Sharon Hutchings amp Ann McCarthy 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 ma ID: 375133
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Slide1
Student volunteering in the community: connections to their discipline and potential for creating future career aspirations.
Sharon Hutchings & Ann McCarthy Slide2
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 Slide3
Values in teaching and learning
– should we have them?
Absolutely for
us
- makes sense of my world and my practicesWhere do ours come from?Shaped by our learning experiencesAdult and community education /Placement and Work-Based LearningPotential and power of learningNeed for changeUnderstandings and values that inform our practiceCritical pedagogy and experiential learningFacilitating learning - Carl Rogers
Student volunteering in the communitySlide4
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”.StructureTerm1 - Critical explorations of concepts - community and volunteering Term 2 - Team-work and volunteering projects Term 3 - Group presentations and individual reflective report
Student volunteering in the communitySlide5
Student volunteering in the community
Diversity Dance workshop
Youth work
From cooks to interpreters! Slide6
Student volunteering in the community
Tea DanceSlide7
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 offerStudent volunteering in the communitySlide8
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:
Student volunteering in the community
“Its not what I thought prostitution was like”Slide9
"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"Slide10
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”.Student volunteering in the communitySlide11
Student voicesWorking 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”.Student volunteering in the communitySlide12
What
we appreciated…
Other communities
beyond student community
First year students? absolutely yes!Integrity evident in developing projectsEmpowerment student relationship changedNew voices new language to voice new knowingNew opportunities new places of learning
Student volunteering in the communitySlide13
Critical pedagogy - practices across Higher EducationGiroux 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)Student volunteering in the communitySlide14
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) Student volunteering in the communitySlide15
Thank you for your time.
Any Questions?
Student volunteering in the communitySlide16
References:
Giroux
. H., (2010) Lessons From Paulo
Freire
. Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 57, Issue 9Pegg, A., Waldock, J., Hendy-Isaac, S., & Lawton, R. (2012). Pedagogy for employability.HEARogers, C. and Freiberg, H. J. (1993) Freedom to Learn (3rd edn.), New York: Merrill.Stall, S. (2010), Civic Sociology. The Sociological Quarterly, 51: 537–549Student volunteering in the communitySlide17
“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)
Student volunteering in the communitySlide18
“…teaching, in my estimation, is a vastly overrated function” (Rogers 1989)
“goal of education, … is the facilitation of change and learning”. (Rogers)
Two essential components
for purposeful learning, ours and students are:experiences and relationships Student volunteering in the communitySlide19
What would we do differently?
Support
supervision
a
nd debriefingCRB checks plan well in advanceGroup work troublesome at times Organisational constraints systems and processes - fitManaging expectations students and organisationsWho benefits? problematic
Student volunteering in the community