LIFE CHANGING SCHOOL SERVICE LEARNING PROGRAMS
REAL, PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITIES WITH SIGNIFICANT OUTCOMES
Latitude Group Travel offers high quality, life changing school service learning programs in conjunction with our partner, Global Vision International (GVI).
WHAT IS SERVICE LEARNING?
A service tour is one where students provide service of some kind to an organisation or community in need. Service learning is different, in that, besides the service component, there is an additional learning component. Service learning is a teaching theory and method that takes education gained at school or university and connects it to real life services that directly benefit the community or environment. A service learning project is different to traditional programs as it combines balanced learning goals with impact based service outcomes. Periods of structured reflection are also included, to allow students to absorb and consider what has happened each day. Discussions are held afterwards for sharing and for the group leader to assist any student who might be having problems or concerns.
A service learning project uses real life experiences to enhance academic studies, increase students’ personal growth and interpersonal skills and to positively impact the global community or environment. The combination of service (the experiential, hands-on part) + learning (the educational context part) + reflection (when the student explores what they have experienced and learned, tying everything together) is what makes up a service learning program.
Who is GVI?
Global Vision International (GVI) is a multi-award winning social enterprise that runs service tours for schools and conservation and community development programs around the world. They already have projects and programs in place and have been working in these countries for over 15 years, in some cases. They work hand in hand with the indigenous communities to ensure that the communities’ needs are being met and projects are identified by both the local community and local NGOs such as Save the Children or the Red Cross etc. GVI’s Charitable Trust enables your school to stay involved with the local community after you return home – a unique, yet imperative feature of what is offered.
GVI & LATITUDE GROUP TRAVEL
An experience with GVI and Latitude Group Travel is one that creates positive change and inspires a lifetime of critical global engagement.
Students will expand their understanding of local and global issues through engagement with critical sustainable development projects, impacting local communities and environments in need.
Latitude Group Travel and GVI are a natural partnership, because our strong, positive ethical approaches to service tours and to supporting our clients, underpin everything we do. The prerequisite for projects in situ, because they are identified as essential by and to the community, the necessity for schools to be comfortable that the projects are making a real difference and are driven by the local people, and our preference for students and schools to have contact before, during and after their tours, was partly what drove the two organisations to work together. Extra pre-tour preparation, outstanding tour delivery by an experienced ground operator and the ability to follow up post-tour is something far more easily achieved by the partnership.
GVI has been working with local partners in each of their bases for over 15 years, ensuring that they are targeting the needs of the communities.
The projects follow objectives in line with the UN Global Goals. Students will learn about the goals relevant to their project’s region and the steps being taken worldwide towards their success.
Provides a platform for further engagement and fundraising for GVI’s programs after students return home. Additionally, GVI is on the ground with a local project leader, providing your students contact with the project before, during and after their tour. This allows for further evaluation of its success, communication with the human beneficiaries of the programs and further commitment to the communities affected by them, allowing greater empathy with the community and understanding of the ongoing impact of the programs.
Students will engage in a meaningful, context driven service learning curriculum.
Successful service learning often ignites a fire for learning, morphs an international experience into a lifetime of active, global citizenship and aims to provide young people with an international outlook and intercultural understanding.
Students will develop skills including writing, reflection and analysis, as well as professional capabilities like patience, independence, confidence, adaptability, teamwork, leadership and the ability to overcome challenges.
The Alumni & Ambassador Program encourages students to stay engaged with the work that GVI is doing and students can even gain professional working experience by taking on an internship in the future, if they wish.
SAFETY IS OUR PRIORITY
Safety is our priority – we have comprehensive safety and backup procedures in place and you will be provided with risk assessment documentation. GVI has excellent health and safety procedures and risk assessments for every destination, phase and activity. Each ten weeks the full risk assessment is updated. You also have 24/7 support on the ground and from both GVI’s and Latitude Group Travel’s head offices.
SUPPORT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
Latitude Group Travel and GVI’s combined experience, tour operations expertise and their desire to meet the highest standards result in unique and meaningful service tours for schools. We work together seamlessly to provide pre-tour service, tour delivery and post-tour follow up.
OUR WORLDWIDE PROGRAMS
Taking part in our programs will contribute to long-term goals and further development and empowerment of these communities.
INTERNATIONAL CURRICULA & PROGRAMS
Our programs have been specifically developed to meet the requirements of international curricula and programs.
Programs include the CAS (Creativity Action Service) core requirements of the International Baccalaureate, Week Without Walls, Round Square Ideals, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, UNESCO’s Global Action Program on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and more. We can design projects, within our tours, to suit most educational or personal development requirements.
For those schools following the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, service learning tours are a good fit with the CAS program and can assist in developing students who are reflective thinkers, can take on new challenges and who realise that they are part of a community and that this comes with certain responsibilities.
There are eight learning outcomes that the students need to achieve as part of their participation in the CAS program. By taking students out of their comfort zone, by challenging them and allowing them to explore, meet people, work as part of a team and experience new cultures we can work with your students to achieve these outcomes.
- Service tours to fulfil part of the service element of the CAS core requirement
- Activities either as a part of the service tour, or as an add-on to ensure that the Action element is addressed
- Add in Creativity (to Service and Action) while on a service tour by the addition of craft, art or dance based activities, allowing for creative thinking and assisting students to express themselves creatively. Students may also be interested in blogging, photo journalism, video making or other methods of creative expression during their project.
- Projects for before, during and after the tour, related to critical thinking, empathy, reflection, personal skills development/assessment and much more
- Adventure Program and Service Tours
- Programs designed to assist with the learning and development of students undertaking these awards
- Projects or included programs designed for your group for before, during and after the tour, for Service Tours, Physical Recreation, Adventurous Journey, Skills Development and the Residential
This is a unique learning opportunity otherwise not possible in the daily classroom. It is the chance for students to build friendships, develop team building and leadership skills, travel to locations outside the school, experience unfamiliar cultures, participate in activity-based programs that include community service and learn about careers by ‘doing the work’. The Week Without Walls program can be completely fulfilled by taking a Service Tour, Adventure Tour or Discovery Tour which fit perfectly with the WWW requirements and projects can be designed and developed for you specifically for your WWW program for before, during and after your tour.
All of the six Round Square Ideals are fundamental elements of our programs, where students travel internationally and become active global citizens through interactions with our local communities. By undertaking conservation and service programs, students will learn, not only the crucial importance of protecting the environment, but how to put what they learn into practise post tour – in their own communities and environments. These tours are adventures in themselves, but can also include adventure-specific activities. “Soft” skill development such as leadership, kindness and personal responsibility is facilitated through service work and by operating collaboratively within a team. Additionally, by living and working in international communities, students will see and experience the importance of real democracy and justice. They will learn just what an enormous difference one person can make through acts of service, while also understanding how GVI’s long term approach to projects is critical to ensuring meaningful outcomes that meet the needs of the communities within which they work.
By taking a conservation focussed Service Tour – be it marine, mammal or mangrove – groups wishing to fulfil the two GAP objectives can do no better than work with GVI and their local partners. Sustainable development is their catchcry and students can be involved with a sustainable development project in full flight, aimed at meeting specific objectives determined in consultation with and run by, local communities. Additionally, GVI can run specific classes on sustainable development during the service tour. A full curriculum to meet the learning objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals is available in combination with one of our tours. Any other objectives required can be met through the development of a program-specific project which can have any desired focus. Projects are developed in consultation with the group leader.