Employability
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Employability

As one of the VALUE subgroups we are looking at the important theme of employability in relation to university lifelong learning opportunities for volunteer organisations. We have taken this theme  to cover:

• Volunteers
• Employed managers of volunteers
• In some cases volunteers are helping provide employment opportunities to third parties e.g. refugees, offenders in prison, those who are illiterate.

The partners involved in this subgroup are:

• University of Liverpool, UK
• InHolland University, NL
• Babeş-Bolyai University, RO
• Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR), UK

MEETINGS
The first meeting of the subgroup was in Leuven, BE on 25 March 2009. The following notes can be downloaded here:
Preparatory work for the meeting
Agenda
Notes of discussion at meeting

Arising from this meeting and previous discussions we have identified a number of themes the group will explore further over the life of this project:

• An overview of valuing LLL and volunteering within the context of employment, looking at the various stakeholders (e.g. trade unions, employers, volunteers, the state, universities).
• Looking at needs/ expectations of volunteers (with particular reference to employment issues) for learning opportunities in universities in both the UK and RO. Also a literature review.
• ULLL needs of employed managers of volunteers in UK

Resources specific to this subgroup theme that will be posted on this page, and that will be developed over the life of the project, will include:

• Glossary of relevant terms
• Bibliography of specific articles/papers that relate to the subgroup theme and relevant websites  
• Report on the subgroup activities and findings

The second meeting of the subgroup was in Jonkoping, SE on 5 November 2009 and the agenda and notes from that meeting can be downloaded here:
Agenda
Notes of meeting

The subgroup also ran a workshop at the main VALUE network meeting on 6 November, which was also open to the EUCEN 38th Conference attendees in Jonkoping. Documents that can be downloaded here:
Handout provided to workshop participants
Notes of discussions
Presentation

A presentation was made at UaLL (UK University Association for Lifelong Learning) Annual Conference, Oxford, UK on 15 March 2010 re the work of the subgroup. Presentation downloadable here and group discussion notes here

A third subgroup meeting held in Amsterdam, NL on 29 April 2010 continued the debate and exchange of experience/information. The following can be downloaded:
Agenda
Notes of meeting

Employability Subgroup meeting Amsterdam, NL 29 April 2010

GLOSSARY OF RELEVANT TERMS
The following terms, of particuar relevance to the theme of employability within VALUE, have been discussed and a definition provided for each:
Competence
Employability
Learning Triangle

For the definitions and discussion of these terms please click here

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Volunteering in the VPL perspective  Bénédicte Halba (from Managing European diversity in lifelong learning – ISBN 978-90-79108-01-5) 2007

Community Investment: The impacts of employee volunteering at Barclays Bank IVR Research Bulletin 2004

Dutch VPL at a glance 2008: The development of APL, RPL & VPL in the Netherlands Ruud Duvekot , INHolland University Report for the Observal Project , 2008

Volunteering to lead: a study of leadership in small volunteer-led groups Nick Ockenden and Mark Hutin IVR, March 2008

Volunteering Works - Volunteering & Social Policy ed. Nick Ockenden,  IVR,  2007.  Chapter 5 addresses LLL and employability

Managing for success: Volunteers’ views on their involvement and support Joanna Machin & Angela Ellis Paine, IVR Research Bulletin, April 2008

Management matters: a national survey of volunteer management capacity Joanna Machin & Angela Ellis Paine, IVR, April 2008

Developing Employee Volunteering - a joint venture between volunteer organisations & companies? Strategies - Success Stories - Challenges.
CEV General Assembly Conference Final Report, Prague, 2009

European guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning. cedefop 2009. Also available en français and deutsch

Volunteering as a route (back) to employment. CEV General Assembly Conference Final Report, Paris, 2007

WEBSITES

Centre for the Study of Education and Work, University of Toronto, Canada
http://www.learningwork.ca/csew
The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, trade union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. The CSEW develops research and teaching programmes on learning and work. It promotes policy initiatives, and public events connected to both the paid and unpaid workplace, in traditional and new media for learning. The ‘WALL’ link on the website contains various relevant articles
LANGUAGE - English and French
 
Business in the Community (BITC), UK
http://www.bitc.org.uk/
Business in the Community (BITC), set up in 1982 now has over 800 members. It is the largest and one of the oldest UK national business-led coalitions dedicated to corporate responsibility. It  engages and  supports companies to make a positive impact in the community, workplace, marketplace and environment.
Encouraging  businesses to get involved by promoting corporate community involvement and through providing various LLL opportunities, BITC has helped to institutionalise and mainstream corporate responsibility and corporate social responsibility (CSR)
One of the issues BITC tackles is employability  see weblink
http://www.bitc.org.uk/community/employability/index.html

 

 

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