Qualitative analysis on the influence of the volunteer in the successful educational actions of Learning Communities

Abstract

This article presents a study conducted within the Spanish National Grant entitled Impact of interactive learning environments on academic and social success (IMP-EXIT), funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. The main objective addressed in this paper to study the role of the volunteers facilitating students' dialogue and interaction in small groups, through the teachers perspectives. Firstly, the dialogical learning model used in these classrooms is discussed, as well as the concept of Learning Communities and Successful Educational Actions, particularly, the Interactive Groups (GI), and the role of the volunteer in the classroom. The second part of the article includes the content and discourse analysis extracted from interviews with teachers from 10 classrooms of 5 Spanish elementary schools where the field work was carried out. These evidences confirm the fundamental role of volunteers in facilitating the Interactive Groups in the classroom to improve coexistence and school climate as a quality assurance in our educational system.