Developing Character and Leadership through Guided Peer-Mentoring in an Overseas Service-Learning Project for CambodiaPaul Segarra, Lim Cheng Puay, Asmizar Bin Abu, Chia Ming Huei & Nora Ang Raffles Girls School (Secondary) Singapore Abstract Raffles Girls School (Secondary) aims to nurture the high-ability girl to be a leader who will realize her talents in service of nation and community through special programs like Overseas Service Learning (OSL). A 3-year OSL project with partners and participants in Cambodia provides a platform for pupils and teachers to assume leadership and mentoring roles in addressing real community needs, and presents opportunities for continued outreach and involvement with our Asian neighbors. RGS-OSL teams utilize facilitated experiential learning strategies as well as the Kouzers-Posner Leadership Model to achieve both its service and its learning objectives.

INTRODUCTION To further its mission of nurturing the high-ability girl to be a leader who will realize her talents in service of nation and community, Raffles Girls School (Secondary) (RGS) has developed and sustains a project-based, service-learning (SL) curriculum that serves as a pedagogical platform for actualizing leadership traits and skills, as well as fostering civic-mindedness and social responsibility among its students. As such, service-learning is an integral component of the schools Character and Leadership Education (CLE) curriculum. Following Treffingers levels of service1 model, all students in their first and second year are guided through a series of increasingly challenging, short-term service-learning projects. Given more youth voice in their second and third years, many of them choose to build upon existing projects previously started by their seniors, or propose and carry-out new projects based on actual community needs. On their third year, some of these students are selected for special projects like Overseas Service Learning (OSL). Here they are trained to move away from their comfort zones and are exposed to high-challenge, learning environments which allow the acquisition of character and leadership attributes to be facilitated. Early in their final year at RGS(S), a few students apply and are chosen to participate in a peer-mentorship training program, where they are empowered, enabled

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and guided as they assume mentor-roles to their juniors as the latter carry out their SL projects. With distinct service and learning objectives identified and aligned to the schools CLE curriculum, peer-mentors embark on this learning-journey together with their mentees as part of their common SL project for the year.

Teacher-mentors guide student-teams for each project. Both teacher- and student-mentors go for training workshops in project management and experiential learning facilitation, customized for these different roles. A team of experienced facilitators coordinate training, as well as provide structured guidance and support to SL teams and mentors through strategic involvement in projects at every level.

SL Trainors & Coordinators

Teacher-mentors

Student-mentors (Sec 4)

SL Teams (Sec 1, 2 and 3)Levels of Guidance and Monitoring of Service-Learning Project Teams

The RGS-OSL Cambodia project began in 2006 as a collaborative partnership between RGS and Cambodian non-governmental organizations, which focuses on primary and secondary education as a strategy for social re-construction and development. Through the project, RGS students are given the opportunity to directly engage a local community in the provincial south of Cambodia for two weeks, while trying to address some of the communitys genuine needs.

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Student volunteers (Sec 3) were guided by both teacher- and student-mentors (Sec 4 students who were former participants of OSL) in the planning and the execution of the project. Student volunteers were directly involved in all its aspects, starting from pre-trip preparations to actual service and post-trip reporting. These include planning, fund-raising, pre-service training, logistics, publications and cultural exchange activities.

The RGS(S) service-learning program is grounded on complementary local and overseas initiatives. By providing opportunities for structured training and guidance, local SL projects prepare students for service beyond national borders. Meanwhile, overseas service expeditions provide a context for further extending personal learning horizons, which encourages and empowers students to assume leadership roles in social outreach activities on the home front.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Servant-Leadership and Peer Mentoring The great leader is first experienced as a servant to others. Robert K. Greenleaf drew this conclusion after reading Herman Hesses novel Journey to the East, and laid the foundations of a modern conceptualization of leadership that puts the persons served at the center of the leadership experience. While being served by their leaders, these people grow to become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, (and) more likely themselves to become servants. (Spears, 2004)

Peer mentors are knowledgeable and experienced guides, caring facilitators, role models and trusted advocates who work with their mentees, and in behalf of their mentees goals and best interests. (Nakagawa, 1999) In the service of their younger peers, good peer mentors naturally provide exemplary servant-leadership that both enables and inspires positive personal growth among their mentees. They become character educators to their peers by modeling the way.

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Developing Character through Service-Learning

According to Thomas Lickona, the establishment of a caring culture and community is crucial to developing character among students in schools. Effective character education requires an intentional, proactive and comprehensive approach that promotes core values and gives students opportunities for moral action. (Lickona, et.al., 1998) Numerous research findings suggest strong links between character education and service-learning. Many of them document clear evidence that while character education supports service-learning outcomes, service-learning provides the environment in which the goals and values of character education can be enhanced. (RMC, 2008) The student who is involved in a good service-learning project finds a greater purpose for learning and performing. Meaningful engagement with the larger community within the context of service promotes an attitude of caring for others, and forms character by helping develop the intrinsic motivation to serve the common good.

A Leadership Service-Learning Model

Service-learning becomes a more powerful pedagogical approach when it is integrated into a leadership development framework. James Kouzes and Barry Posner have identified five key practices of effective student leadership: 1. Modeling the way, 2. Inspiring a shared vision, 3. Challenging the process, 4. Enabling others to act, and 5. Encouraging the heart. (Kouzes and Posner, 2006) This values-focused leadership model not only furnishes a simple, pedagogical meta-language that facilitates learning through practice, but also provides a convenient, evidence-based tool for a formative evaluation of service-learning outcomes.

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METHODOLOGY

OSL Cambodia, 2006-2008

The OSL Cambodia Project was a sustained community service commitment by RGS(S) which partnered two Cambodia-based NGOs and one local Singaporean school. It engaged four Cambodian schools and one childrens community center, and directly served over 1,600 Cambodian students and pre-school children. Over three years, three OSL teams raised funds to build water-storage and toilet facilities, purchase 12 computers, an LCD projector, an electrical generator, numerous textbooks and school supplies (all donated to the schools), and cover operational costs. Within the span of 10- to 14-day expeditions at the end of every year, OSL team members gave English lessons to Cambodian classes and provided basic IT instruction (MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Paint) to both students and teachers. They also painted murals on the external walls of a community child-care center in the village, and taught the children English and basic oral hygiene. For the most part, however, the successful attainment of the projects service and learning objectives could be largely attributed to the careful design and implementation of year-long preparations that require the involvement of both students and teachers, who are empowered and committed to lead the way in serving others.

OSL Team Selection Secondary-three students apply for the years OSL team, and are selected based on evidence of commitment, fitness, possible contribution as well as potential for personal growth through the program. Secondary-four students from the previous years team, on the other hand, may apply to become peer mentors, and are chosen based on their potential to serve and grow as such. Once selected, peer mentors receive training in experiential learning design and facilitation, and are subsequently put to the task of planning, organizing and running a selection camp for secondarythree candidates, based on the principles theyve just learned. Under the close monitoring and guidance of teacher-mentors, peer mentors plan and execute the two-day camp, which not only facilitates effective team-selection, but also experiential learning that equips and prepares the

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candidates to collaborate and lead in any service-learning project. Peer mentors participate in the teams selection process through their individual and collective recommendations. Aside from encouraging them to closely observe and get to know their prospective mentees (which are fundamental requisites of good mentorship), this participation also trains them in collective decision-making and builds community among mentors.

After the members of the team are selected and project objectives are made clear, the secondarythree participants are assigned roles and given responsibilities in the various operational aspects of the project. They hold periodic committee meetings and keep both their student and teachermentors informed via email as they execute their plans, seeking their advice and assistance when required. Mentors encourage, counsel, help and, when necessary, manage conflict and correct. Above all they try to insure their mentees personal safety, as they facilitate their learning through active listening and reflective questioning. Mentors and mentees meet one-on-one, in their committees or as a whole team for various planned activities in preparation for their common service. These activities provide experiences from which authentic and invaluable learning can be intentionally drawn, distilled and crystallized.

Facilitated Experiential Learning

We find it useful to distinguish between two types of learning in our service-learning projects. The first consists of learning that enables and supports effective service. This includes knowledge and skills acquired by participants through training, research and exposure activities, usually as a prelude to, or in preparation for service. The second consists of learning which arises from the service itself. This type of learning is experiential and consists in the process of making meaning from direct experience. (Itin, 1999) It is of greater value to the learner, as it involves the acquisition of big ideas that he or she can apply in many other contexts or situations. It is learning that results in a changed outlook, mentality, attitude, behavior; or one that leads to a greater self-awareness. This type of learning is drawn-out through reflection and facilitation techniques that are applied by both peer- and teacher-mentors.

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Cultural Pre-immersion

Fostering sensitivity and respect for other cultures are among the desired outcomes of OSL. Some cultural milieus, however, require service-learners to already have these fundamental dispositions to insure that service can be genuinely rendered. Under the supervision of teacherand peer-mentors, OSL teams were brought to the Golden Mile Complex, where activities designed to enable the facilitation of these learning outcomes were safely carried out. After performing tasks that require them to engage and solicit necessary information from local Thai store hands and managers, mentees were asked questions like: What made the conversation with a Thai stranger more successful? What made it difficult? How would you do it differently next time? Through facilitation, peer mentors help their mentees realize the importance of doing preliminary research on certain aspects of a host culture, of seeking to understand it, and how learning at least the basics of the hosts language facilitates a far more fruitful engagement with its people.

Local Service-Learning

OSL Cambodia teams prepare for their overseas service by taking part in local service-learning projects that are similar to their prospective service activities abroad. Volunteering at various local kindergartens, tutorial and day-care centers provide team members opportunities to develop and hone mural painting skills, as well as meaningfully interact with children. Through facilitated de-brief sessions with mentors, students learn to effectively plan learning games and activities, and improvise on-the-spot according to the needs of the children under their care. The presence of the facilitating peer- or teacher-mentor/s on-site during service is essential for effective facilitation of students learning.

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Personal Reflections

Reflections form a vital part of every major OSL activity, as these help surface both intentional and incidental learning among students. Mentors design questions that encourage critical and reflective thinking about ones actions, experiences and learning, and how these could ultimately be linked to the needs of the community, the teams service objectives and the desired learning outcomes. By being open to sharing their own reflections with others, peer mentors model a habit of continual reflection and inspire a similar attitude among their mentees. Below are some examples of questions that were used:

Pre-Trip Reflection Questions: After preparing for the trip through sub-committee activities, Local Service Learning session, etc, what are your feelings towards OSL and the upcoming trip? What are your personal aims for the trip? What do you hope to achieve? How do you think you can contribute to the team in Cambodia? How will success in this project look like to you?

During-trip reflections What is the significance of this evenings activities to you and what do you think it means to the Cambodians? What did Mr. Kosals life story impress upon you about Cambodians?

Post-Trip Reflection Questions: What were your pre-trip objectives? How were they changed or met? List and elaborate on 3 things you have learnt from this project. How has your understanding of service changed, if at all? Where would you go and what would you do after the project to serve others based on your learning? Below are excerpts of some peer mentors post-trip reflections:

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I suppose the overall impact [on me] would be that I have been trying to learn to apply those understandings. And of course, it has certainly given me more heart to love. Their hospitality has been touching; I really never imagined how sincere others could be, how anyone could be so unpretentious and real from deep within (at least seemingly) and how they were so humble. It made me realize that clichd as it may sound, smiles and simple words of concern really can light up ones day. It seems like Ive been so caught up in the big things that I forgot the simple things, the very basic sincerity in treating others.

Instinctively, the first word I would think of would be amazing, probably because I find it difficult to summarize two weeks worth of mixed emotions into one word. But, really it just seems amazing that Ive seen more eye-opening stuff within that period than I remember ever seeing, consciously learnt so much from others, befriended beautiful people, felt more than I ever did in a long time.

With the OSL experience gained, I guess I will try to put into practice whatever I understood from the trip. Also, I think its given me more confidence to try new stuff; so I guess anytime I have fears about trying something, I can always look back on the OSL experience to motivate myself to just try. Ill probably do more to try to serve the community, and somehow the OSL experience will be useful in whatever projects I want to do I guess. And I guess Ill share the experience with others, and idealistic as it sounds, perhaps inspire them to get more involved in community projects.

I've learned to ask questions that are pertinent to our learning, and to constantly reflect upon my learning. I've learned to put myself in others' shoes and empathize with them and ask the right questions to draw out their learning experiences.

The most useful thing I had learned from my RGS-OSL experience is that everyday can be filled with a greater purpose, and I have my own fight to fight, that I have a responsibility to give back to the world that has given me so much. It has taught me to think for, and beyond myself.

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What is the most useful thing I had learned from my OSL experience? To understand, you have to experience. To experience, you have to serve. To serve, you have to learn. To learn, you have to have a heart. (because when you have a heart, there are so many things waiting for you to discover and learn, that you find it almost impossible to answer the question above :P)

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:

62% of OSL pupils take up key leadership positions in their secondary 4 year. 98% of OSL pupils continue to be involved in service projects after their OSL experience. 41% of OSL pupils volunteer to become peer mentors for the following year.

REFERENCES:

Treffinger, D., Young, G., Nassab C., Wittig, C. (2002). Programming for Talent Development: Whats Unique about the Four Levels of Service? Creative Learning Today. FL: Center for Creative Learning, Inc. 11(4) pp. 1-5.

Tan, K and Lim, CP. (2007). Character and Leadership Education through the Overseas Service Learning projects to India and Cambodia by Raffles Girls School (Secondary). Paper presented at the First International Conference on Character Education through Service and Experiential Learning, March 2007.

Spears, Larry C. "Practicing Servant-Leadership" Leader to Leader. 34 (Fall 2004) pp. 7-11. Nakagawa, G. Developing a Mentoring Perspective Peer Mentoring Resource Booklet. Faculty Mentor Program, California State University, 1999. p.8 Kouzes, J. and Posner, B., Student Leadership Practices Inventory: Facilitators Guide, 2nd ed., San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006. 10

Lickona, T., Schaps, E. and Lewis, C., Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education, Early Childhood Today, November 1998. RMC Research Corporation. Character Education and Service-Learning. Scotts Valley, CA: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2006/2008. http://servicelearning.org/instant_info/fact_sheets/cb_facts/char_ed/index.php Itin, C. M. (1999). Reasserting the Philosophy of Experiential Education as a Vehicle for Change in the 21st Century. The Journal of Experiential Education. 22(2), 91-98.

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