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With many social causes to defend at the moment, volunteering is one of the most impactful ways to make a difference in the world. And that young people are some of the most likely to give up their time to support social change.

In school environments then, it’s important that young students have a clear understanding of what volunteering is, what it can do, and why it’s needed more than ever at the moment. It’s also necessary that students know how to recognise credible volunteering opportunities and the ways that volunteering can benefit them and their communities.

How to talk about student volunteering

Here are some tips for starting the conversation about volunteering, and shape a generation of small, but mighty, activists.

Start small

It might initially be difficult for young children to grasp why people would work with a project without being paid. To help them understand the reasons for volunteering, list the possible motivations. These could be:

• To help people who need it
• To learn and share skills
• To feel like part of a team
• To have fun and make new friends
• To get experience in a specific area of work

Draw from examples of volunteering that can make sense to your students. These might be local organisations that your students know, or projects that connect to students’ lives. For instance, a group that volunteers to fundraise for a community garden in the town centre, or an NGO with volunteers who collect books to donate to a children’s hospital.

You could look at the mission of these projects, who gets involved with them, and how they’re organised. Try to keep things simple, so your students can digest why volunteering is needed in the first place, and why people choose to do it. You could even bring in a volunteer from one of the projects to talk to the class about their experience.

Show cause and effect

The outcomes of volunteer work can explain why it is so impactful, and also why people are keen to get involved. For young students, looking at the goals and the results of projects can make the concept of volunteering clearer, and get them excited about volunteering themselves.

You could look at volunteering results at both the macro and micro level. On the local level (and staying consistent with the local projects already mentioned), you could take students to visit the finished community garden. Ask them to write down what they like about the garden, and how they see people interacting with it. Back in the classroom, everyone shares and discusses why the volunteering was worth the end result.

Alternatively, you could ask a representative from the children’s hospital NGO to share what patients have said about receiving donated books, allowing your students to see why seemingly small acts of volunteering mean a great deal to people. In return, you could encourage students to start a penpal book club with patients, writing to one another about the stories they’ve read.

On a bigger scale, look at reports from the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and OECD. You could choose to focus on specific regions, highlighting volunteer programmes that have cleared water systems for entire cities, provided food for tens of thousands of migrants crossing borders, or preserved acres of land for endangered animal species. Pay attention to what exactly the volunteers did, and what the outcome was; and if possible, find interviews from the people who were helped by the volunteers’ work.

Celebrate the emotional rewards

Volunteering isn’t totally altruistic - the majority of people who volunteer also experience personal benefits. Of course, volunteering can be a great way to engage with social issues, but it’s OK that young people know they can seek it out for other reasons too.

One survey found that of young people say volunteering improved their mental health and wellbeing. Elsewhere, people say that volunteering gives them a deeper sense of purpose, where they feel like they are connected to a project that makes life better in some way. Volunteering also puts people in regular contact with others, which can boost social skills and lower stress. Overall, dedicating time and energy to a cause spreads happiness – not just for the people benefiting from the project, but also for the people who are giving their time.

Volunteering additionally boosts students’ future employability. Companies often like candidates who have volunteered because it proves their dedication. Volunteering can also allow students to develop new skills, interact with people from different industries and experience different environments.

And, volunteering as a group can strengthen relationships. Whether friends, family or as a class, collaborating on a shared cause can increase communication and teamwork.

You might want to set up a ‘volunteers day’ where people who have volunteered come to the classroom to talk about what they did after volunteering, and how their experience accelerated their next steps. Ask them to include the emotional takeaways too – what they learned about themselves, and the relationships they built – to emphasise that volunteering doesn’t have to be a sacrifice.

Giving time to help other people

The core of volunteering is to help others, and young people have a natural empathy and sense of justice that makes them excellent volunteers. Talking to your students about volunteering gives them a more informed idea of what volunteering can do, and why it will always be necessary in society.

Plus, it ties in well to global citizenship and preparing students for a fairer, international life ahead!

Further reading

Get more advice to bring activism into the classroom safely. Read How to teach a green curriculum and encourage environmentalism, Nine diverse books for secondary school students and Five activities to celebrate International Women’s Day, every day.

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