Sharon Hutchings & Ann McCarthy

1. Student volunteering in the community: connections to their discipline and potential for creating future career aspirations. Sharon Hutchings & Ann McCarthy

2. Student volunteering in the community Aim of session: To reflect on the Volunteering project Module evaluating and reflecting on how far it afforded students the opportunity to ‘live’ their sociology, to connect to their communities and hopefully make links that were truly felt beyond what our teaching could offer. Outline • Values in teaching and learning • Volunteering project • Moments of learning • Questions

3. Student volunteering in the community Values in teaching and learning – should we have them? Absolutely for us - makes sense of my world and my practices Where do ours come from? Shaped by our learning experiences Adult and community education /Placement and Work-Based Learning Potential and power of learning Need for change Understandings and values that inform our practice Critical pedagogy and experiential learning Facilitating learning - Carl Rogers

4. Student volunteering in the community Volunteering project – Aim for our students: “… alongside the current political drive for the ‘Big Society’ we hope to build a platform for critical debate combined with your volunteering projects to deepen your understandings of sociology and the wider communities you are part of”. Structure • Term1 - Critical explorations of concepts - community and volunteering • Term2 - Team-work andvolunteering projects • Term3 - Group presentations and individual reflective report

5. Student volunteering in the community Youth work From cooks to interpreters! Diversity Dance workshop

6. Student volunteering in the community Tea Dance

7. Student volunteering in the community Two moments of learning • “Its not what I thought prostitution was like” • Edna and the “imaginary” water The intention was to afford students the opportunity to ‘live’ their sociology, to connect to their communities and hopefully make links that were truly felt beyond what our teaching could offer

8. Student volunteering in the community • Her experience really disrupted her world and shattered what she described as her "pretty woman" imaginings of prostitution,  • We thought that a series of small quotes from Yasmin might just offer a taste of her experiences and developing thinking: “Its not what I thought prostitution was like”

9. "I hoped that by doing this volunteer project I would get an insight into the world that prostitutes live and, that if I understood them, I would hopefully be able to help them". • "I had concerns about my own safety...“ "I felt like I had been thrown in at the deep end... I couldn't believe what I was  hearing". • "I helped in an art workshop.... words that expressed their feelings like "Fuck the World"... "don't bite the hand that feeds you..."  • "I was, however, slightly disillusioned as I felt that more emphasis was placed on just handing out the condoms and keeping the prostitutes safe... “ • “but POW has created this community… a place for support and comfort …it made me realise how important it is in any organisation to have a good and committed management team…” • "I could never have imagined what the life of a prostitute was like from just reading a book"

10. Student volunteering in the community Edna and the “imaginary” water "She then began to twitch and complain about water dripping on her but I thought, as it was raining outside, she was hearing rain and thinking she was outside so I proceeded to move her wheelchair a little to put her mind at ease...However, whist doing this, I saw a drip of water on her shoulder and felt very guilty for not believing her".  “I feel delighted that I didn’t give up and volunteer elsewhere because I've had a great experience volunteering … it has made me a stronger person as I now have more confidence when being put in difficult situations and making the most of them”.

11. Student volunteering in the community Student voices Working at the refugee centre: “…it has provided me with a confidence and a sense of fulfilment …this learning curve has been a foundation in which to progress on in my degree and in life”. Charity shop volunteer: “A skill we learnt was relating to people different to ourselves…there is no guarantee that you will work with people who are the same as you, this is imperative for teamwork. Dance volunteer: “… I could apply it to life after my project”. Homeless centre: “…I felt slightly apprehensive…unjust stereotypes…different next time”.

12. Student volunteering in the community What we appreciated… Other communities beyond student community First year students? absolutely yes! Integrity evident in developing projects Empowerment student relationship changed New voices new language to voice new knowing New opportunities new places of learning

13. Student volunteering in the community Critical pedagogy - practices across Higher Education Giroux argues that: “…personal experience becomes a valuable resource giving students the opportunity to relate their on narratives, social relations and histories to what is being taught”. (Giroux 2010) Echoed in recent HEA publication: Pedagogy for employability: Evidence suggests that successful pedagogical approaches include experiential learning – an emphasis on exploration, learning by doing and reflection in authentic contexts – ideally mixed with rather than simply replacing existing approaches. (HEA 2012, p. 45)

14. Student volunteering in the community Service learning “I translate this effort into a form of experiential education that is “both an applied form of sociological practice and an educational pedagogy”(Stall 2010, p. 537) Defining employability “Employability is not just about getting a job. Conversely, just because a student is on a vocational course does not mean that somehow employability is automatic. Employability is more than about developing attributes, techniques or experience just to enable a student to get a job, or to progress within a current career. It is about learning and the emphasis is less on ‘employ’ and more on ‘ability’. In essence, the emphasis is on developing critical, reflective abilities, with a view to empowering and enhancing the learner”. (Harvey 2003, p.4)

15. Student volunteering in the community Thank you for your time. Any Questions?

16. Student volunteering in the community References: • Giroux. H., (2010) Lessons From Paulo Freire. Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 57, Issue 9 • Pegg, A., Waldock, J., Hendy-Isaac, S., & Lawton, R. (2012). Pedagogy for employability.HEA • Rogers, C. and Freiberg, H. J. (1993) Freedom to Learn (3rd edn.), New York: Merrill. • Stall, S. (2010), Civic Sociology. The Sociological Quarterly, 51: 537–549

17. Student volunteering in the community “Experience is a starting point, an object of inquiry that can be affirmed, interrogated, and used to develop broader knowledge and understanding. Critical pedagogy is about offering a way of thinking beyond the seemingly natural or inevitable state of things, about challenging common sense." (Giroux 2008)

18. Student volunteering in the community “…teaching, in my estimation, is a vastly overrated function” (Rogers 1989) “goal of education, … is the facilitation of change and learning”. (Rogers) Two essential componentsfor purposeful learning, ours and students are: experiences and relationships

19. Student volunteering in the community What would we do differently? Support supervision and debriefing CRB checks plan well in advance Group work troublesome at times Organisational constraints systems and processes - fit Managing expectations students and organisations Who benefits? problematic