What Volunteers Cause Social Change? – Comparative Research of Volunteer Groups Working with the Disabled

The aim of the study was to compare two groups of volunteers who work with people with disabilities: volunteers working in organizations led by social innovators and volunteers who are not affiliated to such organizations. The results show a different picture of both groups in the area of the declared value, objectives and attitudes towards people with disabilities. Volunteers working with social innovators have lower rates of misanthropy, higher individual indicators of social capital, and a higher rate of partnership and innovative attitude. The paper presents guidelines how to work with people with disabilities to maximize their integration into society and create social change.

The study presents the results of team-based, interdisciplinary comparative research on young learners’ life plans and choices – students of full-time academic pedagogy courses and future teachers in selected Central and Eastern European countries. In their life planning model, students considered specific properties of designing and implementing plans: the degree of orientation towards goals, telic orientation, richness of life contents, productivity, social orientation, and emotional and motivational involvement. Our research also met the most important preliminary conditions for data comparability – conceptual, statistical, and interpretative. The comparison of the declarations of students from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine reveals significant differences in all preferred life goals, except for a life that commands respect and is pursued under moral values.