Human Services News

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

In recent years the government has been pushing volunteering as a way of reconnecting people with the labour market.

However, in a recent study published today and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, researchers argue that this understanding is too narrow.

Most people volunteer to make a difference in the community rather than for career development.

Not least the fact that many volunteers are beyond the labour market - for reasons of age, disability or care responsibilities.

Policy focused on volunteering as training for the labour market risks excluding and discouraging those who can't work.

While being driven by different motivations, volunteering provides the sense of meaning and identity that many people find in a satisfying job.

The study was carried out by Professor Irene Hardill from Nottingham Trent University and Dr Susan Baines from Newcastle University.

They employed an innovative and detailed methodology to spend extended periods of time interviewing and working alongside four different groups of volunteers and programme organisers in one of the most deprived areas of the English Midlands.

In successive government policy initiatives like the New Deal and Sure Start New Labour have been steadily pushing volunteering as a way of 'getting on' in the labour market.

The research project, 'Doing one's duty: a case study of volunteering in a deprived community' was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Professor Irene Hardill is at Nottingham Trent University, in the College of Business, Law and the Social Sciences.

Methodology: Working in one of the most deprived regions in the country, the researchers carried out a series of life history interviews and focus groups with 27 volunteers and in-depth interviews with 13 local stakeholders.

At any time, the ESRC supports more than 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes.

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