The dean of the School of Education and Psychology, Professor Concepción Naval, has been in charge of inaugurating this edition of the Civic Parliament - as principal investigator of project-, an initiative already consolidated between the Parliament of Navarra and the University of Navarra, with a lecture that has taken by degree scroll "Service-Learning and Innovation in the University". framework At the beginning of her speech, Professor Naval explained the origins, background and objectives of the Civic Parliament initiative, which has already had six editions behind it (since 2010), in front of a hundred or so attendees, including professors and students.

The activities of the Civic Parliament always make reference letter the social and civic dimension of the Education, and have focused on four major issues: communication, sociability and citizenship, the innovation in education and the Education higher .

The lecture has been focused precisely on this fourth aspect in relation to the previous ones, specifically on how Service-Learning, which is a methodology of teaching-learning, can help all those who make up the university community, teachers, students and staff administration and services, to learn to participate in society.

Based on indicators that show sociological evidence of students' perception of civic issues, Professor Naval pointed out the benefits of this methodology "to improve students' civic skill and, in the future, innovation and employability".

According to the dean, "universities should be spaces of civic-ethical Education , where, in addition to learning to be good professionals, students have the opportunity to learn to be good citizens and achieve social change for the better".

"Universities not only have civic missions, but they are true civic missions, and their influence should reach to the last corner of the last neighborhood," said speaker.

He also wanted to point out the difference between service-learning, volunteer activities and curricular practices, where the same ingredients of learning and service are combined but with a different predominance of one of them. "Service-Learning is learning linked to the curriculum that involves voluntary service to the local community, in which there is a balance between the learning and service component."

This learning subject implies the protagonism of the student, the attention to a specific social need, a connection with curricular objectives, the execution of a project and the subsequent reflection of the work carried out. Furthermore, according to Professor Naval, the implementation of service-learning "involves three intertwined elements: a Philosophy (a way of understanding the university's social mission statement ), a methodology and an organization".

After the exhibition of the Dean of the School of Education and Psychology, Professor Elena Arbués showed examples of Service-Learning that are being carried out at the University of Navarra in the Schools of Communication, Sciences, Education and Psychology, Law and in the School of Architecture.

There are many indications that show the growing interest in the Education, especially in its social and civic dimension, and the Civic Parliament precisely tries to meet this social demand, developing activities related to the promotion of democratic values, aimed at promote participation and civic engagement, and also initiatives aimed at addressing the problems and challenges of today's society, as well as the promotion of the identity of European citizenship.