Volunteering, choice and control: a case study of higher education student volunteering

Abstract

There has been a step change around youth volunteering in the UK in recent years as this once unheralded and taken for granted activity has moved more centre stage, particularly as a key strand of recent Government initiatives directed towards welfare reform, employment and education policies. This article uses the case studies of student volunteering to explore the paradox inherent in articulations of volunteering in policy discourses that emphasise self-responsibility for employability and community cohesion. We review the tensions inherent in escalating the expectation that young people should volunteer through situating volunteering as a conduit of control society, and consider how the promotion of participation destabilises the capacity for sovereign action and choice. Drawing on qualitative research with both HE stakeholders and students, we map out the external policy drivers that universities are reacting to in promoting volunteering, and students' response to these initiatives. Our analysis demonstrates that students resist the expectation that they should volunteer if this is interpreted as devaluing their engagement. Both students and stakeholders recognise that the promotion of volunteering should seek to align institutional practices to promote and support volunteering with young people's own expectations and aspirations.

Keywords:

• volunteering
• higher education policy
• choice
• control society

Acknowledgements

The data are taken from a project led by the Institute for Volunteering Research and funded by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). This research project formed part of the NCCPE's vinspired students programme, which was funded by vinspired, the national young volunteers service, in order to provide evidence of the benefits of volunteering for students, universities and communities. We would like to thank all the participants in the research, Jamie Darwen and David Owen at NCCPE and Matt Baillie Smith for comments on earlier drafts.

Notes

1. This paper considers student volunteering; these can include activities that students acquire credits for, but not those that are formally required as part of their studies such as placements. We recognise that similar arguments can apply to more formalised experiences, but we do not have space in this paper to consider the totality of student engagement and work experience.

2. Post-1992 HEIs are former polytechnics that were conferred the status of university by the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992. These institutions are more closely associated with delivering vocational courses rather than the research focus of pre-1992 HEIs, though this distinction is becoming less applicable.

3. The charity vinspired is a government-sponsored charity that provides volunteering opportunities for young people, some of which have been made available through HEIs.