Supporting Volunteers

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Volunteers play a significant role in CLD in Scotland. Their contribution of time, skills and experience means that young people, adults and communities have access to a rich source of learning opportunities. Volunteers take on many different roles as youth leaders; adult learning tutors; befrienders; mentors; trainers; coaches; and committee members. Uniquely to CLD settings, volunteering can provide a progression route for young people and adults as they move from participants of CLD services to helpers and volunteers. Supporting the CLD volunteer workforce is important for enhancing volunteer motivation; for sustaining quality provision and is an important part of CPD.

In this section we highlight ….

  • CLD Code of Ethics and Values… what do they say about supporting volunteers
  • The Volunteer Action Plan
  • Self assessment checklist – How well do I/we …
  • Resource links


CLD Code of Ethics and Values… what do they say about supporting volunteers

Volunteers are not specifically referred to within the ethics and values statements, but there are implications for supporting volunteers where they are included within the overall CLD workforce. For example, a recent consultation carried out by Youth Scotland on behalf of the CLD Standards Council found that training and support are important for enabling volunteers to fulfil their roles. The report also found that:

  • Volunteers are a diverse population of individuals with different motivations and different needs.
  • Volunteers are highly committed to working with young people but there are difficulties for them finding training that fits.
  • Volunteers are most likely to learn through on the job training and informal support, which raises a question about how these approaches can be strengthened to become more effective.


The Volunteer Action Plan

The Volunteer Action Plan (2008) was initiated by The Scottish Government with the explicit aim to support the youth work sector to deliver more choices and more chances for more young people through a stronger network of volunteers. The Volunteer Action Plan has been developed through a partnership of Youth Scotland, YouthLink Scotland and Volunteer Development Scotland.

  • The Volunteer Life Cycle

Thinking about volunteering as a life cycle is one way to separate out the different elements involved. However, with volunteering one size does not fit all, so it is important to adapt the Volunteer Life Cycle for different youth groups or organisations. You can dip into the different stages of the Volunteer Life Cycle to find out how to strengthen the support for volunteers in your team.


Volunteer Learning Needs

One of the key findings from the CLD Standards Council consultation was that volunteers recognised different levels of involvement: beginner; developing and experienced volunteer, but also recognised that volunteers develop differently over time and have different interests and motivations in their volunteering which influences their learning needs. Other roles or levels of involvement that were identified included: chairperson; management; finances; fundraising and volunteer co-ordination.


Self assessment checklist - How well do I/we:

  • Promote volunteer opportunities and provide information about volunteer roles?

  • Support new volunteers in their role as part of an induction process?

  • Know what skills volunteers need to fulfil their role?

  • Consult volunteers about their training and development needs?

  • Provide training and/or learning opportunities for volunteers?

  • Support young people to become young leaders and volunteers?

  • Recognise and celebrate the contribution of volunteers?
Last modified: Sunday, 30 August 2015, 11:20 AM