Responding to the Big Society: flexible curriculum development for the

community sector

Sari Sirkia-Weaver (Canterbury District Community Alliance)Sharon Perera(Kent & Medway Lifelong Learning Network)Philip Moore (Avante Partnership)Sofia Vougioukalou (Canterbury Christ Church University)

Nichola Van DerVilt(Canterbury Sure Start & Family Action)

The problem ‘Big Society’: new role for charities, community and voluntary

groups; social cohesion Financial crisis, disruption of social institutions Service delivery for the needs of health and social care sector Lack of frameworks, benchmarks and infrastructure in

voluntary sector

A solution: Co-development of new degreeVoluntary Sector Impact Analysis Foundation Degree in Volunteering

Bridging the gap between employers, volunteers and educators Promotion of work based learning Measuring impact of voluntary sector

• Civil society orgs.• Public/private

sectorSkills Need/

Demand

• Learners• Volunteers• Employees

Accredited courses/C

PD• Higher/ Further education institutions Knowledge/

Expertise

Knowledge exchange

Community engagement

Student recruitment;Partnerships

EmployabilityAccess

Workforce development;Productivity

Benefits

Sari Sirkia Weaver Manager HomeStart Canterbury and Coastal/ vice chair of Canterbury District Community Alliance C.D.C.A.

Canterbury District Community Alliance the mission :“To represent, enable and strengthen the Civil Society Organisations so that we can work more effectively in partnership and achieve our shared aims “

The Big Society Promoting social action

Empowering local communities

Opening up public sector contracts

“Government wants to invest in a new programme of strategic interventions which help Civil Society organisations to modernise and become more efficient & more entrepreneurial in order to take advantage of the opportunities ahead “

“The Government wants to encourage better connections both among civil society organisations and with public and private sectors –THE POTENTIAL TRANSFER OF SKILLS HAS HARDLY BEEN TAPPED “

The CSOs Civil Society Organisations Voluntary and Community SectorThe Third sector…. The Charitable sector

171,071 organisations Total income £35,5 billion Paid workforce 668,000 Number of people formally volunteering 20,4 million

Vysiadeveloped from the need for CDCA to create an almanac / overview of the CSOs in Canterbury District:

Numbers of: CSO organisation Paid staff Volunteers Levels of funding Number of services users The impact on the service users

The benefits of Vy.S.I.A. to CSOs

Gives CSO added credibility in the increasingly competitive world

Staff and volunteers will acquire higher level of skills sustainability

Group of trained research volunteers can carry out research for organisations giving CSO an additional local resource

Volunteering as a stepping stone into employment

On going relationships with Christ Church University

The Challenges

To deliver the “Big Society” CSO will need to supportto recruit, train and support increasing numbers of volunteers.

Increased demand on CSO services owing to the cuts in public sector and changes in benefits systems?

Can the CSO compete with private sector providers? Vital the CSO is able to measure impact and outcomes

New organisational models: social enterprise and community interest companies (co-operatives and mutual societies?)

Health: GP based commissioning

CSO role: to supplement -not replace - public sector services!

Philip MooreVolunteering and Community Engagement Manager

Project: A work project to scope the feasibility of developing the use of volunteers within the Avante Partnership

With Supervisor, building a set of questions for an initial interview survey of Care Home Managers

  Aims:

to find out current level of volunteering in 10 out of 17 care homes

to ascertain future needs and opportunities.   to gauge the level of interest and support in volunteer

development

  Results were informative and encouraging....

Stage 1

Based on Stage 1, survey questionnaire (21 Qs) created to provide quantitative data with opportunity for qualitative comment

  Sent to all 17 care homes for completion   Guided to break-down questionnaire information into more

detailed data   Data, current and future, on gender, individual and group

volunteering, range of roles and opportunities   Data, current and future, on safeguarding, selection,

training, placement, supervision, policies and procedures

Stage 2

.Collection and analysis of the data

Collection and data placed on Excel worksheets in numerical and graphic form

Linkages and correlations made for as much information as possible

Information used to present evidence to Senior Management and Board of Trustees

Information was of great value in agreement to invest in Volunteer development for the future

Volunteering and Community Engagement become an important part of company strategy and a new full-time post created

Stage 3

Work-based Learning in Higher Education

Sharon PereraWorkforce Development Manager

Kent and Medway Lifelong Learning Network

S.R.Perera@greenwich.ac.uk

Kent and Medway Lifelong Learning Network

Priorities for 2009/10: Focus on Progression of work-based learners Embedding of projects and achieving impact Sustainability

The F.D. in Volunteering project presented the opportunity to achieve our objectives

Non-traditional Routes into Higher Education

Developing Work-based Learning Routes into Higher Education

Stand-alone Modules as CPD (15, 20 credits)

Certificate in Lifelong Learning (60 credits) Certificate in Higher Education (120 credits)

Foundation Degree in Volunteering

Faculty of Health & Social Care

Dr Sofia VougioukalouSenior Lecturer, Knowledge TransferService Evaluation and Development

SEDGService Development and Evaluation Group

Programme evaluation Audits Community engagement Organisational development Social enterprise, new business model Curriculum development

Voluntary Sector Impact Analysis The review and development of the regional voluntary

sector with staff from CCCU and the CDCA

Eventual production of a local almanac

Training volunteers in research methodology for health and social care

Volunteers develop research projects within their organisations in partnership with supervisors from CCCU

Out-reach events Evening lectures Research methods workshops Mentoring schemes Monthly steering committee meetings with members of

CDCA, CCC and CCCU An end-of-year project award competition Conference participation Dissemination plan

Volunteers as evaluators of their organisation F.D.V. modules

Methodology

Work-based learning & academic taught modules CCCU sites: Canterbury, Broadstairs, Medway 240 HL credits (Certificate: 120 HL credits)

Core modules: Social Context of Health and Illness

Personal, academic and workplace developmentLaw and ethics in health practiceCritiquing research methods, research project

Specialist modules: Volunteering 1 & 2Person-centred approaches for people with a learning disability

Working with long term mental health problems Enabling well-being in dementia careThe challenge of adolescence

Foundation Degree in Volunteering

Communityengagement and knowledgeexchange

New model for flexible curriculum development Co-development of evaluative practice Benefits for CSOs, volunteers, HEIs

Culture of critical reflection in public bodies and charities Shared learning and shared growth Knowledge enfranchisement

Developing a sense of responsibility and a sense of shared ownership and connected citizenship

Nichola Van DerVilt Voluntary Post Natal Depression Peer Supporter

2010

Enabling women marginalised by Post Natal Depression (PND) to access appropriate services

Development

Learning new skills

Your personal Post-Natal Depression

Experiences

PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR GROUP AGREEMENT TO CONFI DENTI ATELY WHEN COMPLETI NG THI S QUESTI ONNAI RE. THANK YOU

Any-one who answers this questionnaire must complete it anonymously, please do not write your name or any other persons names.

Answer the following questions by ticking any boxes that apply to your own personal experience of post-natal depression:

Who made you aware that help is available?

Not at all A little

A great deal

Considerably

1. Midwife 2. Health Visitor 3. G.P. 4. Friends/ Family 5. Leaflets 6. I nternet 7. Word of mouth

Anything you would like to add?

__ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Vy.S.I.A.Interviewing members of the general publicInterviewing members of multidisciplinary teamsResearching around subject

Planning& implementing a questionnaireSecuring Funding

Dissemination

The Future

Scattering the Seeds

Area of Work

Objective/Outcome to be Achieved

Pre Natal Developing pre natal support Identifying when to provide support To research further and develop project plans

Sign-posting Creating a unique sign post Directing women to the correct care pathway Securing an appointment for that pathway

Training Implementing further training programmes Ensuring adequate amount of trained volunteers To develop quality standards for training

Groups To establish a network of PND groups Create specialist PND community and out-reach teams Develop a weekend group for working mums

My Future now looks brighter

Plus the lives of countless women

&their families

Thank you Vy.S.I.A.

Acknowledgements

Canterbury Christ Church UniversityCore team: Adrian Adams, Antonio Sama, Katy RussResearch assistants: Manuela Thomae, Maria SummersonSupervisors: Mary McDonald, Agnes Gulyas, Nancy Clark, Judith Nabb

Canterbury District Community AllianceSimone Field, Alex Krutnik

Canterbury City CouncilHelen Carter

Volunteers

Thank you for listening,any further questions?

s.vougioukalou@canterbury.ac.uk