Development of Student Volunteering - Essay Example

Introduction volunteering and other types of voluntary action have grown in their range and importance as well as changed in their objectivesand nature in the last several decades. Political, social and economic changes have brought about demands for different types of voluntary action. This has given rise to different theories and models of volunteering and new funding mechanisms. In the UK, volunteering has a long history and recently, has gained more importance within a new political and social economic order, known as the ‘Big Society’. This report engages in a discussion of student volunteering within a political and socioeconomic context by looking at its origins and development in the UK, the various forms of student volunteering, its role in society and its contribution to voluntary and public sector organisations. It also looks at the types of volunteering supported in public schools, the ways in which schools make use of volunteers, and how the work of public schools contribute or relate to the idea of the ‘Big Society’, a political socioeconomic policy promoted and launched in 2010. Development of Volunteering Student volunteering has a long history in which it has evolved in its nature and purpose. It used to be more a social action aiming at helping those in need, one of charity and philanthropy, but has become more a political and socioeconomic activity. It has also become connected with enhanced employability and civic responsibilities in newer ways. Student volunteering in the UK has a long history and goes back even by centuries to the 1880’s when missionary organisations were established at the Oxford and Cambridge universities. Voluntary action was linked to the evangelical revival of that period, according to Brewis (2014). Students assisted those in need by working in disadvantaged areas. The two World Wars gave rise to growth in volunteering at an international level and also became more a social and political activity (Brewis, 2014). While volunteers helped in reconstruction of society by raising funds for charities, they also engaged in protests against government policies to add political dimensions to volunteering. By mid 20th century, student volunteers initiated social action against several domestic as well as international issues such as student refugees and racism and made volunteering a political activity (Brewis, 2014). In the later part of the century, “Student Community Action groups developed in many universities, where students led and managed their own projects based in local communities. This period showed a more politicised understanding of volunteering, with a transition from traditional models of social “service” to community “action”” (Jamie and Rannard, 2011, p.179). Amnesty International is an example (Brewis, 2014). Youth engagement with their communities has been increasingly promoted as a national strategy to deal with community needs in recent times. Higher Education Active Community Fund (HEACF) is an example of such an initiative that invests in student volunteering. In the modern day, student volunteering has become increasingly linked to social capital and civic responsibility. It is about how the state regulates social welfare and how student citizens participate in providing services. ‘Big Society’, for example, builds a civic society, which is discussed in detail in the next section. As student volunteering is not an individual activity, but carried out as organised activities and involves networks, it plays a key role in building social capital. It helps build and bridge social capital within communities as well as across communities (Onyx, Leonard and Hayward-Brown, 2003). Moreover, volunteering is no more only about giving to society but also about acquiring skills and building a career (Student Volunteering UK, n.d.). Volunteering acts as informal education to student volunteers who lean valuable skills in the process (Smith, 2000-2009). Employability increases with the skills and experience gained with volunteering. In the contemporary era, student volunteering is promoted in this new dimension. The Idea of ‘Big Society’ in the UK: Definition, Pros and Cons As part of policy initiatives, volunteering can be traced back to the “‘Make a Difference’ initiative launched by John Major in 1992 “and “to the establishment of the Volunteer Centre UK (now Volunteering England [VE]) in 1973” (Brenton, 1985 cited in Rochester, Paine, Howlett and Zimmerick, 2009, p.2) . Succeeding governments have made policy and ideological changes to make voluntary organisations play “a greater role in the delivery of public and social services and to invest in third sector infrastructure organisations” (Rochester et. al., p.11). The most recent expansion in voluntary action in the UK is the rise of ‘Big Society’, ‘which means “a society with much higher levels of personal, professional, civic and corporate responsibility; a society where people come together to solve problems and improve life for themselves and their communities” and “social responsibility, not state control” is the progress mantra according to the Conservative Party Manifesto (2010, p. 37). In the ‘Big Society’ model, the State or government could retreat further from its role of providing welfare and services, and leaving it to the voluntary sector, in which every citizen was expected to take part as a civic duty. The idea of ‘Big Society’ has altered the landscape and roles of voluntary action by redefining the state, society, people relationship. Political economy of Big Society is one of a “social investment model” (Emma and David, 2014, p. 871). This idea is about the state enabling “social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups to play a leading role in delivering public services and tackling deep-rooted social problems” by mobilising citizens’ resources, both affective and financial, to run services that used to be public services (Conservative Party, 2010, p.37). Such a participatory model in social welfare mobilises resources, and builds a civic society by appealing to civic responsibility, which are key positive characteristics of ‘Big Society’. However, Big Society’ has its drawbacks and challenges too. While the advocates of ‘Big Society’ claim the idea to be great and good for the UK as it empowers the voluntary organisations and local communities by devolution of power, success of the idea demands a shift in the way people perceive their roles in the society. However, willingness as well as capacity to volunteer is a big challenge at the community level (Mohan, 2010). There could also be the danger of overrepresentation of volunteers in rich areas, where people could afford generosity or take up volunteering as a serious leisure and deprived areas where help is actually needed more may not have volunteers at all. Such cases illustrate that the social capital of certain communities could be higher than the others that access to resources could become highly concentrated in some areas only, which is certainly a drawback to the ‘Big Society’ concept. Therefore, it becomes necessary to look into how volunteering and motivation are interlinked, and how voluntary action takes different forms and does various roles. Volunteering- forms, roles and motivation There are several theories of volunteering which are based on the different types of voluntary action and the nature of motivations behind volunteering. Maslow (1987) theorises about the psychological needs behind human motivation and action. If voluntary action is interpreted in his view, it could be a means of satisfying the human need for self-fulfilment, happiness and self-actualisation. It is the need for self-fulfilment or self-actualisation that could motivate a person towards generosity and philanthropy or volunteer in a work area purely to utilise the maximum self potential in that area or to expand existing skills and potential. Such motivations can range from altruism to activism or from self-development to community development. A range of motivations behind volunteering can be observed in the various types of volunteering that evolved since the origins of voluntary action in the UK discussed in the previous section of this essay. It also means that forms of volunteering and motivations are intertwined. Rochester, Paine, Howlett and Zimmerick (2009, p.15) categorise voluntary action into three groups in which motivations and types of action are two key criteria. They call this as the “three-perspective model of volunteering”. Primary paradigm is based on altruism as the motive, where volunteering is to “to help others who are less fortunate” (Rochester et. al., p.11), which is seen in the early periods of student volunteering in the UK. The second paradigm is “civil society paradigm” (Rochester et. al., p.12) and has the characters of activism where the motivation is primarily to address common issues by self-help or mutual help. Volunteering could engage in public services and policy problems such as transport and generally function with specific goals. The third one is primarily treated as a “serious leisure” (Rochester et.al, 2009, p.14) where volunteers do volunteering out of enthusiasm to acquire skills and experience in a particular area. Modern day student volunteering is characteristic of this to a large extent and focuses on gaining employable skills and experience by volunteering in a non-work career. They see what is in it for them: as a means to acquire “real-life skills” or build their career (Student Volunteering UK, n.d.). The non-profit sector of today could be taken as functioning on the first paradigm by recruiting and training student volunteers for special roles where they provide help to those in need. However, the various types of student volunteering supported in public schools should not be seen as exclusively driven by a single motivator or a particular theory. They could be a combination of more than one. Student volunteering mostly refers to activities that are not part of the core curriculum. However, some institutions may incorporate volunteering as a part of the academic curriculum, where learning is linked to specific activities the students are expected to do in a community. In the general sense, student volunteering has been defined as “an activity that involves spending unpaid time doing something that aims to benefit the environment or individuals or groups (other than, or in addition to, close relatives)” (Compact, 2009, quoted in Jamie and Rannard, 2011, p.177). Such volunteering can be carried out as part of programmes organised by the schools, student unions or an external non-governmental organisation. Voluntary action can be sometimes student-led where they have their “Student Community Action Groups” (Jamie and Rannard, 2011, p. 179) or part of the voluntary services part of universities, such as career services. These are usually supported by the government funds. There could also be a brokerage model of volunteering where university departments help source opportunities from charities or non-governmental organisations and students can spend a short time volunteering with these organisations. As an outcome, students can gain work experience or develop their skills. Another model is volunteering overseas, and an example is the International Citizen Service in the UK which arranges for short-term volunteering opportunities for young people. It is considered to bring mutual benefits as it helps volunteers gain fresh perspectives and enhance their employment skills while improving the quality of life for some of the disadvantaged communities through volunteering. In addition to supporting student volunteering in various forms as discussed above, public schools in the UK also actively engage volunteers to carry out community services, primarily education. For example, parents of the students can volunteer as teachers to gain experience, to serve the local community and to increase chances of their employment (Cummings et.al, 2007). Public schools also have the option for those interested to volunteer as school governors (Gov.UK, 2014). They also allow non-governmental or charity organisations to carry out their voluntary action at schools. For example, student volunteers join hands with grassroots organisations to raise awareness among school students and public schools support such volunteering. By doing so, they facilitate community engagement in local schools and mobilise community’s social and civic resources and participate in the idea of ‘Big Society’. Student volunteering and volunteering supported by public schools have significance given the fact that local communities and schools are expected to engage in voluntary action to support and improve their needs. After school clubs are delivered by community groups to engage in the idea of ‘Big Society’ (Kisby, 2010). However, the roles are not limited to local communities but widen to the global scale. For example, People and Planet, that has more than 75 student-run groups in the UK schools, has campaigned on global issues like poverty (Rochester, et.al., 2009). Role of Volunteers in Society Whatever the form and purpose of volunteering is, volunteers play a key role in social capital formation. Volunteers also play a key role in social capital formation. Taking the theoretical view of Putnam (1993, quoted in Onyx, Leonard and Hayward-Brown, 2003, p.2), social capital refers to “those features of social organisation, such as ... networks, that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions.” Volunteering comprises of coordinated actions of networks of volunteers to address collective problems. It is also argued that volunteers generate social capital whether or not they engage in volunteering for altruistic purposes or for personal gains such as enhancing employability (Onyx et. al, 2003). Irrespective of the nature of the volunteering, its forms and purposes, volunteers play an active role in building community networks, developing links between communities, and help access external resources, and thereby play a significant role in social capital formation. Voluntary Organisations, Volunteering and Public Services Volunteering contributes to the activities of public and private sector organisations such as charities and health services as well to non-governmental voluntary organisations. They could also be mutually dependent, especially when volunteers look for skills and experience in a structured environment rather than do a one-off volunteering and spend their time freely. According to the “third-party model” public service organisation, charities, voluntary organisations and educational institutions could enhance “corporations and educational institutions may all enhance the volunteerability of individuals and the recruit-ability of volunteer organisations” (Haski-Leventhal, Meijs and Hustinx, 2010, p.146). Volunteer organisations provide the structured formal mechanisms for the volunteers to give their service to the community. The research carried out by Clark and Wilding (2011) has found that voluntary organisations depend on volunteers to a large extent. They cite the Citizenship survey that found that “28 percent of adults living in England volunteer once a month” (p.40). They offer public services or volunteer for a public sector organisation according to the survey. In the context of a neoliberal economy and decentralisation, government withdraws from offering public services and non-governmental organisations depend on volunteering to serve the need. Conclusion Volunteering plays a significant role in the development of communities and addressing social and political issues locally as well as globally. It enhances social capital and mobilises private capital and resources to provide services that used to be the responsibility of the governments. Student volunteering has grown over the years into a political activity and later into a socioeconomic activity with political dimensions. Volunteering is no more only about giving to society but also about acquiring skills and building a career. Big Society has changed the concept of volunteering by making it a civic duty and has made schools and communities work together for themselves. References Brewis, G. (2014) Students, Volunteering and Community Action1960–2000. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 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