VOLUNTEERING AT SCHOOL European Survey June 2013

Index 1.Methodology 2.Summary 3.Main results a.Knowledge of volunteering b.Familiarity c.Direct experience d.Opinions e.Volunteering at school f.Volunteering and society Appendix Questionnaire 2

1.Methodology Countries Bulgaria Italy Cyprus Lithuania Czech Republic Nederland Greece Spain Sample Planned  800 interviews (100 per country) Collected  731 interviews Questionnaire 25 questions with close answers Questionnaires in local languages Face to face interviews Field starting date: May, 15 th 2012 ending date: September, 23 th

2.Summary1/4 Knowledge of volunteering is widespread among students: 90% have heard about volunteering The main International organisations known are : The Red Cross (mentioned by 41% of the students interviewed), Amnesty International (mentioned by 22% of the students interviewed), Caritas (mentioned by 41% of the students interviewed), etc. Widespread knowledge but certainly not considered sufficient and thorough: 17% are well informed while respectively 75% and the remaining 8% know little or nothing. For almost all students volunteering can be summed up with the word “help”. Help to share in many directions: The poor, for 26% of those interviewed Individuals in difficulty, for 23% of those interviewed The elderly, for 16% of those interviewed The terminally ill, for 13% of those interviewed Drug addicts, for 11% of those interviewed Children at risk, for 1% of those interviewed 4

On how to participate in this type of activity the answers appear unanimous and mainly concentrate on concrete activities. The best way of encouraging these projects is “to take part” (“contributing financially” is second place but only 14% preferred this answer compared to 47% for “taking part”) Almost everyone thinks that you can participate regardless of age: any person, adult or child, can make a contribution. Familiarity and direct experience with different volunteering activities are common among students, even if they never reach high levels: 63% have taken part in at least one volunteering activity 55% are actively involved 30% take part at least once a year 15% are continuously involved at least once a month 5 2.Summary2/4

Two very important aspects emerge regarding the reasons for taking part: The main role linked to “individual determination” in deciding to get involved with volunteering (21% claim to have taken up these activities on personal initiative) A leading role for school, with particular reference to teachers (14% state that they were inspired by their own teachers) Volunteering at school is a matter of great interest: Taking part in volunteering activities is considered important by students (63% think that it is important compared to 18% who do not consider it important; 17% do not express an opinion) The strong spontaneous and personal motivation that involves the participation in these activities, as emphasized above, demonstrates an approach that cannot be "obligatory" (only 36% are in favour of mandatory volunteering at school) 6 2.Summary3/4

Volunteering plays an important role for students both as an experience in personal development and as active aid to society. Regarding aid to society students answered in a clear and concise way, agreeing on three key points: It is important that more and more people are involved in volunteering activities Volunteering is not a way to resolve important problems like unemployment It can play a key role in making the world a better place to live in 7 2.Summary4/4

3.Main results 8

3a.Knowledge of volunteering D1. Most of the students have heard about volunteering activities in each country but the chart shows us that in Cyrpus and Spain the percentage of people that have never heard of volunteering is higher. D2. The chart say sthat the first thing everybody has in mind when they hear the word volunteering is help. Other thoughts that come to our minds are: cooperation, love and brotherwood. D3. The most known organisation in the Red Cross, but in Italy and Holland is Amnesty International. D4. All countries are aware of volunteering, but the countries that know the most about volunteering are Bulgaria and Holland. Also we see that the country which is worst informed is Greec 9

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3b. Familiarity D5. According to the countries that took part in Comnius project, the poor should be felpe the most according to the countries in Comenius group. D6. According the answers of the survey the work of Comenius group and Volunteers at school is very important. D7. Most people think the same about this. They think you can volunteer at any age. D8. More people should partecipate in volunteering project according to the questionnaire to hlep raising awareness for volunteering. D9. The people that answered the questionnaire think that sometimes those people promote their own opinion and ideas. D10. Yes, in all countries they definitely think that there should be more attention for volunteering. 14

3b. Familiarity 15

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3c.Direct experience 1/2 D11 There aren’t lots of people who have never met anyone doing voluntary work (52% say yes). Holland has the higher score, Spain the lowest. D12 Fortunately less people never donate things to charities. Bulgaria donates 30% more than twice per year. Also Spain has the worst results, because they are 20% that never donate something. D13 Volunteering is really important for all countries nowadays. The total results have been that mosto f the countries believ that volunteer work is effective and thay have taken part in this kind of work. Approximately 63% have answered “yes” to this question, which means that they are involved with volunteering. Only 37% avoid volunteer work. Czech Republic, Lithuania and the Nederland really like volunteering but on the other hand Italy and Spain are not in favour of. Most of the countries are in favour of volunteer work and they have taken part in it. D14 The total results show that lots of people don’t have much time for volunteering. In one hand we have Italy who has the worst result of people who don’t have much time for volunteering and in the other hand we have Bulgaria with a 70% of people who volunteer. 21

3c.Direct experience 2/2 D15 The main result is that 1/3 of people partecipate in any voluntary activity. The two results are Spain and Italy. The best data is Bulgaria, where just a 16% of people don’t volunteer at all. At the same time 16% volunteer at least once a week. D16 Most of the people are not volunteer but teachers have inspired a lot of students to become a volunteer. The next one is relatives who inspire. 22

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3d. Opinions D17 Most of the countries think that the main purpose of volunteering is to make the world a better place. Another small percentage of people believe that the main puroposes are to enhance self esteem or to improve one’s curriculum. Lanstly another small number of people don’t ever know. Surprisingly the largest percentage of people voting for the main purpose of volunteering to make a world better place are mainly from Greece. D18 More than the half of people who answered the questionnaire would like to work at social voluntary organisations, except for Spain, who overvoted environmental organisations. The next likely ansie is the environmental voluntary organisation and the 2 other answers, which are “other” and “none” are equally voted around 5%-10%. D19 The majority of participant believe that there’s no need to travel far away to partecipate in a volunteering activity. Howerver in Bulgaria we can see a slight difference in the percentages. More people are convinced that it is important to travel to be a volunteer: to be precise, there is more than 90% who agree that travelling is not necessary. D20 More of the countries anwsered “at school” to the question “Do you have enough info about voluntary work?”. The second larger percentage answered that they have no education about volunteering at all. The third larger percentage answered that they get their information from the media. The fourth and smallest percentage says that they got their education from family at home. There are some exceptions. Especially Bulgaria, which a huge 73% of people got their education at school. Also Greece, Spaind and especially Italy answered that they got no environmental education at all. 28

3d. Opinions 29

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3e. Volunteering at school D21 The majoruty of the students think that voluntary work shouldn’t be compulsory at school. D22 The majority of the students think that voluntary work is very important. 34

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3f. Volunteering and society D23 The big majority thinks that voluntary work makes the world a better place. D24 The majority of people who were asked tink that it is important to get more people involved in voluntary activities. D25 Most of the people asked don’t think that volunteer work increases unemployment rate. 37

38 3f. Volunteering and society

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Appendix: Questionnaire 41