Survey "Social engagement"
Introduction
At the beginning of the school year, two surveys were carried out as part of the project activities (P1 Surveys).
One of the aims of the Social Online Service project is that the students get involved in the different communities and are socially involved. Therefore, a further survey was carried out in the schools to what extent the students already show social commitment, how they assess their social skills and to what extent they are willing to get involved in social work.
Evaluation
After the survey, this was evaluated. It should first be checked whether the survey was affordable for the students or whether corrections need to be made. In addition, the answers for each individual school were evaluated in order to provide the individual partners with information about their students' engagement. In addition, the individual schools were compared with each other to determine significant differences.
Separated results of the questionnaire "Social Engagement"
Comparison of all results
Here you can see all collected results of the partner schools being compared and finally evaluated.
As expected, the survey on social engagement revealed many similarities, but also significant differences.
The survey of personal skills showed that the students' assessment of their personal skills was largely in line with the students from other countries. In individual areas, there were occasionally individual deviating self-assessments. This applies, for example, to the area of "empathic", where Catalan students rated themselves much more highly, or the area of "good with hands", where German students considered themselves more competent.
There were clear differences in the extent to which the students have already been involved in social engagement and in which areas.
The two municipal schools Ins Ciutat de Balaguer and Gustav-Walle Schule show a similar proportion of previous social commitment, about 50%.
In contrast, the rural schools in Germany and Spain differ significantly. While in the MS Pleichach-Kürnachtal 64% of the pupils interviewed have already been socially committed, in the Ins Josep Vallverdu it was just 44%. This is remarkable, as the schools have a similar catchment area.
When asked in which area the socially engaged pupils had already been involved, it was found that in all schools the areas sports club and elderly people were represented. It is noticeable that the percentage of pupils who support older people is twice as high in urban schools as in rural schools. This can perhaps be explained by the different social structures in urban and rural areas. In rural areas, many older people still live in large families with children and grandchildren.
It is interesting to note that Spanish schools are also active in the field of environment and recycling, whereas this is not the case in Germany. This may have something to do with the different waste disposal systems and the appreciation of the environment. The Spanish students are also involved in the food bank. This is not the case with the German pupils, as this is done elsewhere by volunteers and often takes place during the pupils' school hours. The German pupils, on the other hand, are heavily involved in the "voluntary fire brigade", which does not exist in Spain in this form.
However, it should be noted that in some schools more than half of the pupils did not give any concrete information about the exact nature of their social engagement activities. It is therefore difficult to determine to what extent these were really activities in the social sector.
When asked what social commitment the pupils are currently showing, this problem of "no answer" was clearly exacerbated. In three out of four schools, 70% of the pupils did not answer this question; only MS Pleichach-Kürnachtal provided more detailed information. This leads to the conclusion that in the area of social engagement there is currently little public engagement and that there are still open resources to be used.
When asked about the amount of time spent by pupils on social engagement, three schools showed a broad agreement. Only at the Gustav-Walle-Schule was the time specification clearly different (mostly shorter engagement). However, this is probably due to the living conditions of the pupils, who often come from socially disadvantaged families.
There were many similarities, but also clear differences, in the question of the importance of social commitment in general and in the neighbourhood. The differences were particularly clear in the following areas:
Environment: With the exception of MS Pleichach-Kürnachtal (8%), the other schools attributed some importance to this area (15-19%). This is probably due to the consistent waste separation in Germany and the very rural environment of these pupils, where environmental problems are less pronounced.
Sports club: Again, three of the four schools attached great importance to this area. Only the Ciutat de Balaguer with 9% remained clearly below the average of 25%. This shows that the pupils still consider sports activities to be important today and recognize that social commitment is necessary here and possible for them. It is also interesting to note that in both countries the proportion of necessary commitment is significantly higher in rural areas, as the number of sports activities offered is most likely lower here than in the city.
Another interesting aspect is elderly people. As already mentioned in the question about existing engagement, the pupils in urban schools consider engagement in this area to be more important than pupils in rural areas. This could be due to differences in family structure (extended family - separate households).
The areas of charity and migrants are remarkable, too. In both areas, Spanish pupils see a much greater need for social commitment than German pupils. This can possibly be explained by different social benefits and approaches to refugees.
All in all, it can be stated that social commitment is already being partially carried out by the pupils, but there is still a lot of capacity available in this area. Currently, the pupils who are engaged show engagement mainly in those areas that touch or interest them personally. Therefore, one aim of this project should be to guide the pupils to show social engagement even in those areas where they have no personal benefit.