Volume 4. Issue 3. 2024.
Editorial Preface
The third issue of the fourth volume of the online journal Voluntary Review deals with parental involvement and one of its forms, school volunteering. We considered the topic particularly important, because in Hungary the involvement and volunteering of parents in schools is framed by a highly centralized education system, narrow legal frameworks and moderately low civic activity and volunteering rates of the entire population. For this reason, the aim of the studies, by analysing different aspects of parental involvement and volunteering, was to provide a picture – through the research of two non-representative groups (Voluntary Review and MTA-DE Cooperation of Families and Teachers Research Group) – on which and in what proportion parents carry out school and education-related extracurricular volunteering. Furthermore, the individual studies provide data on the factors hindering parents' involvement and volunteering in schools in Hungary and in Hungarian-language schools in Transylvania and Transcarpathia. Thirdly, the individual writings also sought answers to the specific activities in which parents' school volunteering is realized. That is, whether they supplement the lack of material and human resources in schools, or whether they replace or contribute to raising the quality of education and helping the work of teachers. These aspects were examined at the level of primary – lower and upper school – and secondary education institutions (general secondary schools, vocational training schools giving secondary school leaving examinations and vocational training without secondary school leaving examinations). Studies have also shown that there is a significant difference between public and non-state educational institutions in encouraging parental involvement in schools. The first case study gives a special example of this by presenting two Waldorf schools. Due to the resources and the special nature of the topic, the examination of school and voluntary activities of parents of students with disabilities and special educational needs was not included in the analyses, but we wanted to show the advocacy activities of parents for the enforcement of the educational rights of children living with autism through a case study. Finally, the review deals with issues related to the time-donation nature of parental volunteering, which also has general implications for volunteering.
Types and forms of parents' volunteering activities in Hungarian schools – Results of a pilot-study, 2024.
Anna Mária Bartal - Georgina Csordás
Volunteering in the schools – Differences between mothers and fathers
Hajnalka Fényes – Zsolt Csák
"The reactive attitude of parents suggests that the organizational and formal framework of Hungarian parents' involvement in schools, the limits of competence, and their activity should be raised and strengthened into stakeholder engagement."
Volunteering in the school and charity behavior among parents whose children attending in vocational education
Zsófia Kocsis – Anett Rusznák
"Rather, urban homogeneous graduate families volunteer, while families with poorer sociocultural backgrounds tend to volunteer."
Parental involvement in the schools with Hungarian teaching language in Transcarpathia: Results of an empirical study Hungarian parents in Ukraine
Katalin Pallay
"The involvement of parents, including fathers, in volunteering is also up to the school, and if successful, both the school and the children can benefit from this."
Parental involvement in the schools with Hungarian teaching language in Transylvania
Imre Tódor
A case study on parental involvement and volunteering in schools through the example of two Waldorf schools
Magdolna Somos
"It is characteristic of the two schools examined that the parents have a higher education – primarily in the humanities – and consider the safety of their child important, as well as the close partnership between family and school, in which 'dedication' and 'care' appear."
Case study on parent advocacy for children with autism
Borbála Bányai – Anikó Nagy-Konnát – Zsanett Boros
"The parents of the affected children could not achieve success alone, without the support of other actors (local government, parents' communities, non-governmental non-profit organization, etc.), but even broad support does not necessarily guarantee the provision of professional school care for the children."
