The format of this course is based on the Service-Learning model, a dynamic educational approach that combines learning and community service to provide a pragmatic learning experience while responding to societal needs.
Concretely, teachers and professional stakeholders (alumni active in Swiss child and youth protection services or organizations) identify and co-construct research projects that address a societal need that they propose to students. The goal of these projects is to get students to be involved in the production of knowledge, to invest themselves intensely in a specific subject, to manage time constraints and to develop a capacity to synthesize and prioritize objectives. Students are provided with specific guidance sheets outlining objectives, expected work, research tasks to be performed, methods to be used and deadlines. The alumni supervise the progress of these projects, which are carried out in groups of 6 students over 4 full-time weeks.
Each week in plenary session, during oral formative assessments (self-assessments), students report on the progress of their project and the achievement or not of the learning outcomes. These oral presentations help them develop self-confidence, problem-solving and communication skills. The resulting discussions allow students and teaching partners to build reciprocal, authentic, and non-hierarchical interpersonal relationships.
The course culminates in a summative assessment through a poster presentation. In 2017, one of the working groups also produced a radio program restituting the results of all the research (in partnership with Pôle Sud Lausanne and Radio Django).
