"We care". Third stream experiences for an inclusive educational community

Volontari per l’Educazione (VpE) is a Save The Children Italia project born during the first lockdown to address the educational emergency, improving the learning and school participation of children and young students in situations of educational poverty and at risk of dropping out, through online study support offered by adequately trained volunteers. For universities, promoting educational volunteering is an opportunity to achieve their third stream through commitment to the communities they belong to. The recruitment of volunteers is supported by the Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities (CRUI) and the Network of Universities for Sustainable Development (RUS). At the beginning of 2022, the University of Ferrara started its collaboration with Save The Children’s Italia Volontari per l’Educazione (VpE) project. The collaboration has involved more than 80 university students and staff. The article analyzes the collaboration between the University of Ferrara and VpE in the framework of the third stream and positive actions for inclusive purposes through the representation of volunteers whose experiences were collected through semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis of the data leads to a reflection on the multiple forms of educational poverty and how universities can concretely contribute to the construction of inclusive educational communities.

Keywords: ; educational poverty; inclusive education; volunteering; third stream; lockdown; distance learning

Silvia Zanazzi, Tamara Zappaterra, "We care". Third stream experiences for an inclusive educational community in "EDUCATION SCIENCES AND SOCIETY" 1/2024, pp 31-57, DOI: 10.3280/ess1-2024oa17470