‘Volunteerin’ actually has helped me’:

Young People’s Views on the Benefits of

Volunteering in Areas of Multiple Deprivation

James Davies

Summary

This report presents initial findings from a broader PhD project looking at young

people’s (aged 12-18) attitudes towards, and experiences of, volunteering in areas

of multiple deprivation in Glasgow. The broader project examines young people’s

perceptions of volunteering, how they feel they benefit from it and factors enabling

and inhibiting access to opportunities.

The report focuses on the benefits which volunteers and volunteer-managers

attached to volunteering. It argues participants placed greatest value on the

relational aspects of volunteering. Young people described having limited

opportunities for social interaction outside their volunteering environments and

often suggested that, without the opportunity, they would either be at home or

walking around the streets. The relationships developed offered opportunities for

bonding with, and receiving support from, young people and staff at the

organisations. From these bonds, young people felt their confidence and social skills

were enhanced and noted favourably the sense of pride and responsibility that

accompanied being able to help others. The relational side of volunteering also

offered young people a way to get out of their ‘wee bubble[s]’, thereby potentially

reducing the constraining effects of territorialism and religious affiliation on

individual mobility across the city. Although the discussion section notes caveats in

terms of establishing causality between volunteering and the benefits reported, the

data analysed in this report present a largely positive story.

It is important to note that data analysis is still ongoing. As such, the report is

currently in draft form meaning its analyses and the framing of the data may alter

as the project progresses.

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ContentsSummary...................................................................................................................... i

1 The benefits of volunteering................................................................................1

1.1 Social interaction..........................................................................................2

1.1.1 ‘We’ve got nothing to do’: Limited opportunities to socialise...............2

1.1.2 ‘[Not] getting mad wi’ it’: Alternative forms of socialising....................9

1.1.3 ‘It can feel like a second family’: Developing relationships.................14

1.2 Confidence and wellbeing..........................................................................28

1.2.1 ‘Completely changed your confidence’: Confidence through social

interaction...........................................................................................31

1.2.2 ‘They’ve really helped my confidence’: Confidence from volunteer

coordinators........................................................................................36

1.2.3 ‘Volunteerin’ actually has helped me’: Confidence to transitions.......42

1.3 Challenging social divisions.........................................................................44

1.3.1 ‘We’ve managed to break barriers’: Enhancing spatial mobilities.......44

1.4 Conclusions.................................................................................................51

1.4.1 Implications for practice......................................................................54

References................................................................................................................ 55

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1 The benefits of volunteering

This report presents findings relating to the benefits young people felt they derived

through volunteering. As argued in the literature review, volunteering is often

promoted as a way of enhancing employability prospects, CVs, personal wellbeing

and generating positive outcomes for society. Establishing causality, however, was

shown to be problematic, partly due to external factors – a volunteer will struggle

to move into employment if there is a weak labour market – and personal attributes

– those who volunteer may have higher levels of wellbeing prior to volunteering.

While this thesis cannot assess whether volunteering did help young people

transition into other destinations or objectively enhance their wellbeing, it can

provide insight into what the participants felt they gained through volunteering.

The report is divided into three sections. The first explores how volunteering

provided young people with opportunities for social interaction in the context of

having limited leisure options. It also examines the relationships participants

reported developing and the significance of these in their lives. The second section

looks at how volunteering was reported to have enhanced the participants’ self-

confidence and self-esteem. It argues the development of these attributes was

related to the social interaction and relationships that emerged through

volunteering. The third section investigates the extent to which volunteering was

considered to enable participants to challenge the constraints territoriality and

religious affiliation could impose on them. While the report is broadly positive in its

analysis of what participants considered they gained through volunteering, the final

section explores limitations to these outcomes and highlights the importance of

social context in understanding volunteering.

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1.1 Social interaction

Growing up in a deprived area creates both opportunities and challenges for social

interaction. For example, while researchers have found a greater prevalence of

children’s outdoor playgrounds in deprived areas of Glasgow, their quality has been

queried (Ellaway, Kirk, Macintyre, & Mutrie, 2007). Moreover, persons living in the

most deprived areas of Scotland are more likely to perceive a higher prevalence of

neighbourhood problems and anti-social behaviour than those in less deprived

areas (Scottish Government, 2016a). These factors suggest there may be limitations

placed on localised leisure opportunities for young people from disadvantaged

backgrounds. In addition to this, the lower spending power of those from deprived

areas, by virtue of having lower scores on the SIMD’s income domain, creates

barriers for participating in private sector leisure activities. It is within such a

context that this section examines the ways in which volunteering was considered

by participants to offer opportunities for social interaction.

1.1.1 ‘We’ve got nothing to do’: Limited opportunities to socialise

A persistent theme during the fieldwork, among volunteers, ex-volunteers and non-

volunteers alike, was the perception that there was little to do in the areas where

they lived:

Boring in’t it, there’s nothing else to do, we’ve got nothing to

do like, just walking about yourself, like, with pals.

(Callum, 15, ex-volunteer)

There’s nothing really else to do where we stay, like, there’s

only like a park in the whole scheme.

(Niamh, 14, volunteer)

Despite being recruited from areas in the most deprived quintile of the SIMD, many

of the organisations from which young people were recruited to the study were in

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areas within the least deprived decile concerning access to services. While this

indicator does not include access to leisure services,1 it suggests the organisations

were located in comparatively built up areas. The extent to which young people are

able to participate in leisure activities, however, is contingent upon spending

power, knowledge of activities to engage in and an ability to travel to them. It has

been argued that, in Glasgow, gentrification and the costs of participation mean

young people are more likely to spend time indoors than they would have been in

the past (Batchelor & Whittaker, 2015). The participants echoed this perception and

believed that, without access to the organisations through which they volunteered,

they would have little else to do other than lie in bed or use their mobile phones.

Volunteering and attending the organisations were often considered to provide

ways of getting ‘oot the house’ (Matt 15, volunteer):

You wouldnae be doing anything but sitting in the house if

you never went out and did stuff […] I volunteer on a

Saturday, now see if I didn’t have, I’d probably lie in my bed

until three o’clock rather than get up and be out by twelve.

(Emma 14, volunteer)

I don’t know because I didn’t like know really about all this

stuff if it, if it wasn’t for [Sports Charity 3], I’d pretty much be

in ma bed right now.

(Isla 16, volunteer)

Yeah, I’ve done it from like the age of seven I’ve

volunteered, like it’s just a good way to get you off, like, not

doin’ anything in the house, like a way to get you out and

just enjoy it like.

1 The SIMD indicator for geographic access to services counts drive time to: GP surgeries, post offices, retail centres, primary schools, secondary schools and petrol stations (Scottish Government, 2016b).

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(Katie 14, volunteer)

In the context of growing up in areas the participants perceived to offer them little

to do, the organisations provided a route into regular social activities. Without a

comparison group, it cannot be determined whether these experiences were

specific to young people in deprived areas. Given that households in the most

deprived quintile are more likely to report they do not mange well financially

(Scottish Government, 2016a), however, young people from such backgrounds may

be more likely to experience financial barriers to leisure activities. Indeed, accounts

of what participants did in their spare time emphasise the notion of restricted

opportunities:

Donna If like I wasn’t volunteering and stuff like I

wouldn’t be, like I’d probably be on the streets

and stuff.

Emma I’d probably be in ma bed.

Donna And like I wouldn’t be doing anything else, like I’d

probably be stuck on ma phone and stuff

constantly.

(Both 14, volunteers)

I don’t do much else so I might as well come here and enjoy

it.

(Ryan 16, volunteer)

JD2 What sorts of things would you do in your like

spare time like outside of the clubs?

[Brief pause]

Abbie I don’t know [brief pause] no’ much, me and Amy

would like just go on walks or something.2 JD refers to James Davies, the researcher who conducted the interviews.

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JD Ok, where would you go for walks?

Abbie Round the block. [Laughs]

(Abbie 15, volunteer)

Participants indicated that without the organisations their leisure time would

consist of socialising on the streets or staying at home. When discussing the positive

aspects of volunteering, a number of participants stated it offered a way of

socialising off the streets. When asked whether there were issues with people being

on the streets, some described anti-social behaviour and criminal acts in their local

areas. Ryan (16, volunteer), for example, stated there were ‘a lot of things like

fighting’ in the area in which he grew up, Niamh (14, volunteer) discussed ‘drug

users and gang fighting’ as well as tensions between Celtic and Rangers supporters

while Scott (15, volunteer) recounted a recent ‘bad thing’ that happened where he

lived:

Last week with the Old Firm3 happening, erm, one of the old

houses in ma street, a guy was shouting, walking down the,

threatening people with a shovel and then shouting like

Rangers songs and taking his top off and that, then his next

door neighbour, he went down and booted the door, like

really hard and then there was, he was just jumping about

and then the police ended up getting phoned and then he

got taken away like overnight.

Instances such as this were felt by Scott to be ‘hard’ as ‘you don’t really know like

how ‘ae get away from it, like how to, like ignore it ‘cos it’s happening all the time’.

His perception of the widespread nature of such behaviour resonates with statistical

data indicating anti-social behaviour and neighbour related problems to be more

common in deprived areas (Scottish Government, 2016a). For Callum (15, ex-

volunteer), street based socialising was linked to the instigation of such behaviour: 3 Old Firm refers to football matches between Celtic and Rangers football clubs.

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‘it causes crime ‘cos there’s nothing else to do’. He believed the exposure of

younger people to street based crime, as perpetrated by older groups, influenced

the former to mimic such behaviours in order to ‘fit in’:

If other people are doing it then it influences other people to

do it because they’re older, if people’s older then you’re

looking up to them and they’re doing the crime and usually

the young wans copy them […] the wee wans are gunnae,

they’re looking up to them for stuff tae dae and they’re

gunnae dae the same because they’re doing it.

Callum states younger groups look to older ones for ‘stuff tae dae’. In the context of

growing up in areas where participants perceive there to be little to do, copying

such behaviours may be a way of bonding, creating friendships and attaining status.

Labelling behaviour as anti-social, however, is problematic due to varying

perspectives on what such behaviour looks like. Niamh (14, volunteer), for example,

felt socialising with her peers in public spaces was sometimes misinterpreted as

anti-social behaviour:

It makes you feel as if you can’t go out in like your own

scheme and like your own area because people are gonnae

jump to conclusions and think that you’re up to no good,

like, wi’ young people that’s what they always think, like

they always think young people are up to no good, they’re,

like, you could do something and they’d be like, “Ohh, it’s

graffiti or being violent towards each other", when really it’s

just a carry-on or a way 'ae amuse yourself for a while ‘cos

there’s nothing else do to.

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Nathan (14, volunteer) and Matt (15, volunteer) expressed their annoyance at being

moved on by the police for congregating in public spaces with their friends:

Nathan Police can, like, when you’re out with a big group

of friends.

Matt They’ll just pull you up.

Nathan Make you, yeah, pull you up and tell you to move

and that just ‘cos you’re out with a big group of

friends and it can be quite intimidating to other

people.

JD Mhmm, how does that make you feel I guess,

when that happens?

Matt Like when they tell you to move, it’s like you’ve

never done anything so it’s like you don’t want to

move but you really need to ‘cos it’s the police.

JD Mmm, is that something that happens often?

Matt See that happens to me a lot because I’ve got, like

all ma friends, once we all go out, we all meet up

and there’s lots of us, so, you know, just go

walking about, the police always pull us up and

tell us to leave and, like, they think we’ve been

fighting or something.

The organisation where Nathan, Matt and Niamh volunteered was located in the

most deprived decile of the SIMD’s crime domain.4 More broadly, young people

aged 13 and 15 in Scotland’s most deprived decile are more likely to drink alcohol

outdoors than at home, compared to those from the least deprived decile (Murray

4 The crime domain consists of recorded instances of crimes of violence, sexual offences, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drug offences and common assault per 10,000 persons (Scottish Government, 2016c). It should be noted that the extent of recorded crime in the datazone Nathan, Matt and Niamh volunteer in may be impacted by persons travelling between the city centre and one of the city’s major football stadiums.

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& McVie, 2016). These factors may lead to the police patrolling disadvantaged areas

and thus being more likely to approach groups of young people on the assumption

they are engaged in illicit practices. Indeed, one of the volunteer coordinators,

Tracey, stressed that while she thought the police ‘dae an amazing service […] a lot

of the time they just target young people for no apparent reason’. While this might

be understood as an attempt to prevent crime, such encounters were experienced

unfavourably by young people. Nathan, for example, felt it was ‘demeaning’ as

‘you’re automatically suspected of doing something when you’ve not even done

anything’ while Matt stated it ‘annoys you really, ‘cos they just think bad of you’.

Such encounters were considered to reduce young people’s willingness to socialise

in public spaces, as illustrated by Niamh’s remark that it was ‘too much hassle so

that’s why naebody really goes out, so everybody just really stays in’.

The young people’s accounts of the areas in which they grew up indicated a deficit

of leisure pursuits, other than socialising in public areas, which was problematic due

to concerns over crime, anti-social behaviour and being moved on by the police. In

contrast to the participants’ perception of having nothing to do, researchers have

found the number of outdoor play areas in Glasgow, per 1,000 people, to rise as

deprivation levels increase (Ellaway et al., 2007). This ostensibly positive finding,

however, was queried in light of the quality of such playgrounds, their maintenance

and the ways in which they are used. Indeed, households containing children, aged

6 to 12, in deprived urban areas of Scotland have been found to be less likely to

consider it safe for children to play at playgrounds, parks, games pitches or on the

streets than households in less deprived urban areas (Scottish Government, 2015).

The same study also found those in deprived areas to be more concerned about

children being harmed by adults in such environments. These concerns were

echoed during my fieldwork, with participants noting tensions in areas affected by

sectarianism could leave them feeling ‘uncomfortable in certain places […] because

you don’t know what’s going to happen’ (Niamh 14, volunteer).

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Data generated during the fieldwork adds complexity to understanding how young

people interact with public space. On the one hand, participants indicated they

spent time socialising on the streets due to limited opportunities to do otherwise.

On the other, participants reported being moved on by the police, thus making

congregating in such spaces difficult. The following section explores the notion that

volunteering provided young people with alternatives to socialising on the streets

and consuming alcohol, activities volunteers indicated their peers engaged in. It is

beyond the scope of this study to assess whether the participants’ accounts of their

peers’ activities are an accurate reflection of how they spent their spare time.

Indeed, researchers have argued that today young people are more likely to spend

time indoors than previous generations (Batchelor & Whittaker, 2015) suggesting

the opposite may be the case.5 Their comments may, therefore, reflect broader

discourses concerning young people’s use of public space as a threat and

volunteering as a way of ameliorating such concerns.

1.1.2 ‘[Not] getting mad wi’ it’: Alternative forms of socialising

For some of the participants, volunteering was considered to offer an alternative to

staying at home or socialising in public spaces. This section examines how

volunteering was perceived to offer opportunities for social interaction and how it

could enable participants to temporarily get away from difficult personal lives.

During a focus group with volunteers at a sports charity, I enquired whether the

participants felt it was important to have friends involved in volunteering. They

indicated they had made friends through volunteering, but that it was not an

activity they considered to carry much credibility among their friends or peers

outside the charity:

Faye Like I’m the only out of ma friends at all that do

anything like this, ‘cos they’re always like out and

5 While somewhat anecdotal, it is worth pointing out that when travelling to the research sites during the fieldwork I rarely encountered young people congregating or socialising on the streets.

9

at parties and I’m […] just like, “No, I’ve got this

session tomorrow, whatever”, but no I don’t think

so ‘cos I’ve tried to rope some friends in but

they’re like, “Nah”. [Laughs]

Donna But you’ll get a lot of, you’ll get a lot of people

that’ll like, if you say, “I do volunteering”, they’ll

be like, “Oh that’s pointless, you could be out

doing this or doing that”.

Faye “Getting mad wi’ it”.

JD Yeah?

Donna Could be out with your friends and all that, and

you’re like, “I’d rather be volunteering”…

Emma I’d much rather be here.

Donna And helping kids rather than going out and

drinking and on the streets and stuff it’s…

Emma Or lying in your bed like me

(Faye 16, Emma and Donna 14, volunteers)

The volunteers in this extract differentiate themselves from their peers by outlining

their preference for volunteering over activities such as drinking on the streets.

Evidence indicates adolescents are more likely to be users of multiple substances,

including alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, if they truant, are excluded from school or

spend their leisure time unsupervised or in unstructured activities, such as

socialising on the streets (Black & Martin, 2015). By volunteering, participants were

in structured and supervised activities which may explain why they felt able to

differentiate themselves from their peers. In contrast to this, when asked what they

did in their spare time, a group of non-volunteering females indicated that, other

than shopping and sitting around, alcohol and drugs were used: ‘I don’t think

anyone our age would actually think about volunteerin’ or anything, they’re all too

busy getting mad wi’ it an’ all’ (Taylor 16, non-volunteer). Unlike the volunteers,

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who stated volunteering kept them away from underage drinking, the females in

this non-volunteer focus group described their spare time activities as follows:

Sarah Gettin’ mad wi’ it.

Zoe Gettin’ on it.

Taylor Aye gettin’ on it, gettin’ high as a kite an’ all that.

[Laughter]

Robyn Translate that into English, getting drunk and

smoking weed.

(Sarah, Zoe and Robyn 15, Taylor 16, non-volunteers)

It was notable that underage drinking was predominantly discussed by female

participants. The only male participants to discuss alcohol were a group of older

non-volunteers, who stated they went to pubs in their spare time, and Scott (15,

volunteer) who stated volunteering with Police Scotland Youth Volunteers had

taught him about underage drinking laws which ‘persuade[d]’ him ‘not to do it’. The

fact that Scott’s volunteering was with the police and the older males could legally

consume alcohol may make their accounts less surprising. The disclosure of

substance use by female participants could be considered notable, in light of the

harsher standards with it is judged compared to male intoxication (Patterson,

Emslie, Mason, Fergie, & Hilton, 2016; Rolando, Taddeo, & Beccaria, 2016). Such

judgements, however, overlook the complexity of how alcohol consumption is

experienced by young women from disadvantaged backgrounds. Batchelor (2007)

argues the actions of young women who are drawn to risky behaviours, such as

drinking, should not necessarily be viewed as a loss of control but rather as an

exercise of agency in the context of limited opportunities. Indeed, alcohol use has

been argued to have a significant role in the production of friendships (MacLean,

2016). ‘Getting’ mad wi’ it’ may therefore be a strategy employed to deal with

limited leisure opportunities and the creation and maintenance of friendships.

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The double standard with which male and female intoxication is judged may help

explain why it was only female volunteers who brought up and appeared to reject

underage drinking. Expressing preference for volunteering may be related to the

fulfilment of gender norms concerning ideas about acceptable female behaviour.

They think, “Oh going out drinking, that’s better”, and being

out with their friends, like being out drinking and with their

is better than walking in, teaching a group of kids which, we

would much rather, watch the kids progress rather than

going out, hanging out with our friends and stuff.

(Donna 14, volunteer)

I mean, no offence, you’re in [area in the SIMD’s most

deprived decile], it’s no’, no’ the best of people, no’ the best

of young people ma age like, nah, most people ma age don’t

want to volunteer, they want to go out and get drunk and do

things that teenagers do.

(Orla 16, volunteer)

Although the volunteers distinguished themselves from those who drank and

socialised on the streets, the actions of the participants and their peers can neither

be confirmed nor denied. During the focus group in which Emma, Donna and Faye

took part, the volunteer coordinator moved in and out of the room and thus may

have shaped the participants’ responses towards promoting the benefits of the

sports charity to which they were so attached. Gender norms may also have a role

in explaining responses such as those from Donna and Orla above. Both participants

took part in voluntary activities involving aiding children and young people with

sports and play based activities. Such roles reflect gender stereotypes concerning

the association of females with caring for children and stand in contrast to social

ideas about female intoxication.

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In the context of having fewer structured activities to engage in, volunteering was

considered to provide participants with an alternative to walking around the

streets, consuming alcohol and staying at home. Opportunities to engage in

structured activities were considered particularly important for those who may

experience difficult home or personal lives. Donna (14, volunteer) and Emma (14,

volunteer), for example, considered part of the importance of volunteering to lie in

its capacity to help young people who might otherwise have little else to look

forward to:

Donna They could just be sitting in the house, you don’t

know what their home life is like, they could be

getting, something happening at home or

something.

[…]

Emma It’s like, it’s like your session might be the only

thing they look forward to, like, like, “Oh there’s a

Wednesday night, I can’t wait”, like, ‘cos you can

get to like get out or get away fae whatever.

Demi (18, volunteer) described how the organisation she volunteered with took

volunteers on residential trips. In a similar vein to Donna and Emma she believed

these were important because:

Some people need a break away sometimes so, it,

sometimes it’s good for the kids to get away, like in a

different area, if they’re like having troubles at home and

stuff.

13

The sorts of troubles young people could be experiencing at home were discussed

by Tracey, one of the volunteer coordinators, who stated:

Family units are so busy trying tae make ends meet, they’re

working constantly, they’re, or they’re studying or they’ve

got lots of kids and they’re trying to juggle that with making

the dinner and tidying the house and paying the bills and

they kinda forget about that [brief pause] paying attention

to your children, and that’s no’ intentional, it’s, it’s just

about trying to live.

Longitudinal quantitative research conducted in Glasgow’s most deprived areas has

found the decreased affordability of domestic goods, following the 2008 recession,

to be positively correlated with increases in self-reported mental health problems

(Curl & Kearns, 2015). Tracey’s statement gives colour to such findings and

highlights how stresses caused by living in financially precarious conditions have the

potential to reduce parents’ ability to pay for, organise or coordinate leisure

activities for their children. The opportunity to ‘get away’ and engage in social

activities through volunteering may, therefore, have added significance for young

people from less advantaged backgrounds, particularly given the affordability of

leisure pursuits and the poor quality of public playgrounds in deprived areas

(Ellaway et al., 2007).

1.1.3 ‘It can feel like a second family’: Developing relationships

Beyond the organisations with which they volunteered, the young people in this

study indicated their leisure activities and opportunities to meet and interact with

others were limited. Within this context, the chance to socially interact with young

people and adults alike took on significance and was a valued aspect for many of

the volunteers:

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It’s just a good way to meet people.

(Isla 16, volunteer)

Niamh And you just learn how to socialise with people

and…

Megan You get to know a lot of people.

(Niamh 14, Megan 13, volunteers)

Niamh’s statement, ‘you just learn how to socialise’, is indicative of the notion that

social interaction, particularly with new groups of people, was not something the

participants’ prior experiences had led them to enter into with ease. As discussed in

Section 1.2, lack of confidence was considered an issue by a number of participants,

a deficit they felt was lessened through familiarisation with their volunteering

environments and the relationships they developed. This section examines young

people’s accounts of the relationships they developed through volunteering and the

implications of these in the context of their lives.

Young people’s relationships with other young people

Attending the organisations as volunteers was considered by some of the

participants to provide them with ways of developing their skills in terms of social

interaction. Ryan (16, volunteer), for example, stated he had made ‘really good

friendships’ through volunteering at Scouts. He stated he had previously been shy

and rarely spoke to others. His subsequent experiences at Scouts, however, had

‘kind of got me to speak to people’ which enabled him to mix with other social

groups and develop friendships. Caitlin (13, volunteer) told a similar story. She

referred to herself as being ‘dead quiet’ and noted that volunteering at the youth

charity had helped her to talk to others and make friends. Indeed, Caitlin stated she

‘learned to make more friends through talking to people’. Like Niamh’s statement

above, both Ryan and Caitlin indicated that having to speak to others during their

volunteering roles strengthened their capacity for social engagement.

15

For Ryan, the nature of the environment in which he volunteered appeared

important in the development of friendships. When asked to describe how he felt

volunteering had helped him socially he responded:

Just through like putting people together in like a small

space like this and put them in group tasks and, err, like

communitive activities we get them, err, to talk and know

each other and become friends.

The facilitation of activities within the organisation was seen by Ryan as enabling

social interaction among young people which in turn offered possibilities for

friendship formation. Indeed, this was how Andy and Ben (both aged 12), two

volunteers at a coffee morning for pensioners in a community centre, organised by

their school, had become friends. As Andy stated, ‘that’s how me and him became

friends actually’. Along with a small number of pupils from their secondary school,

Andy and Ben helped out ‘with everything’ at the coffee mornings from tidying

away chairs, to washing dishes and calling out numbers for games of bingo. Andy

described befriending Ben at the coffee morning:

I think that’s how I became friends with you […] We just

started talking about Star Wars and making fun of Darth

Vader and all that, one ‘ae the side of the room was dark

right, I walked over to him and turned to him and went,

“Come to the dark side” [said in a malevolent voice].

[Laughter]

Both Andy and Ben perceived friendship to be an important factor in their

volunteering. Throughout the focus group, the two participants joked with one

another and provided humorous anecdotes about incidents that had occurred at

16

the coffee mornings and other school based activities. For Andy and Ben, it was

through volunteering that they had met, had the opportunity to interact and

subsequently become friends. Other volunteers similarly indicated they would not

have had opportunities to meet those they now considered their friends had they

not attended their respective organisations. In some instances, this was considered

to be due to territorial issues (a point discussed in greater detail in Section 1.3).

Faye (16, volunteer), for example, believed that, in the past, it would have been

difficult to associate with volunteers from separate areas due to associated gang

rivalries. In other instances, it was due to attending different schools. Olivia (17,

volunteer) stated, ‘I’ve made loads of friends from different schools’, friends she felt

she would not have otherwise met, ‘I made a best friend through Girls’ Brigade,

there was no way I would have ever met her if it was like in any other way’.

Part of the reason participants felt they were able to make friends through

volunteering was due to the inclusive culture they encountered when entering their

respective organisations. For example, when asked what she enjoyed about the

organisation where she volunteered, Cheryl (16) stated, ‘the people are really

friendly and nice and they make you feel really settled in’. During the focus group in

which Cheryl took part, the participants fondly described the positive relationships

they had with the organisation’s staff. This inclusive atmosphere was valued along

with the fact that, ‘it’s local and it’s with the people I like and that’s what’s easier to

talk to them’ (Daniela 16, volunteer). All of the organisations contacted during the

fieldwork were located in some of Glasgow’s most deprived areas. During focus

groups and interviews it became apparent that many of the volunteers lived locally

or within walking distance of the groups they attended, as did those who attended

as participants. As such, young people who visited these organisations were likely to

encounter persons from similar backgrounds with shared experiences of growing up

in deprived areas.

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This locality has implications for understanding the inclusive atmosphere

participants encountered. As discussed in Section 1.2, a number of participants

referred to themselves as shy and lacking confidence, particularly when entering

new environments and social situations. By interacting with those from similar

backgrounds and in familiar areas, young people are more likely experience an

alignment of habitus and field (Bourdieu, 2010 [1984]). Bourdieu argues an

individual’s habitus, the way they perceive things and act, is shaped by the fields, or

social space, in which the individual act. Individuals can experience uncertainty

when moving into new fields with unfamiliar codes of practice (Dean, 2013). The

inclusive atmosphere described by participants may therefore be related to their

perception that the people they are interacting with share similar characteristics.

This notion is evident in Orla’s (16, volunteer) description of feeling accepted by

other volunteers at her Girls’ Brigade group:

There was an older section and they were my age so like

when I would volunteer there I could just mingle with them

and not feel left out or an outcast or anything so, like, made

friends with them.

Although only at the Girls’ Brigade group for six months, Orla indicated she quickly

made friends with the attendees and, despite leaving the organisation in 2014, was

still friends with one of the girls.

As well as gaining friendships through volunteering, participants described how

these interactions benefitted them in ways that could be considered to contribute

to their overall wellbeing (discussed in greater detail in Section 1.2). Being able to

help others was cited by some participants as a factor that brought them happiness.

Connor (17, volunteer), for example, who volunteered at a school based reading

group for younger pupils, described how giving a ‘confidence boost’ to those who

‘felt embarrassed about not being able to read’ was ‘really nice’ and something he

18

‘enjoyed’. Other participants similarly described how seeing young people enjoy

activities they had organised was a source of happiness:

They just enjoy themselves so if they’re enjoying their

selves, you enjoy yourself, so it’s good working with young

people so it is.

(Thomas 17, ex-volunteer)

Just playing games with them and watch them, like, be

happy and be children, I love that.

(Orla 16, volunteer)

Being able to help others was something felt particularly strongly by Donna (14,

volunteer) who volunteered with a sports charity and at an outdoors adventure

playground. The belief that she was providing support to those who might

otherwise be lacking it was something Donna took seriously and considered to

make her feel content:

[Volunteering] actually gives us a happier life […] knowing

that we’re going out there and helping someone […] rather

than just sitting there, like, you know there’s people out

there that actually need help to do stuff […] and now that

you’re actually helping them you feel like a lot better about

yourself, like, knowing that you are really helping someone

[…] they could just be sitting in the house, you don’t know

what their home life is like, they could be getting, something

happening at home or something […] but if they come to

your club or your session and then you know […] you’re

helping them get out of the house and stuff.

19

For Donna, helping others through volunteering was given added significance in the

context of what she perceived to be potentially difficult lives of the young people

she helped. Without speaking to the young people Donna assisted, it is impossible

to know about the nature of their personal lives. However, the notion that young

people face barriers to socialising beyond the private sphere and that they face

issues at home finds support in the comments of other participants in this study.

Part of the satisfaction of volunteering in deprived areas may, therefore, come from

the feeling that, as a volunteer, one is aiding the provision of activities that young

people might otherwise not take part in.

Some of the participants felt they were able to adopt a mentoring role when

interacting with children and young people at their respective organisations. The

ability to adopt such a role, however, was contingent upon having established a

relationship with younger groups:

You also gain trust as well with the younger ones, like some

younger ones are, like, dead wary of who they speak to and

stuff and like when you have like a bond with them they can

tell you anything and that’s kinda a good thing to have, like,

‘cos when you see some of them, they don’t want to talk to

anybody else and you just say, “Oh can I talk to you?”, and it

feels like you’re actually doing something, ‘cos they want to

come and speak to you.

(Demi 18, volunteer)

This extract was Demi’s response to the question of what she gained through

volunteering. The trust she describes is contingent upon a bond between Demi and

the young people she helped. As well as highlighting the positive effect this had on

Demi – ‘it feels like you’re actually doing something’ – it also resonates with the

notion that some young people in deprived areas are ill at ease when entering social

20

situations. Demi’s account of talking to young people suggests such discomfort

cannot be challenged without access to a supportive relationship. Her statement

‘they don’t want to talk to anybody else’ indicates it is not simply the presence of a

volunteer, but a trusted volunteer that enables young people to start

communicating with others.

In addition to benefitting the young people, bonds between volunteers and those

they helped carried emotional implications for some participants:

For me it’s like, they’re attach, it’s as if they’re attached to

you now so you can’t exactly walk away and leave […] the

children just feel more comfortable around you and stuff,

and then, like they get to know you a lot better […] you

might be the only one that they can talk to so you need to

help them.

(Donna 14, volunteer)

I think if I stopped like [Sports Charity 2] and then I’d stop

seeing all these wee chums […] it’d be weird like knowing

that you’re no’ going to see people that you used to see like

quite a lot and it’s the same with like your actual, like, your

sessions, so if I left my session I’d think I’d become a bit

emosh, like, like you’re emotionally attached, that’s what it

is, you become like attached to your group or whatever it is

your volunteering for.

(Faye 16, volunteer)

These extracts highlight the extent to which the relational side of volunteering was

valued by participants. Both Donna and Faye outlined the emotional attachments

they had with young people they encountered through volunteering. For Donna,

21

the significance of these relationships lay in her belief that she might be the only

person the young people feel able to talk to. In light of this, she stated she could not

walk away as she needed to help them. Attachment to an organisation and

volunteering role can, if overburdened and under-resourced, lead to burnout

(Talbot, 2015). Although not raised during the interview, Donna’s sense that she

‘can’t exactly walk away’ has the potential to become emotionally draining should

she have to balance volunteering with other pressures, such as studying or future

employment. A strong emotional attachment was similarly highlighted by Faye who

noted it would be ‘weird’ and emotional should she have to stop seeing her fellow

volunteers and those at her session.

Such relationships and emotional bonds appeared to play a role in enhancing young

people’s wellbeing. Evidence indicates that while economic factors are important to

happiness, relationships and good health have a greater impact. Amy (15,

volunteer) fondly recalled the excitement with which the young people would greet

her, shouting her name and giving her hugs. She considered this ‘really good’ and

stated that ‘if you’re having a bad day […] they can kinda cheer you up’. Elsewhere

during the interview, Amy described how volunteering had helped her manage her

anxiety. The relationships she developed at the organisation were considered to

provide Amy with a way of forgetting about worries in her life. Liam (18, ex-

volunteer) similarly described how volunteering to coach football had had a positive

impact on his wellbeing:

It was wan of the best thing I’ve done, aye actual ‘cos,

obviously I was, they were looking forward to seeing me, it

made me feel worthy and all that, know what I mean, going

in and actual helping them, and I wasnae the brightest

person in school, I’m no’ goin’ to lie, doean that with them,

it was, it was heart-warming.

22

As well as cheering participants up and making them feel worthy, relationships with

young people through volunteering could also be a source of amusement and

enjoyment. Matt (15, volunteer), for example, stated he enjoyed working with

young people because ‘they could just say something really funny that they just

didnae know they said funny’. When asked what she enjoyed about volunteering,

Faye (16, volunteer) stated she enjoyed meeting ‘so many different characters’

while Donna (14, volunteer) replied that she liked ‘watching them enjoy their

selves’. For Donna, the benefits of these relationships went beyond personal

rewards from volunteering, such as certificates:

It’s not even the fact of getting the certificates or anything

for it, like people say, “Oh aye I’m going to do it so I can get

this and that”, but, it’s not even that it’s just really fun to

watch all the children […] have fun.

Relationships developed with other young people through volunteering therefore

appear to contribute to young people’s wellbeing, particularly in the context of

having limited opportunities for social interaction. The importance of these

relationships for the young people in this study raises questions relating to the

appropriateness of emphasising CV enhancement and employability benefits when

promoting youth volunteering initiatives. The next section further examines social

aspect of volunteering in terms of relationships with adults.

Young people’s relationships with adults in the organisations they volunteered with

In addition to forming relationships with other young people, the participants

discussed the bonds they formed with staff at the organisations. These stood in

contrast to the negative relationships some had with other adults, such as teachers

and the police. Demi (18, volunteer) and Caitlin (13, volunteer) stated they got on

‘very’ and ‘really’ well with staff at the youth charity where they volunteered. The

two volunteers valued the adults’ personalities and felt they could be themselves in

23

their presence. When asked if they had similar relationships with other adults, such

as teachers, Caitlin made a spurting, laughing noise and Demi stated the

relationship was ‘completely different’. The participants felt it was harder to build

trust with teachers as they only saw them for certain subjects and in certain school

years, unlike staff at the organisations who were considered to have a more

constant presence.

Staff were also considered to treat the participants with greater respect and

patience than teachers. Like Demi, Nathan (14, volunteer) thought he had a

‘completely different’ relationship with teachers, whom he considered were more

likely to shout at him. Similarly, Matt (15, volunteer) felt staff at the organisation he

volunteered with ‘don’t treat you like kids’ and ‘try to reason with you’, unlike

teachers who were more likely to ‘boss you’ and ‘moan at you a lot more’. Context

is likely significant in understanding the participants’ differing attitudes towards

teachers and staff at their respective organisations. Most obviously, the compulsory

nature of school opposes the free will participants are able to exercise when

volunteering. Furthermore, the nature of what happens in these settings and adults’

roles differ. Unlike teachers, who are employed to educate pupils, volunteer

coordinators cannot compel young people to volunteer. While some of the

participants’ volunteering, such as planning events, was formal in nature their

activities largely consisted of interacting with children and young people. The

voluntary nature of volunteering is therefore important as, in certain circumstances,

it may offer a less rigid and more democratic environment for young people to form

relationships with adults.

Having such relationships enabled young people to receive support they might not

otherwise obtain. For those with difficult relationships with school and the process

of learning, volunteering could provide an alternative avenue for more informal

education. As Amy (15, volunteer) described:

24

I would rather come here for like six hours than go tae

school, like, I prefer this so much and it’s good ‘cos it, I think,

well you can get a lot outta school but it’s like, the way the

teachers teach an’ that and their methods, I’m just like, “No

that doesn’t really help”, but here you learn things without

even noticing because you’re having fun, that you don’t

think you’re like, you’re learnin’, but you actually are.

For Amy, the difference between school and the youth charity that led her to think

the latter was more a more conducive environment for learning was ‘the worker’s

patience’. She situated this in the context of large classrooms which left few

opportunities for individual support, ‘if you’re struggling they can only help you for

like two minutes and then you don’t know what you’re doing’. The youth charity

offered an environment in which greater one-to-one support could be given. This is

not just support in the context of formal learning, but includes more general

personal support, such as using telephones and making appointments.

These relationships have potentially added significance for young people lacking

contact not only with teachers and police but with adults in their families.

Researchers have noted the high levels of premature deaths in Glasgow’s deprived

areas (Walsh, McCartney, Collins, Taulbut, & Batty, 2016). Tracey, a volunteer

coordinator, echoed these findings stating ‘a lot of the young people’ came from

families in which there were ‘a lot of bereavements’. Such factors, in addition to

poor relations with teachers and police, may leave young people from such

backgrounds with fewer opportunities to interact with adults. As Tracey stated:

I think a lot, a lot of the problem for young people is that

they don’t have, erm, like grandparents or somebody fae an

older generation, so they don’t have that influence so they

kinda don’t really know how to react around about

25

somebody who’s older and I think if we, wi’ us having people

like [name of older adult volunteer] and other volunteers at

that age bracket that we can show that actually we can have

a really positive relationship wi’ somebody who’s older and

they’re a really good role model for them as well.

Forming relationships with adult staff and volunteers, therefore, offered young

people an opportunity to interact with members of society they might have limited

access to. The ability to form positive relationships, however, cannot be presumed

simply through exposure. Forming relationships takes time. Tracey described how

encouraging young people to become involved with the youth charity was a

challenge made harder through time-limited funding. She stated that building trust

with young people ‘can take a long time’ and can be challenging due to their

concerns that ‘you’re just gunna parachute back out again’ once the funding has

disappeared. This resonates with Demi and Caitlin’s feeling that it was easier to

trust staff over teachers due to the perceived consistency with which they

encountered the former.

In order for young people to benefit from the support of adults it is therefore

important that the time and space for relationships to develop exists. Nicky, the

project manager of a youth charity, stated the organisation no longer had a specific

volunteer coordinator due to lack of funding. At the time of our interview, Tracey’s

role as the charity’s volunteer coordinator was uncertain due to the imminent

ending of a funding cycle. Such restraints limit the extent to which organisations are

able to develop relationships with young people and encourage them to volunteer.

One of Tracey’s methods for recruiting young people to the organisation was to visit

other youth clubs and talk to young people on the streets. Similarly, Lauren stated

the CEO of the youth charity where she worked used to interact with children on

the streets. The capacity for staff to engage in such activities, however, is contingent

upon financial and human resources. In light of the challenging relationships some

26

young people have with adults, limited resources add additional obstacles to the

time staff at organisations can spend building trusting relationships with young

people.

Volunteering as a safe space

Participants sometimes described the relationships they formed with young people

and adults through volunteering in familial terms:

Emma [Sports Charity 2] is like, built like a big family

like…

Faye Giant massive family.

(Emma 14, Faye 16, volunteers)

I’ve been involved with them so long it’s just, it’s like, it can

feel like a second family basically.

(Abbie 15, volunteer)

I’ve known them for so long that they're actually like family.

(Amy 15, volunteer)

These positive relationships and the sense of belonging felt while attending these

organisations suggest that, for some, they acted as safe spaces. Participants

described feeling ‘really settled in’ (Cheryl 16, volunteer) and ‘dead safe’ (Donna 14,

volunteer) at the organisations they attended. Niamh (14, volunteer) described the

youth charity she volunteered at as a ‘place where you can like socialise wi’

everybody instead o’ all the arguing and all the fighting’. Kieran (15, volunteer)

recalled an instance where an attendee that regularly attended the youth cafe

where he volunteered ‘wasn’t himself’. When Kieran started talking to the boy, it

transpired he had been bullied earlier that day at school. Kieran’s advised the child,

27

‘That was school, you can be safe here, if anybody tries that we’re gonna step in, so

you’re here to enjoy yourself, not to think, “Oh is this going to happen to me here”’.

These extracts indicate participants perceived the youth clubs and charities they

attended to offer more than opportunities to enhance their CVs and build formal

skills. Instead, they were described in terms of offering refuge from potentially

difficult aspects of their personal lives. One of the volunteer coordinators, Tracey,

emphasised this point. She stated that while she wanted the young people to ‘come

out their comfort zones’ she also sought to ensure they ‘feel safe’. By safety Tracey

was referring to the provision of ‘a space where [...] they don’t need to worry about

what’s happening in the house’ or ‘outside their doors’. As such, she believed the

youth charity was ‘definitely a safe space for them in that sense’.

This section of the report has explored the participants’ accounts of what they

gained through volunteering in terms of social relationships. Relationships emerged

as one of the central themes during the fieldwork with extracts highlighting how

organisations provided opportunities for social interaction participants felt they

might not otherwise have experienced. The next section examines another central

aspect to emerge from the fieldwork, self-esteem and confidence. As will be shown,

the perceived growth of these factors by participants appeared to emerge through

opportunities to mix with younger and older persons.

1.2 Confidence and wellbeing

Through the Curriculum for Excellence, the Scottish Government seeks to develop

young people into ‘confident individuals’ with ‘physical, mental and emotional

wellbeing’ as well as the ability to ‘relate to others and manage themselves’

(Scottish Executive, 2004, p. 12). The Saltire Awards, Scotland’s national youth

volunteering award, have been designed to promote the capacities outlined by the

Curriculum for Excellence, thereby highlighting the policy connection between youth

volunteering, wellbeing and confidence. Measuring the relationship between

28

wellbeing and volunteering, however, is problematic. This is partly due to the

concept’s subjective nature and the potential for selection bias in studies, as

discussed in the literature review. Although this thesis cannot assess wellbeing

gains or losses prior to and after volunteering, the qualitative accounts generated

during the fieldwork indicate that, for many of the young people, confidence gains

were an important aspect of their volunteering.

Confidence gains were stressed by two of the volunteer coordinators, Lauren and

Tracey. Lauren believed she had seen an ‘insane’ growth in the confidence and

team working skills of the young people participating on the youth charity’s

volunteer programme. Tracey described a change in the way the young volunteers

contributed to group activities and took on roles within the charity requiring

leadership and responsibility. While both of the volunteer coordinators emphasised

the extent to which employability was a central concept in their work, one

promoted in government rhetoric and included in funding applications, Tracey

noted that this was not something she emphasised to the young people. For her,

the importance of volunteering lay in what the young people gained from it

personally, notably, enhanced confidence:

With the young people it’s about what they get out of it

personally so, they build their confidence, but for me

building their confidence is ensuring that they’re able to

apply for a job, they might no’ know that but that’s

ultimately that’s what’s gunnae happen, if they feel more

confident in their self they’ll be able to apply for a job, they’ll

be able to book a doctor’s appointment, they’ll be able to go

and walk into the hairdressers, those simple things.

Part of Tracey’s rationale for not emphasising this aspect of volunteering lay in her

belief that doing so would be ‘totally off-putting’ to the young people she worked

29

with who were at school, ‘worrying about exams’ and ‘constantly get[ting] the

employability thing fae every angle, they don’t need to get it from me as well’.

Experience of childhood poverty can have a negative impact on integration into

school and generate anxiety due to fear of being considered different (Ridge, 2011).

During the fieldwork, a number of participants reported having problematic

relationships with school, truanting and not forming positive relationships with

teachers. Having the opportunity to develop relationships with staff at organisations

and participate in or lead activities offers such persons opportunities to develop

confidence in ways that might otherwise be difficult for them in school. This

distinction between environments is evidenced in Tracey’s account of a 15 year old

female who:

Doesn’t go to school, has got no confidence whatsoever to

go ‘ae school but when she comes to volunteer she can take,

she can stand up and facilitate, she can sing a song and play

the guitar in front of a group but it’s the, the fear of, I think

it’s that fear of, erm, the kinda, the uniform side o’ things if

you like, the kinda going to school and being told what to do

whereas they come here voluntarily and they, they’re kinda

encouraged to do what they want to do as a career path or

just as a hobby and volunteering for a lot of young people is

a hobby.

This extract highlights how confidence is contingent upon a social environment.

Rather than viewing confidence as an inherent disposition, Khan’s (2011, p. 194)

ethnography of an elite American boarding school argues pupils learn to display an

‘ease and openness to all social situations’. This disposition, part of their habitus

(Bourdieu, 2010 [1984]), is learnt during schooling through interactions with

teachers and exposure to a wide variety of cultural topics. Similarly shyness, an

antonym of confidence, has been argued to have a social dimension and emerge

30

through awareness of oneself in relation to others (Scott, 2004). Tracey’s account

indicates the development of confidence is dependent on a situation in which the

actor feels comfortable. The negative effects of growing up in poverty or a deprived

area on education are known (Ridge, 2011) and problematic relationships with

school emerged during the fieldwork. The extent to which young people reported

confidence gains is important, therefore, as it may reflect a disposition the

participants might not have developed without accessing these organisations.

However, the extent to which this confidence translates into other areas cannot be

ascertained through this study. While the young volunteers may grow in confidence

within the organisations, it is difficult to assess whether this enables them to move

confidently into other areas, such as further education or employment. The

following sections examine how confidence was developed and the extent to which

this was specific to the environments in which they were volunteering.

1.2.1 ‘Completely changed your confidence’: Confidence through social

interaction

The most common way in which participants indicated they had developed

confidence by volunteering was through opportunities to meet and socialise with

new people. Several stated that, prior to volunteering, they felt shyness would have

prevented them from speaking up in social situations:

I used to be very shy and now I’m like obviously really

talkative […] a few years ago I wouldn’t ah been able to go

up to someone and go, “Hi my name’s Isla”, I’d be like, just,

in my own little corner.

(Isla, 16, volunteer)

I was just dead quite and then I come in and started talking

to people.

(Caitlin, 13, volunteer)

31

Donna Like before I started volunteering like, it would

have just been our group like, we’re best friends

so it’d be like us and then you wouldn’t have

spoken to like…

Emma Anybody else.

(Both 14, volunteers)

I used to be a very shy, erm, like very very shy and I never

spoke to anybody or anything and now I’m a bit better.

(Ryan, 16, volunteer)

As noted above, shyness can be conceptualised as an outcome of the interaction

between the perception we have of ourselves and the perception we have of how

others view us in social encounters. Not knowing the accepted behaviours of a

particular environment can be the source of such emotions (Scott, Hinton-Smith,

Härmä, & Broome, 2012). Donna and Emma indicate that prior to volunteering they

were less likely to talk to persons beyond their immediate friendship groups. This

was echoed elsewhere in the fieldwork. Callum (15, ex-volunteer), for example,

stated ‘basically I know everyone I’m going to talk to’. Many of the participants’

movements around the city were limited to the areas in which they grew up

coupled with occasional visits to the city centre. Such restricted spatial mobilities

engendered circumstances in which social interactions were limited to a finite

number of people. The participants’ self-reported shyness towards new people may

therefore be a disposition arising from limited exposure to new environments and

persons in their day-to-day lives.

When examining how participants gained confidence through volunteering, the

notion that prior shyness came from restricted social interaction finds support.

Callum, who had volunteered at a local community garden when I met him, said it

32

had been ‘strange’ meeting the other volunteers, who were older than him, due to

the fact of ‘just no’ knowing who they are’. He indicated the older volunteers made

the process of volunteering harder for him as ‘naebody there was my age’,

meaning:

It was just me like and obviously I didn’t have anybody to

talk to or anything so I had to talk to people that I didnae

really know, strangers in other words.

Callum only stuck with the volunteering role for ‘a couple of months’, yet felt the

experience had enhanced his confidence, ‘it got me to talk more, when I was in the

volunteering like I was talking to other people that I don’t know, so confidence from

that’. Callum stated he stopped volunteering to join a football team, but believed he

might have continued volunteering had there been people his own age to talk to.

While Callum spoke about confidence gains, he did so less profusely than

participants in other focus groups. Those who emphasised confidence gains to a

greater extent often volunteered with persons closer to their own age.

This was particularly true of Donna and Emma (both 14, volunteers), both of whom

volunteered at a sports-orientated charity as well as other activities-based

organisations. Donna perceived volunteering to have had a big impact on her life:

Ever since I like started volunteering it’s like completely

changed your confidence and stuff it’s, never used to feel

confident and stuff and then when you start getting, you get

flung into different places and stuff then you just get to

know new people and stuff.

Both Donna and Emma stated that without volunteering they would have little else

to fill their time with: ‘I’d probably be in ma bed’ (Emma); ‘I’d probably be on the

33

streets and stuff […] stuck on ma phone and stuff constantly’ (Donna). A lack of

things to do was characteristic of the interviewees’ accounts of the areas in which

they lived, as discussed in Section 1.1. By being ‘flung into different places’ and

‘get[ting] to know new people’, volunteering provided Donna with opportunities for

social interaction beyond her immediate network of friends and family. It was these

types of interactions participants considered to provide them with opportunities to

develop their confidence.

In contrast to Callum, Donna and Emma volunteered with children and young

people by facilitating sports and play based activities. A number of other

participants also volunteered with younger groups including Orla (16) who

volunteered to facilitate activities with Scouts, Hannah (15) who volunteered at a

primary school for her Duke of Edinburgh award, Matt (15) and Nathan (14) who

volunteered to facilitate street play sessions and Vikki (18) and Kieran (15) who

volunteered at a youth club. In each of these instances, confidence was described as

emerging from the interactions participants had with the young people they helped

by volunteering. In particular, confidence appeared to emerge through a process of

familiarisation with the social setting into which the young volunteers had entered.

Hannah (15) described her visits to the primary school as follows:

When ye go tae like a primary school you get to know the

children and teach, other teachers that are there so you like

gain confidence tae speak to them and interact with them,

so, I think that gained a lot of ma confidence.

Hannah’s comment highlights how confidence in this situation came through getting

to know the pupils and teachers, leading to her greater comfort in interacting with

them. Prior to this, the other female participants in Hannah’s focus group indicated

the process of arranging and starting their volunteering placements had been

‘nerve-racking’ (Ellie, 15). This sense of anxiety may be related to the participants’

34

lack of familiarity with the roles and contexts into which they were seeking to enter.

Kieran’s (15) description about starting volunteering at the youth club he had

attended when he was younger reinforces this point. He stated:

I was really really shy [...] see when I’m in a new

environment it’s a bit weird but see once as you start to like

work and get to see the kids a wee bit more you get to

realise that they’re not that bad and that they’re actually

quite nice, they’re scary, but they’re quite nice.

Both extracts highlight how entering new environments could give rise to feelings of

uncertainty and anxiety. Yet exposure to these contexts and time to form

relationships with the young people in them enabled the volunteers to increase

their confidence. Volunteering with peers, rather than adults, may aid the

development of confidence due to the comparative ease young people may have

socialising with persons of a similar age. As Kieran notes, ‘talking to kids your age is

a lot easier ‘cos you have a lot more things in common’.

Although social interaction through volunteering was felt to enhance the confidence

of some of the young volunteers, the extent to which it is able to do so appears

contingent on a number of environmental factors. For example, the setting needs to

be one in which the volunteer feels comfortable, as illustrated by Tracey’s

description of a female volunteer’s different experiences of school and the youth

charity, cited at the beginning of this section. In order to feel comfortable in a

setting, volunteers need to be able to form positive relationships with those already

there. The data suggest this is easier for those who interact with persons of a similar

age, as forming bonds is considered more straightforward due to shared reference

points and experiences.

35

It is important to note that while positive environments appear to offer the

possibilities for enhancing confidence, less favourable environments can lead to

volunteers feeling overworked and burnout (Talbot, 2015). Indeed, one of the ex-

volunteers, Thomas (17), described volunteering for ‘a couple a like days’ with a

sports based charity before he ‘fell away fae it’. He described feeling uncertain

within the new environment: he received an award on his first day (‘I don’t know

what it was’), he helped organise a football activity which he found ‘quite hard’ and

did not enjoy and encountered different organisations through the charity which he

‘didn’t recognise’. Such unfamiliarity with the organisation, coupled with the fact

that it was ‘quite hard to get to’, may have reduced his sense of comfort and

thereby limited his willingness to continue volunteering with the charity.

1.2.2 ‘They’ve really helped my confidence’: Confidence from volunteer

coordinators

In addition to gaining confidence through social interaction, some of the volunteers

cited support from staff and being given responsibility as important factors for

enhancing their confidence. For a small number of participants, support from the

staff appeared particularly transformative in terms of helping the volunteers to be

able to get on in their lives. Highlighting the significance of a positive volunteering

environment in facilitating confidence gains, Amy (15, volunteer) described how the

effects of her anxiety were lessened when volunteering at the youth charity:

I have anxiety, like, really bad sometimes and when I come

here it’s like [...] I feel comfortable when I come here, so

like, and then I’m just like, “Mmm ok”, ‘cos they help me a

lot and I’m like, “Thanks”.

Amy describes how her familiarity with the youth charity has a calming effect.

Knowing persons within the organisation for an extended period of time had given

rise to a situation in which she felt at ease when attending the youth charity. It had

36

also engendered a situation whereby Amy trusted the staff who were able to

provide her with support and advice. This is illustrated in Amy’s account of being

encouraged to use the organisation’s telephone. When asked whether she thought

she had developed any skills through volunteering, Amy indicated her

communication skills had improved:

I couldnae even phone anybody at all, but like, I was pure

scared to pick up the phone or answer ma door if somebody

came tae it, but like they’ve kind of helped me, like develop

to be better at that and now I can phone somebody or

answer the phone, so I’m glad with that.

Her initial worry about using the phone may be related to both her anxiety and an

apprehension concerning interaction with new people, as discussed in the previous

section. Staff at the organisation helped Amy overcome this fear through role

playing activities and by encouraging her to answer the charity’s phone when it

rang:

The phone’s went a few times and then the manager […]

was like, “Alright you can get that Amy”, and I’m like, “Oh

god” […] [the manager] knows ma fear ‘ae like the phone

and that and she’s like, “Right, you can answer that”, and I’m

like, “Oh no”, but then I actually answer it, I actually

answered it today and I was like, “Oh, didnae think that was

gunnae happen”, but it did.

This extract illustrates Tracey’s point concerning confidence building in terms of

helping young people complete routine activities rather than focusing on harder

outcomes. Tracey considered volunteering’s ‘massive focus on employability’ to be

pitched at a level that only ‘a minor percentage of our young people’ were at. She

37

referred to a single outcome agreement6 event she attended in which employability

was discussed in terms of getting young people to stages four and five of

Employability Scotland’s Employability Pipeline.7 Her experience of working with

young people led her to believe this approach missed the mark:

You’re no’ going to get young people walking into a job

centre feeling confident, knowing what to ask for, knowing

who to speak to, in fact, they won’t even come over the

door, so we need to focus on [employability stages] one and

two to get them ready for that.

Stages one and two of the employability pipeline position clients as ‘not job ready’,

focus on helping them into regular and positive routines, connecting with others

and identifying needs. Although not on a specific employability programme and too

young to enter employment in Scotland, the support Amy received from staff

suggests her communication skills and anxiety over social interaction would place

her at the lower stages of the employability pipeline. Volunteering with the youth

charity, however, enabled her to receive support from staff that developed her skills

thus making her more confident when communicating and interacting with others.

Amy described how she would truant from school due to her anxiety about

travelling there on her own, ‘I cannae get on the bus, I cannae walk down that road,

people’s gunna look at me’. Support from the organisation’s staff, however, helped

her ‘to stop thinkin’ that’ thereby enabling her to ‘get on the bus and stuff’ and feel

more confident in social situations:

6 Single outcome agreements are part of the Scottish Government’s public service reform which aims to strengthen community planning, see: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/PublicServiceReform/CP/SOA2012 (accessed 14 November 2016).7 The Employability Pipeline is a ‘framework to support the delivery of employability services’ containing five stages covering steps from ‘not job ready’ to ‘in work’, see: http://www.employabilityinscotland.com/employability-pipeline/ (accessed 14 November 2016).

38

Coming here they’ve really helped my confidence and like

help me meet new people and what to dae in situations, ‘cos

like I would hate meeting new people, I love it now.

The support Amy received from the organisation’s staff was central to the

development of her confidence. This is significant due to the problematic

relationship she had with school. Amy questioned whether she would have

developed these skills had she not attended the youth charity. When not truanting,

Amy stated, ‘I like school but it’s like boring sometimes and nothin’ really goes in

unless I like it’. Moreover, she felt she was ‘distracted easily’ and that if she didn’t

want to listen she would ‘distract the class’. In contrast to this, the positive

relationship Amy had with the organisation and its staff led her to state ‘you can

learn things without even noticing because you’re having fun’. This may be a result

of Tracey’s, who worked at one of the organisations where Amy volunteered,

decision not to explicitly focus on employability in order to avoid making

volunteering ‘too much like school’. It emphasises the importance of the social

setting to the development of confidence through volunteering.

In addition to support from staff, some participants described how being given

responsibility and taking on leadership roles while volunteering developed their

confidence. Olivia (17, volunteer), for example, believed volunteering had increased

her ability to ‘get along with people’, be ‘more personable’ and enhanced her

confidence. She stated her confidence had grown due to ‘a lot of trust and

responsibility’ being placed in her to carry out activities at school and the Girls’

Brigade group she attended. While these were described as ‘a bit daunting’, Olivia

reflected positively on being entrusted, noting, ‘I feel really grown up, because

they’re putting that much trust in me’. This sentiment was echoed by Kieran (15,

volunteer) whose volunteering at a youth club involved taking a lead on drama

activities and looking after the attendees. He stated these actions made him ‘more

39

confident’ and gave him ‘a lot or more responsibility’ which engendered feelings of

pride:

Looking after all the kids, that was a lot of responsibility and

I’m kinda proud of myself that I could take that kind of

response, like, err, they could trust me with that […] if

they’re giving you this amount of responsibility to look after

the health and wellbeing of these kids it kinda makes you

think, “Well I must be doing something right”.

Olivia and Kieran described themselves as ‘timid’ and ‘really shy’ respectively prior

to volunteering. Being put in positions of responsibility with younger children was

interpreted as being treated with trust and like an adult. In another interview, Orla

(16, volunteer) described how volunteering at Scouts had given her the confidence

to lead group activities with younger children. She stated that while initially she

would have felt out of place telling the children what do to, through her role, she

had learnt how to respond to such circumstances:

Like ma confidence skills have gone way up, like with the

children I would never be like, “You do this. Stop that”, I

would never be able to do that, I would never feel like it’s

my place or anything, but since like the volunteering and

stuff it’s like, “You are the leader, be the leader instead of

just acting like one of, like, the children”.

The provision of volunteering roles for young people in which they can lead, take on

responsibility and exert a level of agency may, therefore, offer ways of enhancing

confidence levels. Elsewhere in the fieldwork participants variously described how

helping to organise and facilitate activities with young people provided them with a

sense of satisfaction. Thomas (17, ex-volunteer), for example, described how he had

40

previously enjoyed working with young people and ‘seeing everybody enjoying their

selves and that’. Similarly, Paige (18, volunteer) stated volunteering at school

provided her with a sense of responsibility which she thought ‘feels quite good’,

while Demi (18, volunteer) noted that working with and calming down the children

at a youth charity was ‘challenging’ but ‘a good experience to have’. Although these

experiences were not explicitly linked with enhanced confidence, the satisfaction

gained through them has the potential to increase wellbeing by being entrusted

with responsibility and offering opportunities for social interaction.

In addition to this, these roles were felt to place participants in a stronger position

for making transitions into adult life. Enhanced confidence and an improved ability

to work with new people, reported by Olivia, were considered transferable skills in

terms of entering the labour market. Kieran felt the skills he gained through

volunteering had enhanced his knowledge of the kinds of responsibilities adults

encountered and provided him with experiences to ease his ability to cope with

these:

As you get older through, like, when you leave school and

that and whatever, you have, you get more and more like

responsibility as it is, like getting your own house and stuff

like that, so this sort of gives you the backbone of what it’s

sort of like, so it kind of gives you like steps on how you

could improve as well […] it kind of shows how much adults

have to deal with, how much responsibility they have, like

you might not know before […] it kind of shows you what it’s

like to be an adult, so it kind of gives you a, a little trip into

what it’s like being an adult.

The perception that confidence gained through volunteering could lead to eased

transitions into adulthood was echoed by Niamh (14, volunteer). Niamh stated the

41

movement from school to work could be ‘awkward’ and that volunteering could

help by building confidence and increasing individuals’ willingness ‘to speak to

people and socialise wi’ different people other than just, like, being shy and

nervous’. Due to Kieran and Niamh’s age, it is not possible to assess whether

volunteering did help such transitions. The following section examines how Liam

(18, ex-volunteer) believed the volunteering he had performed when younger had

developed his confidence such that he was able to enter into his current

employment with relative ease.

1.2.3 ‘Volunteerin’ actually has helped me’: Confidence to transitions

Without a longitudinal or retrospective approach, it is difficult to assess the extent

to which volunteering enabled young people to make transitions into employment

or further education. Indeed, even with longitudinal data it can be difficult to

disentangle volunteering from other factors when assessing such movements. The

account provided by one volunteer in this study, however, indicated the confidence

he gained through volunteering helped him ease into his current job. Liam (18, ex-

volunteer) had prior experience of volunteering with his younger brother’s football

team and on the volunteering programme of a sports charity that worked with

young people in areas of multiple deprivation. He described becoming ‘more

confident in myself’ through coaching young people. Liam stated that, initially, the

young people ‘wouldnae listen’ to what he said, but over time ‘they actual did start

to listen’. As discussed above, confidence for Liam appeared to come through social

interaction. Reflecting on how volunteering had helped him, Liam commented on

the role it played in strengthening his capacity to interact with and coach children:

Wi’ the volunteerin’ working wi’ younger, err, kids and all

that, in the schools, that helped a lot for me now, ‘cos if I

just went straight into doing this [working with the sports

charity], I wouldn’t have any knowledge whatsoever of how

to work with kids […] I’d be scared to like even speak to the

42

weans and all that like, just in case I said something wrong

[…] it made me know how ‘ae speak to them, this and that,

knowing when, knowing how to basically be in control of a

situation but no’ over the top with things as in proper

shoutin’ at them, just casually like telling them like, “Calm

down” […] I feel more, more o’ ‘ae confident person,

working with children.

This extract draws attention to the role Liam perceived volunteering to play in

enhancing his capacity to work with young people in terms of knowing how to talk

to them and how to handle potentially stressful situations. He contrasted his

situation with one of his colleagues, whom Liam stated had not volunteered:

Ah’m so much more’ve a confident person and like he is, but

I think if he had, this is him just basically jumping into the

deep end, if he had, say if he had volunteered before, even

for a bit in a primary school or anything like that, that would

help him with his job just now, so the volunteerin’ actually

has helped me, from working with the kids on tae my job to

working with kids playing football and all that, so it has

benefitted me a lot.

From Liam’s perspective, volunteering was considered to have given him a set of

skills and an ability to work with young people not possessed by his colleague.

Volunteering was given a prominent position in enabling him to be an effective

coach, ‘I couldnae ah went straight into a job and been confident with them [the

children] […] I wouldnae tell them what to dae, so aye, volunteering definitely

helped me’. Although difficult to assess in a one-off qualitative interview, Liam

believed that while he would have developed these skills, ‘it would have took time’.

As with other participants in the study, Liam had had a negative experience of

43

school, describing it as such, ‘I was really really bad at school an’ all that, eh, hated

school, hated teachers an’ all that’. It therefore appears probable that without the

experience of volunteering, Liam would have found it harder to confidently interact

and coach young people at the sports charity.

Due to the age range of the participants, accounts of such transitions were limited.

Indeed, only Liam and Demi (18, volunteer) reported moving from volunteering into

employment (interestingly, both were working for the organisations they had

volunteered for). However, the growth in confidence through volunteering that

Liam recounts as being invaluable to his move into employment echoes that of the

participants discussed above. While Liam’s movement within a particular field, from

a volunteer coach to a paid coach, may not be an option for all, the confidence,

social skills and sense of responsibility developed by the participants will likely help

them transition into employment and education destinations later on in life.

1.3 Challenging social divisions

Sections 1.1 and 1.2 have examined how volunteering was perceived to provide

opportunities for social interaction and confidence enhancement. This section looks

at how volunteering was considered to enable participants to challenge the

constraints territoriality and religious affiliation could impose on them.

1.3.1 ‘We’ve managed to break barriers’: Enhancing spatial mobilities

Interviews with volunteer coordinators highlighted the significance of territorialism

in shaping young people’s movements. Nicky, for example, described a young male

who had volunteered at the youth charity where she worked and who had been

part of a gang. While Nicky believed he was a ‘great leader’, because of his past, she

considered him ‘a danger to the group’:

Because he’d a gang thing so if he was down in another area,

there were people looking for him […] he would have been

44

great with a group of ten year olds to do football but I

couldnae let him go down to some areas, most areas

actually in the East End to be honest, without worrying

about somebody ready to go [inaudible], and he would

attack them and there’s, it wasnae a one way street do you

know what I mean.

Rivalries between different groups and this young volunteer’s association with a

gang demonstrate the problematic nature of movement across the city

encountered by some young people. In another interview, Tracey stated the youth

charity she worked for recently moved premises to a new location, ‘literally just five

minute walk’ from its previous address. When asked whether the move had given

rise to any issues Tracey stated:

Yep, of course, I think it’s probably, there’s still a kinda,

although it’s not as in your face, but there’s a bit of an issue

with territorialism and young people tend to not cross over

the boundary, erm, whether that’s kinda intentional or not

they just, it just, it just kinda naturally happens that way,

erm, and we had a, it was a group of girls in fact that kinda

just didn’t move with us, most people did but the group of

girls didn’t and it was due to the fact of the location.

She posits the girls who stopped attending the organisation did so due to the

changed location and stresses the significance of boundaries in discouraging or

inhibiting young people’s movements. While it is impossible to know why the girls

stopped coming without speaking to them, Nicky and Tracey’s reflections point to

the importance of place and the potential risks associated with transgressing certain

boundaries.

45

Such factors, however, are not evenly felt as evidenced by Tracey’s statement that

‘most people’ moved with the organisation. In other organisations, territorialism

was not perceived to impact volunteers’ actions. Lauren, for example, had grown up

in the East End of the city where she now worked for a youth charity that organised

street-play sessions in the north and east of Glasgow. The young volunteers who

helped out at these events sometimes had to travel to unfamiliar parts of the city.

While Lauren stated she was aware of the ‘quite rigid boundaries of this area’, she

indicated that she had been ‘really lucky’ while working for the charity by virtue of

not having encountered territorial issues. Although uncertain as to why this was the

case, Lauren suggested that by ‘dedicating their time to come and volunteer’ the

volunteers may have a ‘higher level of maturity’ meaning they were less impacted

by such issues. She also posited that by providing a taxi service to the different sites,

the young people were offered a secure way of travelling through the city.

However, when asked about factors she thought made it difficult for young people

to volunteer in the local area, she touched on territorialism:

It probably would just be those kinda old, old kinda

chestnuts of transport, in terms of boundaries and maybe

gang related violence in the area, not that we’ve ever

experienced, or since I’ve been here anyway I haven’t

personally experienced it, but maybe it could be a factor to,

to others that I just don’t know about, erm, but again that’s

probably because I come fae the East End as well and I am

quite aware of the, the boundaries from when I was growing

up so I don’t know if maybe that’s maybe why I’m more

aware of it or something like that, I don’t know.

Lauren indicates that growing up in the East End has heightened her awareness of

the existence of territorial boundaries but that such issues have not, to her

knowledge, emerged during her time at the youth charity. Having been the

46

volunteer coordinator for less than 12 months it may be the case that Lauren has

not been in the role long enough to encounter territorial issues.8 Moreover, as she

indicates, it may be something that she does not know about. Territorialism may be

a greater concern for those whose networks do not include links to formal

organisations. Young people who attend the youth charity as volunteers and

participants may have access to greater levels of support making movement

through different parts of the city easier. Restrictions created by boundaries in the

local area may therefore impact more heavily on those who do not access the

organisation, either as participants or volunteers, thereby limiting Lauren’s

experience of them in her professional life.

From the young people’s perspectives, territorial and sectarian issues were

perceived to restrict movement through certain parts of the city. Niamh (14,

volunteer), who volunteered at the youth charity Lauren worked for, described how

she had made friends with young people she thought she would never have met

had she not attended the organisation. When asked why she might not have met

the others, Niamh suggested territorial, sectarian and football related rivalries,

between Celtic and Rangers, had a constraining effect:

All the things like, wherever they stay, or wha’ever team

they support, ‘n what religion they are and all that […] so

you could be opposites wi’ people and you wouldnae be able

to speak to them because ‘ae wherever they came fae or

stuff like that […] [At the youth charity] it doesnae matter

what team ye support or what, what you believe in, like you

all just get treated equally […] And it’s just a way for yous all

to socialise.

8 During the pilot study, Lauren’s predecessor stated ‘people from the East End are quite territorial’ and noted this as a barrier to young people’s willingness to attend the organisation.

47

Such social divisions were perceived by Niamh to prevent young people from

speaking to and socialising with one another. In contrast, the youth charity was felt

to provide young people with an environment in which they could overlook

differences and mix with those from different backgrounds. Part of Niamh’s

volunteering involved helping facilitate the charity’s street-play sessions across the

north and east of the city. This necessitated moving across Glasgow, a potentially

hazardous strategy due to the risk of fights between different ‘schemes’:9

People fae your scheme could be fighting with their scheme

[…] like you could go somewhere and ye, they could ask

where you’re from and you could tell them, and they end up

fightin’ wi’ ye, just because o’ ye, no’ from there.

Despite this risk, Niamh considered the opportunity to go to different areas of the

city positively as it enabled movement away from the comfort of a familiar

environment and provided the opportunity to meet new people:

It’s a good thing to do because you get used to the one, like

scheme […] where you stay and sometimes you’re not able

to go away up there so going away up there would be, it’s

like, a better chance to meet new people.

A similar sentiment was echoed in another focus group. Faye (16) described how

volunteering with the sports charity had led her to meet young people she believes

she would not have otherwise met. Like Niamh, she viewed this social aspect

favourably as enabling the breaking of territorial barriers between housing estates:

9

Fraser (2015, pp. 87-88) writes, ‘In Glasgow, “schemes” are shorthand for council-housing estates – the public housing estates for which Glasgow is notorious, ironically designed as “schemes” for social improvement – and the forms of community that have emerged from these environments have in some ways been similarly unanticipated’.

48

It’s a good social aspect of it, but like some people through

[Sports Charity 2] I probably would never have spoken to in

ma life, like [laughs], but we managed to like break the

barriers ‘cos it’s like, we’re all from different areas, I’m from

[area in the north east], you’re from wherever you are, but

usually, like ten year ago that wouldn’t have been able to

happen because, like, of all the gangs and stuff, but now like,

we’ve managed to break barriers and make friends.

When asked to elaborate on why Faye would have been less likely to meet the

others, the participants discussed:

Faye Because like usually you surround yourself with

people you feel comfortable with, so going tae

like volunteering and stuff or coming to monthly

mingles, which this is, that’s how we’ve all

managed to meet each other.

Donna Mhmm.

Faye But if we like didn’t volunteer we’d be like stuck in

our wee bubble and you wouldn’t get oot there.

Emma You’d just stick with like people from your area.

Faye People who you know, stick with what you know.

(Faye 16, Donna and Emma 14, volunteers)

These participants indicated that religious, territorial and football related divisions

exert an influence on young people’s ability to move across the city. Their

comments suggest a tendency for young people to ‘get used’ to particular areas, to

be stuck in their own bubbles and to stick with what and who they know. Their

attentiveness to these factors is likely to be informed by the weight of history and

lived experience. The charity Niamh attended was in walking distance of Celtic’s

49

football ground, in an area associated with sectarian issues and, in light of this, ran

anti-sectarian workshops for young people. Niamh stated violence between young

people, mostly males, from different schemes was ‘something you hear about

because it happens often’. Her identification of these issues may therefore be

indicative of her exposure to them through both the charity and growing up in the

local area.

For these young people, volunteering at their respective charities provided a way to

challenge prejudices and break social divisions. As such they offer young people the

opportunity to develop forms of bridging, rather than bonding, social capital.

Putnam’s (2000, p. 22) conception of bonding capital, which tends to ‘reinforce

exclusive identities and homogeneous groups’, is characteristic of inward looking

groups such as those premised on religious or spatial boundaries. The above

extracts suggest that without volunteering the participants would have fewer

opportunities to socialise with those beyond their immediate social groups. While

bonding capital can engender solidarity and support within particular groups it can

also serve to limit opportunities. The social networks entailed in bridging capital, on

the other hand, are outward looking and stretch across different social groups. Such

forms of capital are evident in the extracts above in which participants highlight

how volunteering has enabled them to meet others from different backgrounds.

Putnam (2000) highlights three ways in which social capital is beneficial to

individuals and communities: i) it helps citizens solve collective issues more easily, ii)

it helps communities advance smoothly, and iii) it widens awareness of how our

fates are interlinked (Putnam, 2000, p. 288). For Putnam these factors are

significant to the maintenance of children’s welfare, safe neighbourhoods,

economic prosperity, health and happiness and democracy. The extracts above,

regarding the breaking of barriers and befriending of those from different

backgrounds, have potential benefits for both communities and individuals.

Communities may benefit from the establishment of trust and reciprocity among

50

groups who might otherwise remain divided. The extension of social networks may

benefit individuals through the provision of information about educational or

employment opportunities.

For the participants, transcending social divisions was valued for providing the

opportunity to meet and socialise with persons from different backgrounds in

conflict free environments. Elsewhere in the fieldwork participants discussed how

their movements were restricted or confined to certain areas of the city, yet it is

notable that it was only in the two focus groups above, almost exclusively

populated with female volunteers, that volunteering was discussed in the context of

breaking spatial barriers. This may, in part, be due to the smaller number of male

volunteers taking part in the study.10 It may also be related to the extent to which

males and females engage differently in gang or sectarian related activities.

1.4 Conclusions

The evidence presented in this report has been used to examine how participants

felt they benefitted through volunteering. One of the central factors to emerge

from this discussion was the relational side of volunteering which was associated

with making friends, enhancing self-confidence and challenging social divisions. It is

possible these issues take on particular significance for young people from areas of

multiple deprivation in light of the participants’ perceptions of having limited

opportunities for social interaction, low levels of self-confidence and restricted

spatial movements. This section summarises findings on the relationship between

volunteering, social interaction and confidence gains.

A recent study found young people’s levels of confidence and wellbeing to be low,

particularly among girls and those from disadvantaged backgrounds (Lessof, Ross,

Brind, Bell, & Newton, 2016). Volunteering is often presented as a way of promoting

wellbeing with researchers highlighting the positive role participation can have in

10 Of nine focus groups with volunteers two were with males and two were mixed. Of the eight interviews with volunteers three were with males.

51

this respect (Binder & Freytag, 2013). Attributing causal status to volunteering,

however, is problematic due to the myriad factors shaping individual wellbeing.

While the evidence presented in this report suffers a similar fate, the accounts

provided suggest volunteering has a role to play in enhancing young people’s

wellbeing if certain conditions are present.

Participants stated that if they had not been volunteering they would have limited

opportunities for social interaction and would likely be at home on their phones or

walking around the streets. Participants also indicated that volunteering provided

an alternative to engaging in illicit practices such as underage drinking. Care must

be taken to avoid normatively interpreting socialising on the streets and underage

drinking solely as problematic behaviours as they may be responses to social

circumstances and offer ways of friendship formation and social bonding.

Moreover, it cannot be asserted that volunteering necessarily meant the volunteers

in this study avoided such practices. Volunteering did, however, provide

participants with opportunities to meet young people and adults in safe

environments and to engage in and lead structured activities. Such interaction and

opportunities were perceived by participants to offer ways of enhancing their

confidence and capacity to interact with others.

Although confidence gains can be viewed as a positive outcome of volunteering, a

question exists concerning the extent to which such confidence is transferable to

other environments. The research sites from which participants were recruited

were typically frequented by young people who lived locally, suggesting attendees

were also likely to be from areas of multiple deprivation. The extent to which

participants were able to feel at ease in the organisations, and thus develop

confidence through social interaction may, therefore, be related to a perception

that they were interacting with persons from similar backgrounds. This is not to

homogenize the experiences of young people in areas of multiple deprivation, but

to draw attention to the contention that, had they been volunteering in unfamiliar

52

environments or with persons they could not easily interact with, confidence may

not have developed in the same way.

In addition to this, critics have problematized the promotion of confidence in the

Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence, which is linked to its youth

volunteering award the Saltire Awards. Ecclestone (2013), for example, argues the

desire to create ‘confident individuals’ shifts attention about barriers to success

away from structural factors, such as material disadvantage, to individual

characteristics, such as lack of confidence. While Ecclestone rightly highlights how

structural disadvantage limits young people’s opportunities to get ahead in life, it is

important to note that those lacking in confidence may be less likely to take

advantage of opportunities should they arise. Volunteering alone will not address

structural inequalities; however, it may provide disadvantaged young people with

strategies for coping with disadvantageous circumstances.

Kamerāde and Ellis Paine (2014, p. 270) argue that, in light of limited evidence on

volunteering’s role in helping individuals move into employment, more emphasis

ought to be placed on ‘the benefits for society of better-engaged individuals making

a different type of contribution to society in general’. The data presented in this

report lend support to this contention by highlighting how volunteering provided

ways for the participants in this study to engage in social interaction, develop

relationships, enhance their confidence and challenge constraints imposed by

territorialism and religious affiliation. Although this section has discussed caveats

relating to the establishment of a causal relationship between volunteering and

such outcomes, the report as a whole highlights the significance of the relational

aspects of volunteering in terms of the social and personal benefits reported by

young people.

53

1.4.1 Implications for practice

Based on the data analysed in this chapter, it is possible to outline some

implications for practice:

1. The relational aspects of volunteering. Relationships emerged as a significant

factor valued by volunteers. It may, therefore, be important to emphasise the

social aspects of volunteering when promoting it to young people. This may be

particularly pertinent for younger young people and those with problematic

relationships to institutions, such as schools, as these groups may be put off by

formal, school-like, or employability orientated opportunities.

2. Provision of support to young people. This report noted many participants

described themselves as shy and lacking in confidence. It may, therefore, be

prudent to ensure young people are supported and welcomed into

organisations as well as provided with opportunities to meet and interact with

others while volunteering. Such relationships may be important to

understanding how and why young people stick with certain volunteering

opportunities.

54

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