Professional paper
INCLUDING VOLUNTEERS IN THE TEACHING PROCESS
Julijana Zrno
; Škola za tekstil,kožu i dizajn, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Volunteering is more and more recognized as an important factor of a community's development and strengthening of the social capital. This is evident from the fact that the European parliament has passed a declaration which proposed the European Commission to declare 2011 as the year of volunteering. Volunteering in the education system is a voluntary activity of an individual (mostly future teachers) aimed at the well-being of the community and it mainly includes special needs students, parents of those students as indirect users, teachers who have to implement multiple programs in one classroom, schools that get better achievement results, and in the end the society as a whole, because it is getting active members ready to contribute to the society.
The need for volunteers - teaching assistants occurred with implementation of inclusion in Croatian schools. Inclusion puts teachers in a difficult position because they sometimes have to implement several different programs in the same classroom. Nowadays it is expected from teachers to enable student's success, and when those students are special needs children, teachers should use an adapted program and individual approach. Significant help in the quality of teaching can be achieved by employing volunteers in the teaching processes which require pedagogical competencies, so these volunteers are mostly faculty of teacher education graduates.
The topic of this paper is analysis of contribution volunteering in the teaching process makes as a part of civic mission of community contribution. Its goal is to emphasize the importance of volunteers – teaching assistants who serve as a link between students, teachers and the society and who, with their volunteering, contribute to the implementation of inclusion not only in the classroom, but society as well.
Volunteer - teaching assistant is a type of support and help to students in successful learning, and teachers in successful teaching. The benefit of this kind of volunteering is multiple. Through volunteering activities of future teachers in teaching children with special educational needs, children are provided with the needed additional help, and future teachers get experience and knowledge needed for professional work.
Through volunteering activities students get the help they need in overcoming their learning difficulties. Teachers get assistants that help them in the teaching process. Volunteers, or future teachers, get experience and knowledge in the real environment and real classroom situations, and by the time they graduate they become more competent in their field, because during their education they have acquired knowledge, skills and experience needed for teaching. Schools get teachers who can fulfil their expectations in implementing the acquired knowledge. Society gets active members that develop civic missions of contributing to the community.
Keywords
civic mission; education; contributing to the community; inclusive; volunteering in the teaching process
Hrčak ID:
121525
URI
Publication date:
13.6.2013.
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