Solidarity in practice: Service-learning as a lever for integral education – A case study in Doel, Belgium

This article reports on the preliminary findings of an ongoing study by the Faculty of Architecture and the Service-learning Office of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) on whether and how service-learning can act as a lever for integral education. While integral education aims to foster the whole person’s development, service-learning typically seeks to give students ownership of their learning process and simultaneously attend to community needs. Using the Doelland service-learning initiative as a case study, we distinguished five principles and mechanisms that can function as levers with transformative potential. Solidarity was identified as an overarching principle that grows through a circular process resulting in even deeper connections and mutual support among educators, students and the community. Applying the insights from this study to architectural education can allow students and societal partners to learn and experience how architecture can become a critical, inclusive and situated practice.