Volunteering and non-formal education in teacher training

The monograph brings two angles of view on the phenomenon of volunteerism: Volunteering as a component of lifelong learning and a component of non-formal learning and practice in European educational policy can be seen as a resource for a person¿s personal and professional development. On the other hand, the authors reflect that volunteerism is little promoted or popularized in university education in Slovakia. There is a lack of education and discourse regarding the benefits of volunteerism for young people or students of pedagogy. As examples of good practices, it¿s possible to mention universities in the United Kingdom, Finland, Estonia and other countries, where volunteer centres are organized at universities, the mission of which is to educate, to recruit volunteers and to offer university students the opportunity of also obtaining through volunteering activities the competencies essential for practice and real life. The fact that volunteerism brings many opportunities, advantages and benefits along with it has been confirmed by many studies.