Refugees welcome? Active citizenship and political learning through volunteering

Abstract

Abstract Volunteering in the field of migration/refuge opens up a potential learning space for the acquisition of numerous competencies. The paper is based on an empirical pre-study from Austria and focusses on an analysis of political learning processes amongst volunteers and their implications for the development of active citizenship and the connected challenges for adult education. Diverse factors influencing the engagement of volunteers, such as political and media discourse about refugees, are considered.

Keywords

• Volunteering
• Refugees
• Active citizenship
• Learning for democracy
• Informal learning