Voluntary work helps your community and enhances your CV

When Nayema Begum, 18, applied to study a diploma in childcare at Tower Hamlets College, she did not expect to have the opportunity to educate youngsters in a local school on the dangers of smoking. But like a fast growing number of students, she is embracing volunteering with the support of her college. "Each time I leave the school, I know I've had an impact on someone's life and that I've been a role model," she says. "The whole experience has really raised my confidence."

It won't do her CV any harm either, says Vereen Ryan, director of student services at Tower Hamlets College – one of six colleges which have been supported by Volunteering England in a project entitled "Going Further" aimed at building a volunteering ethos in the FE sector. Since the project's introduction in January 2006, the institutions have created a rich mixture of volunteering opportunities, as Ryan exemplifies.

"We've trained 20 students like Nayema to be peer support workers to year nine and 10 students in schools. They raise awareness about issues such as involvement with weapons through to smoking. We've also got maths students supporting year 10s and 11s in schools in their subject. Then there are students who are organising volunteering off their own backs who come to us for support in actioning it, and finally we've had 70 further students who have said, 'I'm interested in volunteering. What can I do?'"

Ryan works with community groups to find opportunities relevant to students' interests and possibly their future career plans, as well as offering guidelines and training for students where appropriate – for example, in communication skills. She also helps organise accreditation and where possible, funding.

The impetus provided by Volunteering England has been essential, not least because FE students face a very particular set of barriers, says Alison Cottenham, who facilitates volunteering at Liverpool Community College. "FE students who are studying A-levels often study four of five subjects and that doesn't leave them much free time. It's not like at university, where you might have a day free every week. Then there are the financial barriers. A lot of our students' time away from college is spent doing paid work."

Cottenham's role is to help work around such obstacles, finding bespoke solutions for students. "We've had students do everything from tree planting for a local primary school to beach cleaning to warehouse sorting for a toy appeal."

Kevin Boudbille, 20, who is studying for a national certificate in sport is one of a group of students at Croydon College who are teaching local children table tennis, hockey, basketball and cricket. "For me, it's about gaining coaching experience, which will hopefully be accredited, and for the children, it's about introducing them to sports they perhaps haven't played before. It's been hard work, especially finding the time alongside my assignments, but it's been great fun too," he says.

Boudbille has enjoyed the balance of the project being student led with support available on tap from Di Layzelle, who heads up volunteering at Croydon College.

"We decided what we wanted to do and she helps us with things such as applying for funding. Whenever we've missed something in our plan, Di says, 'Have you thought about x?'"

Layzelle has been impressed with the students' professional attitude towards issues such as marketing and considers herself as a facilitator more than a tutor. "We've got another group of students going into a local school with a high refugee population to work with seven-year-olds on issues like improving confidence and language. Another group of special needs students are doing work on recycling in our canteen. They did an audit on the college and found that no cans or bottles are recycled. It will be a legacy for the college."

Other students are working with youngsters on issues such as teenage pregnancies and bullying. "They looked into facts and figures and decided to take action," Layzelle explains.

Omar Hassanali, 19, who is studying for a national diploma in IT at Croydon College, took the initiative to help set up an organisation called Student Muslim Voice, when he realised there was no Muslim equivalent to Christian Union. With Layzelle's support, he used the contacts and skills he'd made from setting up Muslim football tournaments in the community to act as a bridge between staff and students on Muslim issues. "A member of staff asked me if a female Muslim student really needed Friday mornings off for prayers – which she didn't. Meanwhile, students – both Muslim and non-Muslim – come to our weekly sessions to see the religion in its true form, rather than what's portrayed in the media," he says.

Although "Going Further" involved just six FE colleges, Volunteering England has since carried out wider research to provide a snapshot of volunteering in the FE sector to help create a strategy for the future. "In the not too distant future, we would like to see more funding streams available for colleges and top quality volunteering opportunities being available for any student who wants it," explains Eleanor Wallace, volunteering and funding co-ordinator for the Student Volunteering Team at Volunteering England.

She adds that she'd like to see volunteering increasingly embedded into existing work, such as citizenship education and the International Baccalaureate, and more volunteering accreditation models. The most telling figure from the research was that 100 per cent of learners who have volunteered rated the experience as beneficial, citing reasons including that it was a fun way to spend time, that it helped guide their career path and improved their skills.

"Students who volunteer get an excellent sense of working in a team, as well as learning skills in anything from managing a budget to assertiveness, and raising confidence," says Carleen Bently, who facilitates volunteering at New College Nottingham. "Then there's the contacts and friends they make."

The sky is these students' limit, says Emily Moran, student liaison officer at Newcastle College. "A group of about 30 or 40 of our students recently worked with a local arts organisation to create a performance in a park. Some worked on stage management or building the sets, while others performed."

Adam Burnhams, 19, who is studying carpentry at Basingstoke College, was even supported by his college to go to South Africa, where he used his carpentry to do refurbishment work benefiting people affected by HIV. "It was an experience I will never forget," he says.

'It is great to be able to immerse yourself in a different culture'

Heather Woodfine, 19, who has just completed her A-levels at Newcastle College, is volunteering as a teaching assistant in Chile, with the college's support.

The college helped me organise a fundraising event – with use of the classroom and printing of posters – and they printed off 100 copies of my fundraising brochure. I also got a £50 donation from AimHigher.

I think everything I have to say about my year in Chile so far is positive. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out, with my friends all enjoying their first year of university, but I know I have all that to look forward to next year. The schools out here really need the extra help they get from the volunteers, it is really rewarding to see the effects of our work. We are now really adjusted to life in Chile and are starting to make good friends with the family and teachers at school.

It is great to be able to fully immerse yourself in a different culture, to enjoy even the important times of year like Christmas and New Year here and learn to speak the language like a local.

Our summer holiday travels allowed us to see more of South America and to test our new-found Spanish skills.

Just as I had hoped, my confidence has really increased, in everything from being able to handle a group of noisy students to being able to barter viciously for vegetables at the market. Living away from home can make you more independent and better at working with new people, preparing you for university life.