In March and April 2011, the British Columbia Retired Teachers’ Association (BCRTA) conducted a survey to investigate both the volunteer role of educators who had retired and the impact of their work on communities in the province.
Based on the number of responses to the survey (1036), the results were declared statistically valid. Respondents, in addition to providing quantitative data, made 1282 written comments. The survey found that thousands of retired teachers are actively contributing to society by volunteering
in communities all across the province where they taught and built connections, and where they still reside. Their volunteer work is rich in scope and diversity, and significant in terms of contribution.
In volunteering, retired teachers, even into their 80’s and beyond, touch the lives of people in all age groups from children to the elderly. The graph below illustrates that in their volunteer work,they engage in a variety of activities , in fact, an average of four different activities on the part of
each volunteer respondent.
Summary of study on volunteerism in B.C. – click here