Youth Volunteering – Thinking Time
Volunteer Development Agency, 18 May 2007
Overview - England
Mike Locke
Assistant Director, Institute for Volunteering Research
Introduction
Thinking about … how different is young people’s volunteering from volunteering by other age-groups?
Main sources
Ellis, A (2006) Generation V: Young people speak out on volunteering Institute for Volunteering Research, London
- order from Resources …. Publications on: www.volunteeringengland.org.uk
- Research Bulletin: www.ivr.org.uk/generationvbulletin.htm
Gaskin, K (2004) Young people, volunteering and civic service: A review of literature Institute for Volunteering Research, London
- order from Resources …. Publications on: www.volunteeringengland.org.uk
Gaskin, K (1998) What young people want from volunteering Institute for Volunteering Research, London
- Research Bulletin: www.ivr.org.uk/youngresearch.htm
The Citizenship Surveys from the Department of Communities and Local Government, previously from the Home Office, available on-line at:
www.communities.gov.uk :
Attwood, C, Singh, G, Prime, D and Creasey, R (2003) 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey: people, families and communities Home Office, London
Kitchen, S, Michaelson, J, Wood, N and John, P (2006) 2005 Citizenship Survey: Active communities topic report Department for Communities and Local Government, London
My thinking has been informed by working on a report of a new national survey, following up the Citizenship Survey, to be published in July:
Low, N, Butt, S, Ellis Paine, A and Davis Smith, J (2007) Helping Out: A national survey of volunteering and charitable giving Department for Communities and Local Government, London
1. Pressures put on young people’s volunteering by government policies
Volunteering is proposed as a solution to several problems focussed on young people:
- work skills and employability
- ‘normalising’ young people, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour
As well as more general public policy rationales:
- civil renewal / citizenship / tackling the democratic deficit
- workforce to deliver services and run activities
- personal fulfilment, expression of service to others, good use of leisure
Plus, for young people:
- setting up habits of volunteering …. the best predictor of volunteering is having volunteered before
So, one difference: the demands and expectations loaded onto young people’s volunteering
2. Extent and patterns of young people’s volunteering
Picture of young people’s volunteering presented from national statistics is not so different from volunteering by other age-groups in its patterns, reasons, activities, fields.
One difference: proportionately more volunteering by the 16-19 age-group than by other age-groups.
2005 Citizenship Survey shows:
Formal volunteering (ie, through an organisation)
- 32pc of 16-19s engaged once a month, as compared to 29 pc of total
- 53pc of 16-19s at least once in last year, as compared to 44pc of total
Informal volunteering
- 50pc of 16-19s engaged once a month, as compared to 37 pc of total
- 78pc of 16-19s at least once in last year, as compared to 68pc of total
Young people ‘are not a homogenous group but vary hugely in their characteristics, backgrounds, needs and wishes…. This particularly affects disaffected young people and people at different stages within the age range’ (Ellis 2006 p34).
Thinking about trends … proportion of young people who say their religious belief is a reason for volunteering is slightly higher than among 25-55 age-groups. A few years ago, we would have predicted a trend of increasing secularisation in young people’s values.
Among attitudes towards volunteering, two areas of difference:
- career-minded young people
- disaffected young people.
Young people volunteer for career reasons much more than other age-groups.
Ellis (2006), reporting the research which led towards setting up v, found factors which would persuade young people to do more voluntary work featured highly:
- free training; a qualification; benefit to career
Other research found:
- as a reason for volunteering, a quarter of young people say ‘To help my career’
- as personal benefits of volunteering, a half say ‘A chance to improve my career prospects’; and a quarter ‘… to get a qualification’.
At the other end of the spectrum, some young people are disaffected and disconnected from volunteering and political participation (Gaskin 2004).
No quantification of how many young people are disaffected.
A minority of young people refer to volunteering as ‘sad’ and ‘not cool’; are put off by peer pressure and a narrow stereotypical negative view; and by lack of confidence (Ellis 2006).
In two small studies, 15pc thought volunteering was ‘Being a mug for doing something for nothing’… not a high grade of disaffection!
3. Tackling problems
Psychological and practical barriers are tackled through measures, such as:
- working through social connections …. and directly asking for help
- giving young people some leadership or decision-making or ‘having a say’ in volunteering projects
- applying Gaskin’s (1998) FLEXIVOL schema
flexibility
legitimacy
ease of access
experience
incentives
variety
organisation
laughs
- rebranding of volunteering: ‘… what is required is to reclaim [volunteering] for young people and replace it with a broader and more realistic image’ (Ellis 2006).
Thinking about solutions in social policy: pause and reflect that the reasons why public policy wants people to volunteer do not – mostly – coincide with the reasons why people volunteer.
Government policies and agencies can:
- set up the situations or systems within which young people devise their own strategies for volunteering, or not
4. Things to think about
1. Risk
- to serve the variety of young people’s needs, governments and agencies need to take risks in their accountabilities
How do official agencies take risks?
2. Lessons
- overall statistics mask the differences and details that matter for trying out volunteering projects for diverse young people
- within trend of increasing numbers, there are pockets of resistance / disaffection, some of them creative
How do we test and evaluate numerous projects with varied approaches so as to draw out common lessons?
Download document
