HEACF: case studies of good practice

Accreditation and volunteering in the curriculum

Accreditation and curriculum integration are two areas that universities are increasingly looking at in their drive to encourage more students into volunteering activity. Formal recognition of the volunteering effort is also an important reward to offer students who are already volunteers, to mark their hard work and (often substantial) contribution.

Accreditation may be 'stand alone', based on assessment of generic skills, or it may be subject-based, whereby the university (typically a volunteering co-ordinator working with academic staff) develops placements with local community groups or charities relevant to the area of study. Successful completion of the practical and theoretical work based on the placement then earns the student academic credit.

Expanding volunteering within the curriculum can be particularly effective in attracting, and benefiting, student groups under-represented in volunteering at university: for example, mature and part-time students, who have little time for extra-curricular activities.

Volunteering has long been acknowledged as a key vehicle for the development of transferable skills. While a volunteer may not get involved in volunteering activities purely for the development of their skills, it is certainly a useful by-product that HEIs, careers services and students' unions have identified to students, employers and other stakeholders.

Developing students' employability is central to HEACF. Funded activities should lead to recognisable benefits for the volunteer as well as for the community, including the development of generic skills (although not necessarily linked directly to course curriculum) and hence improved employability.^{[Note 1]} The decisions to be made are concerned with how far the institution wishes to invest resources in developing accreditation or curricula, both very labour intensive aspects of volunteering management. The aim of this section is not to provide an answer on whether or not activities should be accredited or formally recognised, but rather to provide information for those who may be interested in diversifying their practice in these areas.

There is great diversity in the methods used to accredit and recognise the learning or participation of volunteers - from academic credit to award schemes, from in-house, tailored certification to optional learning resources. The case studies within this section explore a range of these options; the later section `Recognition of volunteering' looks at the role of informal methods of recognition and reward.

All of the case studies recognise or accredit the learning involved in volunteering, and do not take the 'turning up and taking part' approach. This is a crucial distinction, as substantial effort has been put into developing systems by which students' learning from the volunteering experience can be assessed.

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Note 1 : HEFCE 2004/21