Volunteering provides exposure to different life situations and needs, and becomes transformative for the student by connecting learning with doing (Celio, Durlak, & Dymnicki, 2011). In addition, service through volunteering can heighten exposure to diversity, challenge existing beliefs about diversity, and aid in the development of cultural competency (Jones, 2011 Maccio, 2011 Simons & Cleary, 2006). Service is a professional value and helps the student gain understanding and awareness of the professional self. The idea of volunteering is often introduced early to social work students, yet there is little information regarding the role of volunteering within social work curriculum. Some programs apply course discussion and reflection while others utilize the hours to augment exposure to social welfare agencies without course integration, thus differentiating between service learning and volunteering. Most programs have an introductory course and many require service hours how those hours are integrated into the course content may vary. One example of discrepancies in course expectations for service is the introductory course to the social work profession. Whereas volunteering may have no specific role in the course curriculum, inherent in service learning is the class required reflection with peers and faculty that helps to generate learning and deepen understanding of the influence of engagement in learning (Ash & Clayton, 2009). A key aspect to differentiating service learning from volunteering is the role of service learning in the classroom (Harrington, 2016). Students may volunteer on their own or at the recommendation of an advisor or faculty member without the expectation that the service is associated with a specific course. However, students also participate in less formal service through volunteering. Finally, service learning in social welfare agencies and settings facilitates an increase in a student’s sense of efficacy, awareness of the environment beyond the personal context, engagement with student colleagues and faculty, and heightens awareness of values that may be conflicted in unfamiliar environments (Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee, 2000). Service learning also helps develop skills related to problem solving and critical and integrative thinking (Bradley, et al., 2015). Service learning is applied, experiential learning based on the premise that actively engaged learners assimilate information better (Ash & Clayton, 2009). One formal academic way of volunteering is through service learning, which is often integrated early in college curricula in social work and other disciplines. Volunteering early in the student’s academic career can provide opportunities to better understand the social work profession, gain exposure to populations and environments different from the student’s own, and allows for personal growth in developing skills and knowledge related to the chosen profession. However, many social work students are completing service hours long before entering the capstone practicums Schelbe, Petracchi, and Weaver (2014) found that 80% of responding accredited BASW programs (N=202) required service learning in addition to field practicums.Īs the social work profession shifts toward a competency based approach, students can benefit from additional opportunities to develop practice skills prior to field (Phillips, 2011). Experiential learning within social welfare agencies and settings provides a capstone experience for students allowing integration of curriculum and providing evidence-informed knowledge of the connection between the curriculum and a real life context (Bradley, et al., 2015). The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE, 2015) has designated field education as the signature pedagogy of social work education. ![]() Keywords: volunteering, service learning, implicit curriculum This study (N=67) found that volunteering has considerable positive benefits for the implicit curriculum through socializing the student, providing a real world context, and embodying the professional value of service. Despite the number of social work programs that utilize volunteering to help students better understand the social work profession, little is known about the effects of volunteering on academic measures as well as the student. While field education has been designated the signature pedagogy of the social work curriculum, students often have exposure to social welfare agencies long before practicum semester(s).
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