Research pick: Time to step up – Compassionate volunteers needed in migrant education - "European contexts of volunteering and inclusion of migrant children in schools"

Research in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning discusses the motivation for volunteering in the educational section to help with the inclusion of migrant children in European schools.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggests that migration brings with it many economic advantages to a nation, including expansion of the workforce across many sectors, increased revenues from tax, greater economic activity, a boost to the working-age population, and an increase in the national skillset. On the other hand, there are challenges for host countries on how best to integrate newcomers into society. The challenges represent general economic, social, and health-related issues, as well as education-specific issues.

Valerij Dermol and Aleš Trunk of the International School for Social and Business Studies in Celje, Špela Javornik and Plamen Vladkov Mirazchiyski of the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Susana de Juana-Espinosa of the University of Alicante in Alicante, Spain, discuss the role of volunteers in supporting the inclusion of migrant students in schools when institutions are unable to do so on their own. The team carried out a systematic literature review of almost 16000 sources. The analysis honed their material down to 15 main sources and put particular emphasis on the RoMigSc project and results associated with needs and rationale for volunteering.

Dermol and colleagues found that while volunteers do anticipate personal benefits from their work, including career advancement, many are simply motivated by their concern for disadvantaged students, and yet others are encouraged to volunteer because they know other people already volunteering in the sector.

The team suggests that future research and practice should emphasise the recruitment volunteers who are motivated to work with migrant students out of compassion given that such internal motivation is a strong driver for volunteers in general. As such, volunteers recruited on such grounds are likely to be strong candidates with stamina. Given the state of world affairs, there is a pressing need to recruit more volunteers across Europe to help vulnerable groups, nowhere more so than in education. Not only will the presence of compassionate volunteers assisting migrant children in schools, but there will likely be a recognition by the other students and teachers in general of the mutual benefits.

Dermol, V., Javornik, Š., de Juana-Espinosa, S., Mirazchiyski, P.V. and Trunk, A. (2023) ‘European contexts of volunteering and inclusion of migrant children in schools’, Int. J. Innovation and Learning, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp.230–251.