2023-08-27 06:09:00
Day care, tutoring, reading or artistic practice workshops,… The list of tasks fulfilled by volunteers in schools is too long to be listed here, without even mentioning parent-teacher associations and homework schools. But one thing is obvious: without them, many establishments would be in difficulty. “I have won the loyalty of many remarkable volunteers”, reports Dominique Verlinden, the director of the Ecole du center (Uccle). “We have a few people who help us, adds Laurent Quintin, the director of the École St-Joseph (Mons). They are essential for our daily organization. Without them, it is impossible to run the school properly!” “These are really precious aids”, confirms Isabelle Chrispreels, the director of the École St-Léon (La Hulpe).
Not all volunteers are parents, former parents of students or retired teachers. Some arrive at school following a completely different career path or on the occasion of a life change. They contact management alone or go through an association. Among the non-profit organizations active in the sector, we can cite Abracadabus (with its grannies and grandpas who have been telling stories to children for nearly forty years), Ages et Transmissions (whose senior volunteers notably give a helping hand in reading and writing in primary and secondary schools for nearly thirty years), or Romeo (whose volunteers have been supporting students with special needs since 2011). How to find them? The website levolontariat.be provides lots of general information. In Brussels, the platform giveaday.be also connects people wishing to get involved with requesting associations, in all areas.
November 11 falls on a Saturday and Ascension falls during the May holidays: do schools lose days off?
“There are so many things to do…”
Last January, a little news was born: the ABS (for school volunteer caregivers). This focuses exclusively on one service: sending volunteers to the classrooms to support the teachers. “Very quickly, many people came forward, remembers Guenola de Lhoneux, the originator of the initiative. There are so many things to do…” The Excellence Pact plans to develop personalized support, according to the needs and level of each student. Concretely, this consists of introducing a second teacher in the classroom. But currently, budgets do not allow the measure to be generalized to the whole week. Hence the interest of this still discreet ASBL. “Fifteen teachers were able to be accompanied before the holidays”, still counts the founder who does not intend to stop there.
The volunteers, these essential actors of the school. Above: Valérie, Anne, Anne-Marie; bottom: Angela, Alexia. ©DR
Alexia Lamarche, volunteer at Ecole Joli-Bois (Woluwe-St-Pierre): “Some people jumped around my neck the second time I came”
After studying , Alexia worked for a dozen years in the external communication department of Proximus, before devoting herself to her family. His two children, his two stepchildren, his dad, his grandmother. It was when she found herself separated and those around her needed her less that the time for questioning came. “I really wanted to give a new direction to my life, to focus on things that make sense.”
His priority: getting involved in his neighborhood. This is how the volunteer from Uccle is now involved in a home for people over 50 with disabilities and, more recently, at the École Joli-Bois (Woluwe-St-Pierre). During the three months leading up to the holidays, she went there every Thursday morning.
Half a day a week, Alexia is in class, in 1st or 2nd primary. “There are four classes. I am available to teachers.” She still confides: “At the beginning, I was afraid of embarrassing them, of disturbing them, that they would think that I wanted to meddle in their affairs. But I quickly realized that the needs were greater than I thought. And the welcome was great!”
Most of the time, Alexia does tutoring. She devotes herself to those who find it difficult to follow. Individual student or small groups. “This allows the teacher to continue to move forward with the rest of her class. The workload of these teachers is enormous, especially with large groups of students at already very different levels.”
She, who is old enough to be their mother, tastes the pleasure of the special bond that is created with “her little ones”. “From my second visit, some jumped on my neck, she recalls. I feel a bit like their nanny.”
Dutch continues its free fall in secondary education, where it is no longer taken as first choice by only 47.5% of pupils
Anne Bernard, volunteer at the École du center (Uccle): “When I was little, I already lined up my dolls like in a class”
Anne is a Germanist. For 37 years, she taught Dutch. Her career ended in 2000. “At the time, you might leave at 55,” she recalls. But teaching has always fascinated her. “As a child, I already lined up my dolls like in a class,” she smiles. His other passion: languages. “If I might, I would learn a lot more!”
It is quite naturally that she comes to school volunteering at the municipal school of the center (Uccle). “The teachers have offered to have the children read, as there are too many of them in class and they have little opportunity to read aloud.” This year, it was three times a week in a 2nd primary class. “I am convinced that you have to fill the gaps from an early age. It is mandatory, if we do not want the student to pick up quickly.”
The retired teacher devotes herself first and foremost to schoolchildren in the most difficulty. “They are still six or seven…”, which the volunteer hopes to be able to follow until sixth grade.
“I have to get involved,” she said. It’s stronger than me. And it does me a lot of good too. I feel useful, I flourish. That’s really cool !”
His foolproof mind, it was his years as a teacher in professional schools with positive discrimination in education that forged him. “I also lend a hand in a homework school where I come across really difficult situations…, she testifies. The need for help is enormous.”
Valérie, volunteer at École Notre-Dame Immaculée (Evere): “Monday, there will also be some tears to console”
“I can’t live without children around me, poses this trained childcare worker straight away, but I can no longer work because I suffer from fibromyalgia. Never mind: in order not to lose contact and maintain a social life, Valérie (who prefers to give only her first name for the sake of discretion) has been helping the Notre-Dame Immaculée School (Evere) for twelve years. .
“I come as much as I can, in the morning, depending on my state of health. There is only one childcare worker for the school, she explains. This is obviously not much, whereas the children who arrive in the reception class or in 1st or even 2nd kindergarten are not always clean… Monday is back to school. There will also be some crying to console.”
And to specify to what extent this experience teaches him things, allows him to continue to evolve “It’s rewarding, I get a lot out of it. That’s really where I feel the best.” A godsend also for teachers, who are in great demand from all sides.
“This second presence in class is all the more necessary as it seems to me that the number of children in difficulty is increasing. The school has to adapt, but there are 25 little ones per class and the teacher has to pay attention to each of them: so what to do?
Well integrated into the team, Valérie is impatient to return to school activity. In recent days, she might not resist joining the teachers, who have become friends over time, to prepare classes and projects, to discuss. “It really is a real pleasure!”
Inflation has inflated the back-to-school bill: “Impossible for me to pay everything at once”
Anne-Marie Pinnel, volunteer at Clair Soleil (Anderlecht): “The institutes are on the move, the needs are enormous”
Anne-Marie’s career is quite atypical. A Dutch-speaking primary teacher, she started in Flemish education, before moving to French-language immersion education for her last ten years in office. On his counter in all, forty years of service. “As soon as I stopped, three years ago, I embarked on remediation to provide targeted help to children in difficulty.”
This is what she has been doing for a few months, from the 1st to the 4th primary, at the Clair Soleil school (Anderlecht). “It is the teacher who manages. Me, I discreetly blend into the class with humility, available to whoever needs it like a caring grandma,” she explains.
Like the other volunteers we met, Anne-Marie also noticed how much the teachers are in demand. “They are on the kneecaps…” Hence the usefulness of a second presence.
“I think what children need above all are specialized volunteers, willing to pass on their passion, to give them the desire to learn and to encourage their creativity. I would like us to be more numerous because the needs are enormous.
Even in 3rd or 4th grade, some students cannot read.” So Grandma takes them aside for more playful moments.
Even if it is not the priority, a particular regret concerns the way in which Dutch is taught. “Learning a language is fun. The key is the joy of doing.” There is clearly work to do.
Angela Falivena, volunteer at École St-Léon (La Hulpe): “Is it true, Madame, you come to school for fun?”
I worked for 39 years at Delhaize, confides Angela. I, who was the eldest of seven children, have always loved children. So, the day my daughter was older and when I retired, I found it horrible to have nothing to do all of a sudden!”
By chance, she hears regarding the possibility of volunteering in the little École St-Léon. Neither one nor two, and there she is in the playground which lacks supervisors. Every day, she takes part in kindergarten daycare, in the morning, then in primary school recreation following lunch. On Fridays, she even extends with end-of-day daycare.
“It’s really good, the little ones consider me a bit like a grandmother, she thinks. I can’t be the policeman all the time, it would be impossible for me and for them. You have to find the right place to be respected without breaking the bonds that can be created.”
The volunteer tenderly evokes certain children in need of affection. “I should sometimes encourage those who come to put their little hand in mine to go play with others, but I don’t have the heart to push them away,” she admits.
Angela does not hide her impatience to find Monday, for the third time, the little new ones and those whose first names she knows. She is already amused to see their incredulous look once more, when they understand (or remember) that she comes to school for fun. “It’s really true, Madam, you don’t have to?”
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