PARTICIPIATION OF THE PUPILS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITY

Abstract

Abstract. The Volunteer Movement was launched in 1859, it is associated with Andre Durand and the Red Cross Society. Today volunteering has grown into an international movement of global scale. Volunteers have united from more than a 100 countries and established in 1970 the International Association for Volunteer Effort. At present the international volunteer movement consists of many organizations. The Universal Declaration of Volunteers has provided the definition of «volunteering» − a voluntary choice that: expresses personal views and positions; involves active participation of a citizen in the public life; contributes to the improvement of life quality, the enhancement of solidarity between people; predetermines the realization of basic human needs on the way to more just society; contributes to more balanced economic and social development; is usually expressed in joint activities within different associations. In different countries, this phenomenon has different names, but it is a universal human phenomenon that occurs in all cultures, at all levels of economic development, among representatives of both sexes and people of all ages. Volunteering is one of the most effective forms of work with young people, an inexhaustible source of civic education, enabling them to realize themselves in serving the society. In Ukraine volunteering has been actively developing since the mid-1990s. In 2010 the project of the Law of Ukraine «On Volunteer Movement» was adopted. According to the document, the main areas of volunteering activity include helping social groups, individuals, and families in difficult living conditions and in need of outside help. It indicated the mandatory participation of volunteers in activities related to the protection of the rights of families, children and young people. The Law itself was approved in 2011. Various aspects of volunteering activity have been covered in the works of scientists (O.Bezpalko, G.Boyko, R.Vainola, T.Golovanov and others). According to the opinion of T. Lyakh, the main feature of volunteering activity in Ukraine is the predominance of the youth (mainly students) involved in the work of volunteers in the social sphere. But it is very important to involve in volunteering the youth of secondary schools including pupils of primary schools. They are able to do many useful things: to communicate with children deprived of parental care and children with disabilities, to work with the elderly, and take part in various volunteering activities (patronage over veterans, caring for anonymous graves, cleaning up the town, protecting ecology etc.).