Let's volunteer!

Does your school have volunteers? Do you have a volunteering club or some other regular activities/groups/projects that are promoting solidarity and contributing to the local community? Are you interested to have international volunteers in your school who can help you in creating different activities for pupils? Would you need support with your own work with on-line and residential work with pupils, work with talented pupils or with pupils that need more support? Do you want your pupils to have new experiences and meet other cultures? If you answered “Yes” to most of these questions, then this training course is for you!

Schools and other educational institutions are implementing different activities outside their formal curriculum and bringing non-formal education methodology in their work every day. The main aim of all of these activities is to raise pupils’ awareness on different issues and making them active citizens. One of the activities includes volunteering, where teachers and other staff work with pupils to understand the importance of volunteering as a way to help others, promote solidarity and gain competences important for future personal and professional life. 

Even though schools have significant experience in volunteering on the national and local level, schools around Europe are still not included in international volunteering enough.  On the other hand, in this challenging time of COVID-19 pandemics, there are big challenges for teachers and schools. Therefore, we are organising an international training course “Let’s volunteer!”, whose main aim is to empower schools and other educational institutions to include international volunteers in their everyday work.

The focus of the training course will be to introduce the programme of European Solidarity Corps as a way for schools to bring international volunteers, who can help them in organising different activities in schools. European Solidarity Corps volunteers can help you in organising events, implementing activities outside the formal curriculum, preparing workshops for pupils on different topics and even help you with preparing online classes if needed. They can also help in getting your school visible not only on a local level but also European level. One direct benefit is also connected with bringing more intercultural learning to your school, which is quite important in these challenging migration times. 

This training is intended for primary or secondary schools who already have experience in volunteering (or have volunteering clubs in their schools), thus, we encourage teachers, principals, volunteer club leaders and expert associates in schools to participate. 

The training course will be organised in three phases, combining blended learning approach. This is how the course will look like: 

Phase 1. Online course phase: 19 to 23 October 2020

In the first phase of the program, we would like to get to know each other better and talk about the European Solidarity Corps programme. The training course will include examples of good practices, benefits of participation in the Programme and Programme structure (what are the rules, conditions and criteria). During this online phase, we will also put emphasis on the Quality label, as one of the first steps to start your adventure in the programme (what are the prerequisites, questions asked, process of filling in the Quality Label application form). The format of the training course will be organised using Zoom sessions and self-paced courses. You will have several tasks to fulfil by yourself, and we will comment on them live in smaller groups or in a big group.  The online course phase will last from 19 to 23 October (Monday to Friday) and will be facilitated by two trainers. The course days will be structured as a combination of online live sessions on Zoom (approximately 4 hours per day) and individual/group work using different learning platforms.

Phase 2. Writing and preparing the Quality Label: November 2020 -  approx. June 2021

In this phase, you will have the opportunity to write the Quality label for your school. After getting all relevant information in the online course phase, you will have the chance to think about your activities, practical details and how you will accommodate your international volunteer(s). In this phase, you will have the support of the National Agencies through a consultation process if needed. The overall aim is that you prepare your Quality Label and start your adventure in the Programme. 

Phase 3: Residential training course “Let’s volunteer”: Q2/Q3 2021

As a final step, we would invite you to join the residential seminar, which will happen in Croatia in the second or third quarter of 2021. The aim of the seminar is to talk about project implementation and raising the quality of the projects. The residential course will tackle the common questions including how to find partners, how to maintain relationships, how to select international volunteers and how to implement activities. This phase is oriented towards understanding the practical details of the European Solidarity Corps programme and how to implement them in the best possible way. 

The programme of the training course (online and residential), will be distributed to selected participants.