Service-learning linking family child care providers, community partners, and preservice professionals

This article describes the implementation of a service-learning project, which was infused into a child development course. The project linked family child care providers, their licensing agency, and 39 preservice teachers in a joint effort to develop a parent handbook to be used by the providers in their child care businesses and to support participation in the state Quality Rating Improvement System ( QRIS). Students and community partners reported benefitting from the project and experts rated the course as incorporating elements of a high-quality servicelearning experience. Course instructors, family child care providers, and agency staff provided independent ratings of the quality of the parent manuals and the course. Findings suggested that service-learning projects may provide rich opportunities for socialising undergraduate early childhood students about the importance of school-family partnerships, encouraging university professors to bridge theory and practice, and supporting community partners to create and strengthen mutually beneficial collaborative relationships.