Toward institutional change through critical feminist service-learning: a case study in an outdoor physical activity and sport course

Outdoor education is increasingly recognized for fostering autonomy, resilience, and wellbeing, yet its transformative potential, particularly when guided by feminist and justice-oriented pedagogies, remains underexplored. This qualitative case study explored a Critical Feminist Service-Learning (CFSL) project embedded in an Outdoor Physical Activity and Sport (OPAS) course at a Spanish university. The project engaged 15 women community partners experiencing homelessness, 12 undergraduates, two faculty members, and one institutional service-learning coordinator in co-designed outdoor practices (e.g., hiking, Nordic walking). Data from 13 semi-structured interviews, participant observation, journals, and institutional documents were analyzed through inductive-deductive coding and interpreted with institutional theory across micro, meso, and macro levels. At the micro level, participants’ accounts suggested gains in empowerment, wellbeing, and social connectedness for community partners. Undergraduates reframed technical competencies as tools for accompaniment and horizontal relationships. Students and faculty members also described growth in empathy, inclusive leadership, and care-oriented professional identities. At the meso level, accounts indicated fragility due to reliance on faculty members’ voluntary labor and limited recognition, funding, and curricular integration. At the macro level, institutional responses reflected coercive isomorphism (symbolic recognition without resources), mimetic isomorphism (adapting to external frameworks without transforming), and an emerging normative isomorphism (critical teaching cultures lacking formal legitimacy). These findings point to the need for universities, particularly in initial teacher education, to provide curricular recognition, stable funding, long-term community partnerships, and professional development for faculty members in order to sustain and consolidate CFSL within OPAS.