Personal Experience of Education for Formaly Organised Older Volunteering

Despite various authors pointing out that the education of older adult volunteers is important, there has been little attempt to explain the personal experience of participants in particular educational situations. The aim of this research was to investigate the experience of older adults—students of Slovenian Third Age University—related to the devising and delivering a museum-based educational programme and formaly organised voluntary work of cultural mediators in museums. The research paradigm was phenomenological. Ethnographic participatory observation and semi-structured interviews were applied. An integrated, holistic approach research design was based on purposive samples of three groups of participants: older volunteers, museum staff and older adult educators (authors of the project). The results of the research are related to the findings about how older adults’ education and volunteering of was personally experienced by different actors in the project. Four themes were defined: personal motivation, expectations, involvement and general understanding of the importance of the project. It is suggested that the experience and perception of volunteers by institution staff is one of the most important factors for the development of older adult volunteering in a formal organisational setting.