Survey: Volunteering and jobs in Achim

(177 Year 9 and 78 Year 10 students handed in their questionnaires)

1)      Do you do volunteer work?

1. Yes:               25% / 13%
2. No:                75% / 87%

2)      If you do not, why?

1.  No time:                    50% / 74%
2. Do not want to:       24% / 25%
3. other reasons:         26% / 1%

(no money, nothing interesting, just moved here, could not find anything)

3)      Have you ever done volunteer work?

1. Yes:               46% / 40%
2. No:                38% / 59%

4)      Approximate hours spent in a year on volunteer work.

1. Once a year:             16% / 18%
2. Twice a year:            17% / 11%
3. Once a month:         10% / 27%
4. Once a week:           36% / 11%
5. More often:              21% / 33%

5)      What activities are you engaged in?

1. Year 9:         church work, fire brigade, sports clubs, family help, garage, swimming pool,

dance coach, golf coach, Red Cross

1. Year 10:       babysitting, church work, dog walking, household, refereeing, collecting

paper, reading, fire brigade, sports coach, collecting rubbish

6)      Have you got a job?

1. Yes:               27% / 43%
2. No:                57% / 57%

7)      If not, why?

1. No time:                                     53% / 70%
2. Do not want to work:           23% / 16%
3. Others:                                       24% / 14%

(too young, no qualifications, have not found anything, do not need to work)

8)      If yes, which job?

1. Doing paper rounds:             55% / 15%
2. Babysitting:                               40% / 33%
3. Tutoring:                                    4% / 30%
4. Others:                                       1% / 22%

(petrol station, mowing lawns, pizza delivery service, waiting tables, supermarket, fast food restaurants, etc.)

9)      Hours per week spent working:

1. Year 9:         between 1 hour per week and 10 hours per week
2. Year 10:       between 1 hour per week and 12 hours per week

If you want to involve yourself in social work you have the opportunity to do a voluntary social work-year. To do so you have to be in the age of at least 16 up to 25. Solely in Bremen around 600 youngsters are working as volunteers to support society. You can do this in different fields like in social institutions (for example a kindergarden or an old-people´s-home), in cultural institutions (like the church) or sports clubs. It is a wonderful opportunity to get many  experiences for your subsequent life and incidentally it looks impressive in your CV.

Here are some voices about this institution:

A 19 years old girl said about her voluntary social work year that it was helpful for her because she didn´t know what kind of work she wants to do in the future. During this year lots of people get a lot of experience and they learn what qualifications are necessary for their voluntary jobs. She thinks that she learned a lot and after this year the girl knows what she wants to be in the future.

A girl of the same age experienced in her voluntary social work year what she is going to do in her future. She already knew that she liked the contact to little children and that’s the reason why she made her year in a kindergarten. It was an assurance for her because now she knows that she will do an apprenticeship as an educator for children. The girl became more self-confident and she sees this year as an enrichment for her further life.

Optimist Engbi didn`t know what he would do when he is finishing his A-level. So he decided to do a social year. He worked as a male nurse with disabled person. Engbi got experiences for his life. After the year he knew that a social job would be the best job for him.

Marcel Latacz did a social year in a institution for handiecapped people and a kindergarden in Bremen. Firstly he worked in the institution for handiecapped people. Later he moved to the kindergarden, where he was a lot happier. He think´s that his self-confidence became stronger. In addition to this he is thinking that he is now more open towards other people. All in all it was a postive experience for him.