curriculum for excellence

Volunteering and Curriculum for Excellence

www.learningbyvolunteering.org

Index

Introduction 3

Overall aims of Curriculum for Excellence 4

Senior phase of Curriculum for Excellence 6

Entitlements 8

The Four Capacities 10

Research evidence 12

Appendix: Case studies 14



Introduction

Curriculum for Excellence is the national

curriculum for Scottish learners from age three to

eighteen. It aims to achieve a transformation in

education by providing a coherent, more flexible

and enriched curriculum for young people.

This document has been prepared as part of the

Learning by Volunteering project and explores

the many ways in which volunteering by young

people at Scotland’s colleges contributes towards

the aims of Curriculum for Excellence.


Aims Of Curriculum For Excellence

Curriculum for Excellence describes the experiences which

are planned for young people throughout their education,

wherever they are learning. The role of volunteering relative

to these experiences is discussed below.

• Volunteering encourages interdisciplinary learning by providing time and space

for learning beyond subject boundaries and encouraging students to make

connections between different areas of learning. Volunteering also encourages

students to take advantage of opportunities to engage with a range of people who

can provide enriched learning experiences and offer opportunities for a wider

involvement in society.

• Students can broaden their understanding of the ethos and life of their college

by taking part in volunteering activities which offer opportunities to participate

in decision making, contribute as leaders and mentors and offer support and

service to others. Student volunteers can exercise their responsibilities as members

of their local community and play an active part in putting the values of their

college into practice. In addition to volunteering at external locations, a valuable

form of volunteering is for older students to act as mentors for younger students

within the college.

• Volunteering provides excellent opportunities for personal achievement beyond

the classroom, providing a sense of satisfaction and helping to build motivation,

resilience and confidence. The formal volunteering awards being developed in

many colleges and by the Scottish Qualifications Agency will recognise and reward

the achievements of student volunteers.

• Volunteering supports curriculum design by providing challenge & enjoyment,

breadth, progression, depth, personalisation & choice, coherence and relevance

to the learning process. A key aspect of curriculum design is the flexibility that

Curriculum for Excellence encourages and the flexible ways in which volunteering

can be undertaken is consistent with this approach.


Senior Phase Of Curriculum For Excellence

The senior (and final) phase of Curriculum for Excellence is the

stage at which children develop emotionally, physically and

socially into young adults and so can be the most challenging

stage of a young person’s education.

The Senior Phase can be characterised as that which takes place in the final stages

of compulsory education and beyond, normally around age 15 to 18. Curriculum

for Excellence defines the senior phase as years S4 to S6 in schools and up to age

eighteen at college or other means or location of study. Many school leavers start

college from the age of sixteen (possibly fifteen for winter leavers) and colleges also

provide teaching for school pupils in special circumstances.

Colleges provide a variety of part-time courses which are attended by under-

eighteens and also provide part-time school-college courses at college and school

locations for school pupils of all ages.

The graph below provides an approximate indication of the proportion of Scottish

college students in the senior phase category as defined by Curriculum for Excellence.

Scottish college students by age and gender (2009-10)

4 9 14 19 24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59 64 69 74 79Age

No

of

Stu

den

ts

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000Senior phase

female

84

male


In view of the transitions that take place in young people’s lives during their senior

phase, e.g. school to college, school to university, school to employment, it is

important that partnerships work effectively in order to ensure that the aims of

Curriculum for Excellence are delivered. Volunteering adds additional partners to

the mix and can also create logistical challenges in terms of the locations at which

volunteering activity takes place. However, with support and good planning, these

challenges can become part of a process in which young people are encouraged to

take responsibility for their own learning.

The formal guidance for Curriculum for Excellence contains detailed descriptions of

the experiences and outcomes for all stages with the exception of the senior phase.

This paper therefore concentrates on the entitlements for the senior phase that are

described within Curriculum for Excellence.

Although Curriculum for Excellence does not formally apply to adult (over 18)

college students, it will be clear from this paper that many of the volunteering-

derived benefits that accrue to young people will also apply to adult college students.


Entitlements

Curriculum for Excellence contains specific guidance regarding

the senior phase of education for all young people, setting out

entitlements to the following:

Providing specialisation, depth and rigour

College students have a wide choice of specialist volunteering activities from which

to choose and each activity can be pursued in depth if the student wishes. Most

volunteering activities are challenging and require a rigorous approach from the

young people in question.

Preparing young people for achieving qualifications to the highest level of

which they are capable

Volunteering supports the provision of a broad, general education with well-planned

experiences and outcomes. This improves young people’s enjoyment of their

college life and increases their motivation to achieve the best possible vocational

qualifications. In addition, national volunteering qualifications are under development

by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and are expected to be introduced in

September 2011. In the meantime, bespoke volunteering qualifications are being

developed and branded by many individual colleges in order to ensure the formal

recognition of learners’ achievements within volunteering.

Continuing to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work

Volunteering is part of a coherent approach which responds to the development

needs of young people in their senior phase. By providing real life situations for

learners to make use of their technical and employability skills, volunteering makes

an important contribution towards the development and practice of skills for learning,

life and work. In particular, volunteering can support the practical development of

transferable skills such as literacy, communication and numeracy.

Continuing to provide a range of activities which develop the four capacities

Volunteering supports the development of all aspects of the four capacities within

Curriculum for Excellence - see page 10 of this paper for a full analysis.

Supporting young people to achieve positive and sustained destinations

Employers are increasingly looking beyond qualifications and seeking people who

can also demonstrate good people skills and the motivation to excel in their career.

Volunteering helps young people to develop these characteristics and adds weight

to college leavers’ efforts to secure or create employment. By providing real-life,

challenging experiences, volunteering supports young people in making successful

transitions to young adulthood and positive destinations within the world of work.


An emphasis on health and wellbeing appropriate to this phase

Student volunteers are often involved in activities which support the health and

well-being of their community and research such as ‘The Refreshed Strategy for

Volunteering in NHS Scotland - A Review of Existing Literature and Research’ (2008)

demonstrates that, in general, volunteering has a positive impact on health –

particularly mental health.

Opportunities for personal achievement, service to others and practical

experience of the world of work

Volunteering offers valuable opportunities for personal learning and achievement

outside the students’ day-to-day college routine and involves a variety of challenging

activities. A defining aspect of volunteering is that it provides a service to others or to

the environment. Many forms of volunteering yield benefits that are similar to those

provided by work experience in that they offer practical involvement in providing a

service to individuals, groups of people or the wider community. Volunteering also

involves young people in real-life experiences that often deliver significant personal

and team achievements and practical work experience.


The Four Capacities

The Four Capacities of Curriculum for Excellence

Benefits of volunteering

SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS

•withenthusiasmandmotivationforlearning

•withdeterminationtoreachhighstandards of achievement

•withopennesstonewthinkingandideas

• abletouseliteracy,communicationandnumeracy skills

• abletousetechnologyforlearning

• abletothinkcreativelyandindependently

• abletolearnindependentlyandaspartofa group

• abletomakereasonedevaluations

• abletolinkandapplydifferentkindsoflearning in new situations

Volunteering encompasses a broad spectrum of activities chosen for their ability to generate enthusiasm and motivation. Learners are encouraged to set and achieve high standards through the practical use of their developing employability skills (e.g. literacy, communication and numeracy), their vocational (course) skills and by utilising relevant technology.

By placing learners in new, real-life environments mostly outwith college they are encouraged to develop their openness to new thinking and ideas and to develop creative approaches to tasks.

Participants in volunteering activities often need to work as effective members of a team but must also act independently when required.

The increased use of reflective techniques within colleges helps learners to identify, record and evaluate their experiences in terms of the development of vocational and interpersonal (transferable) skills and also personal attributes such as confidence and the ability to apply different types of learning to different situations.

CONFIDENT INDIVIDUALS

•withself-respect

• withasenseofphysical,mentalandemotional wellbeing

•withsecurevaluesandbeliefs

• abletorelatetoothersandmanagethemselves

• abletopursueahealthyandactivelifestyle

• abletobeself-aware

• abletodevelopandcommunicatetheirown beliefs and view of the world

• abletoliveasindependentlyastheycan

• abletoassessriskandtakeinformeddecisions

• abletoachievesuccessindifferentareasof activity

Volunteering often involves activities which present a mixture of physical, mental and emotional challenges and these help to develop learners’ physical, mental and emotional well-being. Success in tackling these challenges helps to build learners’ self-awareness and self-respect and their ability to manage themselves. Learners are required to act both independently and as effective team members.

Volunteering provides valuable exposure to real-life situations which inform and support the development of learners’ values and beliefs and their ability to relate to others. The diverse range and locations of volunteering opportunities help learners to develop and communicate their own beliefs and view of the world.

Participants in volunteering activities are regularly required to assess risks and to make appropriately informed decisions. Volunteer activities do not necessarily relate to students’ specific studies and so often provide the opportunity to achieve success in different areas of activity.

The following tables describe the various ways in which volunteering enhances the development of the skills and capabilities of the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence.

•Volunteeringbycollegestudentscontributestowardstheachievementofalmost every aspect of Curriculum for Excellence

•Volunteeringhasthepotentialtoenhancestudents’vocationalskillsandpeople skills including confidence, motivation, team-working, creativity, self-awareness and employability


The Four Capacities of Curriculum for Excellence

Benefits of volunteering

RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS

•withrespectforothers

• withcommitmenttoparticipateresponsibly in political, economic, social and cultural life

• abletodevelopknowledgeandunderstanding of the world and Scotland’s place in it

• abletounderstanddifferentbeliefsandcultures

• abletomakeinformedchoicesanddecisions

• abletoevaluateenvironmental,scientificand technological issues

• abletodevelopinformed,ethicalviewsofcomplex issues

Citizenship is a key aspect of college learning and is actively promoted as part of the employability elements within college courses. Volunteering is able to provide a wide variety of opportunities mostly within real-life, practical environments for learners to engage with a variety of people and communities and to develop citizenship skills such as respect for others, personal responsibility and tolerance.

Interaction with different activities and people within volunteering can provide useful experience of dealing with different social and cultural situations as well as developing an improved understanding of different beliefs and cultures. This enhances learners’ ability to make informed, reasoned choices and decisions and can often help to broaden learners’ ethical views as well as their knowledge and understanding of world issues.

Depending on the type of volunteering undertaken, learners may have the opportunity to acquire more specialist knowledge of environmental, scientific, and technological issues.

EFFECTIVE CONTRIBUTORS

•withanenterprisingattitude

• withresilience

• withself-reliance

• abletocommunicateindifferentwaysand settings

• abletoworkinpartnershipandinteams

• abletotaketheinitiativeandlead

• abletoapplycriticalthinkinginnewconcepts

• abletocreateanddevelop

• abletosolveproblems

Volunteering is clearly a means by which learners can become effective contributors to society. However, the real value of student volunteering lies in the fact that both society and learners benefit from the process of participation in volunteering activities.

By placing learners in different environments through volunteering they are able to learn how to communicate in different ways and settings.

Evidence from the pilot ‘Learning by Volunteering’ project strongly suggests that student volunteering encourages high levels of personal and group contribution across a range of different types of activities and also cultivates a range of personal and interpersonal skills such as resilience, critical thinking, creativity and problem solving. These activities often provide good experience of team working as well as working on an individual, self-reliant basis.

Volunteering has the potential to promote enterprising attitudes and leadership skills among college learners and further research would be helpful in identifying the specifics of this process.

•Thevalueofstudentvolunteeringderivesfromthepowerfulcombinationofpersonal achievement, service to others and practical experience of working in a real-life context

•ThebenefitsofvolunteeringinsupportofCurriculumforExcellenceareavailable to students of all ages, abilities and circumstances


Research Evidence

Substantial research evidence is available regarding the positive

link between volunteering and Curriculum for Excellence and

three examples are provided below.

a) Research by the National Youth Agency1 suggests that volunteering can engage

young people at all levels of achievement, from high achievers to those who are

on the margins of society. The research concludes that:

• Young people identify for themselves a wide range of personal and social skills

developed through volunteering but opportunities to reflect on and articulate this

learning are often underdeveloped

• Young people can increase their self-confidence and self-esteem, develop a range

of communication skills and improve their ability to work with other people

• Volunteering can act as a catalyst for young people to engage more effectively

with other learning, or in some cases re-engage with formal learning or training,

putting them in a position where they can develop skills and potentially gain

qualifications

• Many young people also develop practical skills related to their specific

experiences of volunteering

b) Research by the Institute for Volunteering Research 2 concludes that:

• Volunteering empowers individuals, giving them the confidence and the skills to

change their environment and themselves

• Getting involved and making a contribution to society through volunteering

enhances people’s sense of self-worth

• People acquire a range of hard (vocational) and soft (interpersonal) skills through

their volunteering

• For some people volunteering provides a route to employment whilst for others it

provides an alternative to employment

c) A recent Australian case study3 shows that ‘students benefit by developing

autonomy through real world experiences, through increased self-assurance and

achievement of personal growth, through gaining new insights into the operations

of community service organisations and through moving towards becoming

responsible citizens’.


Evidence gathered during this Learning by Volunteering project strongly suggests

that volunteering is capable of meeting the needs of individuals that may not be met

in other aspects of their lives. For example Spitzer4 defines eight needs or desires

that motivate employees/participants over and above simple financial reward and

volunteering can help to meet these - for example, desire for activity can clearly be

delivered through the broad range of volunteering activity; desire for power can be

met by undertaking a voluntary role on a committee or a board; desire for affiliation

can be met through the sense of belonging to a team of volunteers engaged on

a common task; desire for recognition can often be more readily forthcoming for

volunteers than for regular employees; desire for meaning is often achieved when

people volunteer for a cause with which they identify. When these basic needs are

met it is acknowledged that people are more motivated to do something positive.

1. ‘Young People’s Volunteering and Skills Development’ by the National Youth Agency (2007)

2. ‘Volunteering for All’ - Exploring the link between volunteering and social exclusion’ by the

Institute for Volunteering Research (2004)

3. ‘More than experiential learning or volunteering: a case study of community service

learning within the Australian context’ by Parker, Myers, Higgins, Oddsson, Meegan, Price

and Gould (2009)

4. ‘Supermotivation’ by Dean R. Spitzer (1995)


Appendix: Case Studies

Case Study 1: Shirley O’Boyle and Natalie Good

Shirley O’Boyle and Natalie Good received Silver Awards for Volunteering

by completing over 20 hours of volunteering while studying with Langside

College. Shirley, who completed her HNC, and Natalie, who completed her

HND, were both encouraged by staff at the college to take part in one-off

events which bring the College closer to the community.

Their lecturers would receive requests for students to take part in community events

such as the Castlemilk Fun Day or the Southside Festival and the students were keen

to get involved. When asked why they decided to volunteer, Shirley pointed out

that “It was a chance to give something back and gain experience at the same time.

Volunteering allowed us all to build our confidence in ourselves and in our work.

Volunteering also allowed us to meet all sorts of different people.”

For Natalie it was the feeling that volunteering gave her. She says “I felt good making

others feel good about themselves - you could see the results right away.”

When asked if they volunteered because they had extra time on their hands they just

laughed as both look after their own families at the same time as developing their

career skills. They agreed that having their own families might make them appreciate

and look at the world a little differently.

At the Southside Festival they were left with responsibility for their own efforts and

they rose to the challenge. “We had the resources and ability to organise ourselves

and we knew that our own children would be coming along on the day so we

wanted the day to be something special for people to enjoy.” Shirley and Natalie had

to adapt quickly. No longer within the comfort zone of a state of the art salon they

were challenged to concentrate on the bare essentials and still get the job done. “The

organisers had an idea of what we should be doing, but it quickly became obvious


that this was not practical and didn’t suit potential customers.” They had to move

away from what had been planned for them and restructure what they were offering.

Changing their location, prices and services and making themselves easier to access

made them one of the most popular events offered at the festival.

Volunteering gave Sharon and Natalie the opportunity to display abilities - through

day-to-day course work and assessment - which might not otherwise have been

visible. They each displayed a commitment to responsibly participate in political,

economic, social and cultural life, an enterprising attitude, resilience, self-reliance,

communication in different ways and settings, ability to work in partnership and

teams, to take the initiative and to lead, to apply critical thinking and to solve

problems. These were all amply demonstrated in this one event alone. Both

Shirley and Natalie are certain that whatever their future holds, they will continue to

volunteer. Natalie has gone as far as she can with Langside College at present but

intends to come back as a volunteer for community events. Having been students

and volunteers Natalie and Shirley see themselves as successful learners whose

confidence has grown and who realise they are now more effective and responsible

members of the community.


Appendix: Case Studies

Case Study 2: La Von Rutherford and Lucy Cumming

La Von Rutherford and Lucy Cumming are Langside Students who are

embarking on a journey to become volunteer teachers in a South African

orphanage.

Both La Von and Lucy are HND Social Science students at Langside College. They

are fundraising to help them in their plan to travel to a township orphanage near

Stellenbosch, near Cape Town in South Africa.

As volunteers with Global Vision International they will be involved in supporting

an educational program which focuses on fun and interactive activities, creating an

informal environment for orphaned children aged from birth to eight years old. Their

efforts will help boost the children’s skills in conversational English, arts, music and

drama as well as in their physical development.

Before heading off to South Africa in June 2011, La Von and Lucy have to face an

even longer and more arduous journey as they negotiate the fund-raising trail.

According to La Von and Lucy “We each need to raise our own funds and are looking

for everyone’s help and support in sending us on our way. Bag packing, car boot

sales, bungee jumping, car washing and coffee mornings are just some of the events

we have mapped out for the coming year. Our friends, fellow students and lecturers

at the college have all pledged to help us fund-raise, so now we just need people to

come and sponsor our events.” Their most recent fund-raising activity was a car wash

event at the college where, helped by friends, they raised over £100.

Evident from their actions is the way in which La Von and Lucy display all the

attributes of responsible citizens with respect for others and with a commitment to

participate responsibly in political, economic, social and cultural life. As students of

Social Science they are articulating their knowledge and understanding of the world

and Scotland’s place in it. They are fully able to demonstrate their understanding of

different beliefs and cultures, their ability to make informed choices and decisions, to

evaluate environmental, scientific and technological issues and to develop informed,

ethical views on complex issues.

curriculum for excellence

Documents

excellence curriculum

enriched curriculum

national curriculum

excellenceaims of curriculum

volunteering activities

volunteering project

final phase of curriculum

overall aims of curriculum