Choosing to volunteer
A small-scale survey to evaluate the experiences of young people involved in volunteering in a range of settings
This survey evaluates volunteering programmes located within a sample of schools, colleges, and youth and community settings. It reports on the experiences of the young people, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, who participate in volunteering programmes. Inspectors collected evidence through visits to six secondary schools, seven colleges and six youth and community organisations. The survey was supported by evidence fromonline panels of 328 young people.Age group:13–19
Published:December 2011
Reference no:110119
Contents
Executive summary
Key findings
Recommendations
Contextual information
Developing and promoting volunteering
Volunteering within schools and colleges
Engaging the more vulnerable: strategies for inclusion
Programme design and delivery
Leadership
Structuring learning
Training to fulfil volunteer roles
The impact of volunteering on young people’s achievement
Assessing participants’ progress
Accreditation
Safeguarding
Notes
Further information
Publications by Ofsted
Other publications
Websites
Annex: Providers visited and organisations contacted
Executive summary
It is widely accepted that volunteering brings benefits to those who participate, to community groups and to civil society more widely. From the findings of this survey it is also clear that, as with any activity, volunteering must be managed effectively in order for those benefits to be realised. Examples found by inspectors illustrate the complexity involved in getting it right, and the importance of professional skills and leadership in realising benefits.
During the period from April to July 2011, inspectors visited six secondary schools and seven colleges with extensive volunteering activity taking place. They also visited six youth organisations located within the voluntary and charitable sector, and met with two national youth charities. The youth organisations visited targeted their work primarily on vulnerable young people. The Learner Panel provided further supporting evidence.[1] Ofsted also received online feedback from 328 members of its children’s and young people’s panel. In addition three learner focus groups were conducted. Definitions of what constitutes volunteering vary significantly. Inspectors took a broad view that young people’s volunteering involved spending unpaid time doing something which was to the benefit of society.
Across the three sectors visited, schools, colleges, and youth and community settings, inspectors found a rich and eclectic range of approaches reflecting the diversity of volunteering scenarios. Some were linked to a course or qualification, while others were less formal; there was no single pattern.In the best settings visited, volunteering appeared in many guises within and beyond the curriculum, and grew out of active and constructive links with community groups, businesses and sports groups, with resources dedicated to staffing and training.
The great majority of young people spoken to by inspectors thought that volunteering had helped them to develop important skills and attributes such as advocacy, team working, motivation and resilience. Others reflected on their developing sense of responsibility and service to others. Improving employment prospects was a key feature for some,while for others volunteering had helped to develop their political awareness and civic engagement.
A minority stated that difficulties and pressures they currently faced, for example in securing paid employment, acted as a disincentive to volunteering. In Ofsted’s small-scale online survey the benefit identified by the respondents least often was gaining an award or certificate, although this was often the focus for providers aiming to demonstrate the value of volunteering activity.
The most effective volunteering programmes were, at least in part, shaped by individual young people and involved a level of risk and challenge. They had clarity of purpose, comprised activities which stretched young people, and achieved a sensible balance between participation and accreditation. Responsive providers created pathways for participants such as volunteering at sports events and gaining an event stewarding qualification, performing and recording music, or becoming qualified youth workers.
The most effective practitioners had been trained in areas such as student-led decision-making, group work, project-planning, sourcing up-to-date resources and community networking. Providers also invested time in training young people, especially those with responsibility for otherssuch as in mentoring, or in relation to management and governance.
In the less effective provision, providers were falling back on longstanding and repetitive volunteering opportunities rather than looking for fresh and appealing ideas. Young peoplecame away from the activity uninspired or no better informed. A minority of teachers spoon-fed students ideas rather than working with them to develop their own projects.In these cases, providers had not reviewed their programmes to identify where simple improvements could be made to maximise learning for young people.
Two key factors emerged in relation to engaging more vulnerable young people in volunteering: skilled practitionerswho built strong and trusting relationships with them, and the effectiveness of an organisation in removing barriers to participation. The work of external agencies and charities seen by inspectors was highly effective in engaging vulnerable young people and in supporting volunteering programmes in schools and colleges. However, many of these external agencies were facing very challenging futures due to reductions in grants and other sources of funding. For those young people who might have exhibited behavioural problems or been excluded, taking real responsibility through volunteering helped build their self-esteem and sense of purpose. Some of the young people interviewed who were involved in targeted provision had come to their own realisation that volunteering was a means of building their competitiveness in seeking employment.
Evaluating the impact of volunteering presents genuine challenges.Commonly, the senior managers interviewed in the schools and colleges visited asserted that dedicating curriculum time to volunteering helped raise academic standards. One college presented an analysis of data for some of the students who volunteered, indicating that they enjoyed better success rates than those who did not engage in volunteering. Other colleges cited improved retention and attendance rates.Measures applied by youth and community groups and charities generally centred on progression to employment, education, training or further volunteering.
In a context of declining resources,there is clearly a need to ensure that opportunities are being effectively targeted where the need is greatest, and that measures of success are clearly focused on the subsequent progress made by participants, not just onthe attainment of immediate goals specific to volunteeringprojects.There were instances where reduced resources had restricted the work of local community groups that was essential in providing opportunities for learners to pursue their volunteering. To differing degrees, young people were prevented from accessing volunteering placements in four providers due to a lack of collaboration and restrictive interpretation of safeguarding requirementsby managers.
Key findings
The volunteering activities seen supported young people’s learning and development well and provided a means by which they could engage constructively in civil society. Well-managed volunteering programmes have the potential to realise significant benefits for young people in enhancing their learning experience.
The most effective schools, colleges, and youth and community settings found creative ways of integrating volunteering within courses and ‘in-house’ projects enabling young people to take on greater levels of responsibility.They did not consider it as an ‘add on’ to mainstream learning.
All of the schools and colleges visited worked with external national charities and agencies eitherto extend the range of volunteering opportunities on offer or to target specific groups of young people.
In the targeted provision visited, organisations and practitioners were effective in identifying the support needs of vulnerable or disadvantaged young people and in developing their confidence and building their social skills.
Providers recognised the need for young people to have skills, confidence and credibility in undertaking volunteering roles.All invested time in training young people, especially those with responsibility for otherssuch as in mentoring, or in relation to management and governance.
The most effective practitioners had been trained in areas such as student-led decision-making, group work, project-planning, sourcing up-to-date resources and community networking. They were very adept at ensuring young people were able to make informed choices about the volunteering opportunities available to them.
Evaluating the impact of volunteering presents genuine challenges; there were examples where providers were able to evaluate elements of volunteering programmes, but none wasdoing so in a comprehensive manner.
Linking volunteering with accreditation can bring both benefits and problems.Young people often spoke about the intrinsic value of volunteering and how it had nothing to do with gaining a qualification. There was clear merit in providers striking a balance and providing opportunities for accreditation where appropriate.
Recommendations
The Cabinet Office together with the Department for Educationshould:
review the support provided to national charities to enable them to maintain their work with schools and other providers in developing young people’s civic engagement.
Providers should:
map the benefits to learning of the range of activities related to volunteering they undertake
review their curriculum with a view to determining where opportunities lie for young people to enhance their learning through volunteering
consider specifically the means by which volunteering is used to engage disadvantaged and vulnerable young people productively
ensure key staff are skilled and knowledgeable about volunteering, through workforce development opportunities and networking
develop more effective ways of evaluating and articulating the learning outcomes that young people accrue from volunteering.
Contextual information
1.Youth volunteering and civic engagement are very wellestablished in England. Their origins can be traced back to the work of churches, cultural organisations, philanthropic societies, trade unions and uniformed organisations. As an important component of the government’s Big Society initiative, volunteering and civic engagement for young people have become a significant government priority. The Cabinet Office and Department for Education are currently piloting a new eight-week National Citizen Service for 16–year-olds, operated through consortia of charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises. The importance of ensuring ways of productively engaging young people in their localities was highlighted by the disturbances encountered in some cities in the summer
of 2011.
Figure 1: Regular participation in voluntary activities in the 12 months before interview, 2008–09 (percentage of respondents)
Respondents with missing age and gender data are included in the ‘All’ row.Source: 2008–09 Citizenship survey: volunteering and charitable giving topic report, Department for Communities and Local Government, April 2010, page 14.
2.Volunteering is defined in varying ways and because of the informal nature of much activity, it can be difficult to judge how much volunteering young people undertake. The Citizenship Survey is currently the largest scale longitudinal survey of volunteering in England. As shown in Figure 1, in 2008–09 the survey found that 24% of 16–25-year-olds participated in formal volunteering, defined as unpaid help given as part of a group, club or organisation to benefit others or the environment. This was a lower proportion than for age groups 35–49, 50–64, and 65–74, but higher than for those aged 26–34 or over 75. By contrast, 38% of young people aged 16–25 participated in informal volunteering, defined in the survey as unpaid help given as an individual to someone who is not a relative. This was the highest for any age group apart from those aged 65–74.
3.These levels of participation have remained relatively constant across subsequent surveys. A survey conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that young people are engaged in a variety of informal activities that come under a wider definition of ‘charity’, from giving goods to charity shops to buying the Big Issue, purchasing Fairtrade goods, recycling, campaigning and taking part in charity events.[2]
Figure 2: Understanding of the word ‘volunteering’: what does the term ‘volunteering’ mean to you (percentage of respondents)?
Based on 328 children and young people aged 11–25 on the ‘Your Say’ panel, surveyed between 20 June and 12 July 2011. Source: Ofsted ‘Your Say’ panel summary report – volunteering.
4.Evidence gathered through Ofsted’sonline survey confirmed the wide interpretations which young people applied to volunteering. The most common meaning ascribed by the 328 respondents to the word ‘volunteering’ was an activity in the community which you choose to do yourself (84%). Two thirds (67%) said that volunteering is something you do to help others, while 42% said that it is campaigning or volunteering to make things better. Respondents who currently volunteer, or who have done so in the past, are more likely than those who have never volunteered to say that volunteering is something you to do to help others (73% compared with 55%).
5.For the purposes of this survey, inspectors took a broad view that young people’s volunteering involved spending time, unpaid, doing something which was to the benefit of society. The volunteering activity seen was primarily linked to a small sample of secondary schools, colleges or youth and community settings.
6.The aim of the survey was to consider the following:
the learning taking place in high-quality volunteering programmes and the extent to which volunteering opportunities have an impact on learners’ attainment
how well volunteering is managed to ensure the best learning outcomes for young people
how effectively volunteering opportunities involve the full range of learners, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
7.Across the three sectors, the volunteering activity seen by inspectorsfell broadly into the following categories:
volunteering organised by teachers, tutors or youth workers within an institution
volunteering initiated and led by young people taking place within their school, college or youth and community setting
packages of activities related to volunteering provided to institutions by external specialist charities
volunteering which forms an element of an award-bearing course or programme of study.
Developing and promoting volunteering
Volunteering within schools and colleges
8.Inspectors found three approaches to volunteering adopted by the schools and colleges visited:
volunteering as a course component
‘in-house’ volunteering
extending the curriculum through working with external partners.
Volunteering as a course component
9.In some mainstream programmes viewed, either practical opportunities for volunteering formed a component of the course or the course included a taught element about the role of volunteering in society. Programmesof this kind seen by inspectors included GCSE citizenship studies, sport and uniformed public services, ethics, the ASDAN community volunteers’ qualification, the community sports leadership award, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the International Baccalaureate, andprogrammes for those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.[3]The nature of volunteering activities undertaken by students as part of mainstream courses included personal projects on social issues such as homelessness, promoting enterprise, or arranging and supervising sport activities for primary-aged children.
10.Volunteering activities were also often used to provide evidence towards a qualification.In some cases this involved placing volunteering within an ‘independence curriculum’ or a college’s enrichment activities. One school operated anextended project qualification at Key Stage 4, where students pursued an issue or topic of personal interest. In such cases, community volunteering, locally or even internationally, provided evidence towards their award.
11.The advantages of a course-focused approach were: the opportunity to target the needs of specific groups– for example, in one school the ASDAN Community Volunteers Qualification (CVQ) level 2 programme was used as a means of engaging lower-attaining students; and the opportunity to provide a more structured assessment of progress by participating young people. Courses incorporating volunteering also offered learners opportunities for progression, as in the following example.
The ‘Moving On’ programme allows progression forstudents with learning difficulties and/or disabilities who are reaching the end of their three-year supported learning programme at college. Volunteering is an inherent part of the student experience. ‘Moving On’ aims to provide longer-termengagement within the community.It includes a placement within a charity shop or a carers’ centre, or planting flowers and vegetables at a community allotment. ‘Moving On’ had clear and tangible benefits to learners in areas such as communication and social skills, dealing with the public, handling finances and learning to use public transport independently. (LeicesterCollege)
‘In-house’ volunteering
12.There were many outstanding examples of where providers had developed ‘in-house’ volunteering opportunities for learners to take up help and support roles within the school, college or youth setting.The range was rich and at times imaginative, with the best clearly reflecting learners’ needs and interests.For vulnerable learners, those who required health care, or who lacked the confidence and experience to venture into community settings, the ‘in-house’ option often worked well. They successfully fulfilled tasks such as school ambassadors, gardening club volunteers, buddies to new students, receptionists or library support assistants. Theseactivities provided sheltered first-stage opportunities with minimal risk.
13.Examples were also seen where higher-attaining learners were equally challenged by and engaged in ‘in-house’ volunteering. Activities were often linked to their academic studies, for examplestudents in the Islamic Society supporting teachers by producing worksheets to use in class timeor abudding teacher supporting her science teacher by planning and preparing resources. Other learners acted as peer mentors in roles such as music advisers or reading leaders. One younglearner supportedher visually impaired peer with the practicalities of undertaking a photography course. Academically related peer mentoring of this nature had the dual advantage of supporting the ‘mentee’ as well as providing a good volunteering opportunity for the mentor.