Higher education student learning beyond the classroom: findings from a community music service learning project in rural South Africa

Inspired by local arts community engagement initiatives and community music interventions internationally, Wits University (in Johannesburg, South Africa) developed a model of service learning that links the intentions, methodologies and purposes of these domains to promote student learning and benefit communities. This paper examines the quality and content of Community Music students' learning in a pilot project located in Limpopo province in South Africa. Data from student focus groups and academic essays were analysed in terms of the discernible levels of students' academic, personal and civic learning' [Ash, S. L., and P. H. Clayton. 2009. Generating, Deepening, and Documenting Learning: The Power of Critical Reflection in Applied Learning. Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education 1: 25-48]. This critical reflection framework enabled students to articulate and deepen their learning, demonstrating their development in creative musical leadership and sense of social responsiveness and responsibility. Findings prompt further interrogation of the purposes and impact of community music service learning as a model of community engagement in South African higher education, to advance the key role of the arts in South Africa's social transformation.