CHAPTER 7: Youth Development in Traditional and Transformational Service-Learning Programs

This chapter examines the relationship between service-learning (SL) and youth development theory. We contend that a more intentional consideration of youth development theory may provide a more focused strategic framework for SL programs. Youth development refers to growth processes that young people undergo in order to meet personal and social needs as well as build competencies to better function in and contribute to their social context (Pittman & Cahill, 1992). To illustrate the potential for a more deliberate incorporation of youth development theory into SL programs and the associated gains, we draw a distinction between two strands of youth development: what we call traditional and transformative youth development. Traditional youth development refers to adaptation and competency building that facilitates young people’s engagement with and participation in the opportunity structure (Roisman, Masten, Coatsworth, & Tellegen, 2004; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003). Transformational youth development refers to the development of a consciousness of social inequality and taking action to produce broader-scale changes in social structures (Ginwright & James, 2002). The key difference between these two strands is that the former describes development adaptive to and operating within the status quo, whereas the latter is interested in developmental processes that contribute to changing the status quo. We use this traditional–transformational taxonomy to provide parallel examples of how SL programs would be augmented by closer attention to youth development theory.