Youth Volunteering in Deprived Areas
Dr James Davies’s PhD at the University of Strathclyde focused on youth volunteering in some of the most deprived areas of Glasgow.
While we have statistical data about young people’s attitudes towards volunteering and rates of engagement, less is known about what volunteering means to them or how they participate in it. This is particularly so for young people in disadvantaged areas whose responses may not be picked up by survey methods.
From our Young People in Scotland 2016 research we know that the out-of-school volunteer participation rate plummets from 50% in those schools which have no pupils living in the lowest SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) quintile, to 16% for those with 60-100% of their pupils in the lowest SIMD quintile. This corroborates other evidence indicating lower levels of volunteering among disadvantaged young people. Given the benefits volunteering can give rise to, it’s important to gain a better understanding of volunteering amongst young people in deprived areas.
James’s research provides an invaluable insight into young people’s understanding of, and motivations for, volunteering; the benefits they derive and the barriers they face. His thesis concludes with specific recommendations to widen access to volunteering for young people in deprived areas. See his Full PhD Thesis and Summary.
Volunteer Scotland has worked with James and his supervisors to produce other research outputs – see the ‘Download’ column. Also, the slides from James’s keynote speech at the Volunteer Scotland conference “Creating a more inclusive future for youth volunteering” on 25 Sept 2018 are presented below.
To find out more about the research or to share any insights or feedback please contact: Dr James Davies jamesdavies_@hotmail.com (research author) or Matthew Linning matthew.linning@volunteerscotland.org.uk (Volunteer Scotland).