide the academic community with those tools and knowledge which are necessary in order to establish the state of the art and optimize this type of educational practices. Based on the guidelines established by Moher et al. (2009), the starting point of this review is a search developed in three of the most important databases of the educational field from an international perspective: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus-Elvesier (SCOPUS) and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). The inclusion and exclusion criteria utilized let the research team remove the information that, despite being linked to the topic, was not within the objectives and interests of the study. The analysis comprised the 18 papers that satisfied the criteria, and comprises the following descriptive axes: research method, research tools used, curricular content developed, educational stage, service receivers, impact on the receivers, impact on the students, length of the projects and type of service-learning. The text analyzes each one of these axes. Regarding the results obtained, this paper concludes with several concrete recommendations to assist both practical application and scientific investigation. These suggestions aspire to foster the sociocummunitary educational possibilities of musical education through SL.