© 2018, The Author(s) 2018. Service-learning is a community-based method of education in which students fulfil the academic goals of their courses and simultaneously contribute to the welfare of the community. The purpose of this study is to interrogate a course-embedded service-learning project in a physical education teacher education programme to provide a broader, potentially more critical view of the experience, knowledge and learning related to our effort to link service and learning. A specific focus is the extent to which the strategies employed enhanced or hindered pre-service teachers¿ (PSTs¿) and university faculty understanding and experience of service-learning. Three main challenges arose in striving towards the delivery and experience of a meaningful, relevant and worthwhile service-learning course: the challenge of linking academic coursework with community service structured through reflective practice; creating a generous amount of designated space for faculty and PSTs¿ dialogue focusing specifically on PSTs¿ service-learning partnership (SLP) and weekly reflections; and discussing the appropriate proposed assessment points with PSTs and creating sufficient space and time in the course for PSTs to explore how their weekly SLP experience can most effectively contribute to completing the related assessments.