Learning or Serving in Russian Higher Education: Features of a New Approach’s Initial Stage Implemention

Introduction. Service learning is a relatively new phenomenon and pedagogical approach in Russian higher education, with its widespread implementation starting in September 2023. The growing attention from researchers to the topic of service learning, along with the lack of corresponding scholarly publications, has sparked our scientific interest. This article is dedicated to the specifics of implementing service learning in the national context. Materials and methods. The study was conducted from March to August 2023. The case study method was chosen as the research strategy. 18 Russian universities participated in the research. The study design included semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Results. Through our research, we identified the peculiarities of implementing the “service learning” approach in Russian universities during the nascent stages of this practice. The analysis of the results allowed us to identify the reasons, sources, and motives for applying the service learning approach in higher education, as well as to determine the characteristics of implementing the service learning approach during its emergence in Russia. Discussion and Conclusion. Firstly, we observed a polarization of service learning practices regarding key categories – learning and service. Some practices were labeled as “learning without service”, focusing predominantly on students’ professional training. Another set of practices was termed “service without learning”, due to the predominant interest in social activities at the expense of students’ development as future professionals. Secondly, the identified lack of attention to interpreting results, setting goals, and achieving them led to discussions about a specific “non-reflective pedagogy” within the framework of the service learning approach.