1 1 Beyond Employability The benefits of volunteering for psychology students Dr Ava Horowitz...

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Beyond Employability

The benefits of volunteering for psychology students

Dr Ava HorowitzUniversity of Lincolnahorowitz@lincoln.ac.uk

Dr Rachel BromnickUniversity of Lincoln

rbromnick@lincoln.ac.uk

Daniel ShepherdUniversity of Lincoln

10174805@lincoln.ac.uk

Background assumptions

• Employability is key strategic concern

• We know what employability is

• Academics can and should be involved

The LearnHigher Award: Psychology

• Three year pilot of a departmental run employability programme

• 15 credit point additional, optional, short course offered to all second year Psych students.• 2009-10, 61 enrolled (approx 30%)• 2010-11, 112 enrolled (approx 50%)• 2011-12 86 enrolled (approx 40%)

The LearnHigher Award: Psychology

• Series of core and optional workshops run over the calendar year

• Students work on independent & group tasks within Learning Circles

• A requirement of 40 hours volunteering embedded within the programme

• Assessed by portfolio and simulated job interview

Focus on the volunteering component

Types of volunteering

• Supporting local and national organisations• e.g. The Samaritans

• Supporting the work of the university• e.g. Student crew at open days

• Supporting overseas projects• e.g. Indian village SU project

Lincoln Psychology volunteers

Empirical analysis

Reflections on volunteering

Method

• 86 students (76.7%) completed both assessments

• As a component of the portfolio students asked to respond to the prompt

“why I do voluntary work”

Elicitation of Data Set

Given 6 different options for responding

1. Reflective writing

2. Case study analysis

3. Employer presentation

4. Telephone interview

5. Alternative presentation media

6. Do something else instead

Data set

• Written narrative responses from 39 students

Findings

Superordinate Themes

• Thematic content analysis• Following Braun & Clarke (2006)

• Self-focused• Other-focused

Self-focused

• Personal Rewards• Employability• Skills• Personal Growth

Other-focused

• Belonging• Helping• Generativity• Valued

Overlapping/Fused Themes

• Within superordinate theme

• Self-focused• Skills, Employability & Personal Growth

• Within superordinate theme“volunteering allows you to identify which skills you may not be good at in relation to a particular working environment and so this self-reflection helps you to flourish in a working environment and as a person” (Participant 35)

• Across superordinate themes

• Generativity & Personal Rewards

• Across superordinate themes“There is a sense of “passing the torch", giving information to the next generation of students and being there for them when the majority of things they experience will be new to them. This kind of satisfaction is what will keep me volunteering” (Participant 22)

Tensions between motivations

• Tension between • Self-focused - Employability • Other-focused - Helping

“When I admit that I volunteer for my future career development I feel selfish and egotistic. It's not that I don't have a desire to help people; in fact I hope that my job in the future involves helping people” (Participant 5)

Temporal Journey

• Employability personal satisfaction

Temporal Journey

• Employability personal satisfaction“The reason I personally started volunteering was because I wanted to increase my employability by boosting my CV, as I had not had much previous experience. But as I carried out my volunteer work, I found that there were other benefits to volunteering” (Participant 24)

Temporal Journey

• Employability personal satisfaction“The reason I personally started volunteering was because I wanted to increase my employability by boosting my CV, as I had not had much previous experience. But as I carried out my volunteer work, I found that there were other benefits to volunteering” (Participant 24)

Applying Psychology Theory

“From a psychological perspective, Maslow (1970) would say that this positive feedback motivates me to volunteer because it helps me to fulfill my esteem needs which help me in my pursuance of self actualisation” (Participant 20)

Discussion

Replicates some previous research

• Themes• Self-focused & Other-focused (Clary et al,

• Motivations intrinsically interrelated• Luping (2011), Cnaan & Goldberg-Glen (1991)

35Demonstrates salience of tensions between motivations

• Volunteers aware of competing moral implications of their motivations• Implications for self

• For self (including personal & skills development)• For others (including employers)

Demonstrates temporal shifts

• Some participants expressed development of motivations

• Not captured in simple categorical analysis

Implications for promoting volunteering

• Help reduce tensions• Appreciate/encourage concurrent goals• Enhance permissibility

• Self-focused not ‘selfish’• Other-focused not ‘bleeding-heart’

Wider implications

Implications for recommendations

• Trapp et al (2011)• Boost psychological literacy• Connect psychology theory to experience• Opportunity to work in career-relevant

contexts

Beyond Employability

• Beyond proximal goal of first graduate position• Puts the personal into personal development

planning• Demonstrates potential for Psychology

departments’ facilitation of truly transformative learning experiences

Final comments

“My favourite part of the programme was the volunteering- especially the opportunity to go to Africa. However, even though I loved the experience of going there, and it was one of the best experiences of my life, I don’t think that I truly appreciated what I did and what happened until I wrote about it in my reflective piece” (Participant 18)

Questions?

Key ReferencesClary E.G., Snyder M., Ridge R.D., Copeland J., Stukas A.A., Haugen

J., & Miene. P, (1998), Understanding and assessing the motivations of volunteers: A functional approach, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, pp 1516–1530.

Cnaan, R. A., & Goldberg-Glen, R. S, (1991), Measuring motivation to volunteer in human services, Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences, 27 (3), pp 269-284.

Luping, W, (2011), Motivations for Youth Volunteer Participation: Types and Structure— An Analysis of Interviews with Twenty- Four Young Volunteers, Chinese Education and Society, 44, pp. 176–192.

Trapp, A., Banister P, Ellis E, Latto R, Miell, D & Upton, D, (2011), The Future of Undergraduate Psychology in the United Kingdom, Higher Education Academy, York.

1 1 Beyond Employability The benefits of volunteering for psychology students Dr Ava Horowitz...

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