Critical Review of Citizenship Discourse and Service Learning: Focusing on the ‘Active Citizenship’ of the Third Way policy and Critical Discussions about it

Objectives This study aims to expand the theoretical and practical understanding of service learning in Korea society by examining major issues of critical service learning on active citizenship presented in the UK’s Third Way policy. Methods For this purpose, the researcher analyzed literature on active citizenship and volunteerism policies presented in the Third Way policy and research papers on the theory and qualitative researches of critical service learning. Results First, the discourse of active citizenship and service learning was brought to the agenda as a national strategy to cope with social inequality and conflicts caused by neoliberal reform. Second, critical service learning sought to reconstruct the meaning of active citizenship and service learning based on the critical consciousness that existing service learning policy discourse replaces social structural issues with individual moral responsibility. Conclusions Implications for critical service learning are presented, focusing on the problems caused by the institutionalization of service learning and the limitations and recommendations of this study are described.