The reported rate of formal volunteering in Australia has been steadily declining, from about one in three people in 2010 to just over one in four in 2022.
While volunteering is considered ubiquitous in our society, a range of factors are threatening its sustainability, including declining numbers of formal volunteers, barriers to participating, and increasing demand for services delivered by volunteers.
Volunteering also faces challenges from the compound effects of Australia’s ageing population, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, the housing and cost of living crises, and the mental health epidemic.
All of these make continued participation in volunteering untenable for many, and out of reach for those who were never able to start in the first place.
It’s why federal and state government agencies are among the many organisations to have signed up to a three-year action plan to boost volunteering.
The National Strategy for Volunteering action plan lists 22 practical actions to boost volunteering, the result of work by government, peak bodies, researchers and volunteers.
In the meantime, schools are getting on with the job at the chalkface and on Sydney’s eastern shores, one teacher is gaining attention for his innovative and inventive programs that have seen a transformation in the service area of his school.
Transformative approach paying dividends
Huw Blood is head of Service Learning at Shore School, a program aimed at inspiring students to volunteer their time and efforts for the benefit of others.
The program creates the opportunity for students from Prep to Year 12 to participate in the work of charities, community groups and non-profit organisations, such as Rough Edges, Cancer Council, the Salvation Army, World Vision and Anglicare.
“It’s a unique role here at the school that’s only existed for the last two-and-a-half years,” Blood says of his position.
“Service Learning has many facets to it, but essentially my main goal and vision is to connect students and engage them with a number of different service initiatives and partnerships, but also the important learning involved in connecting that experience to student wellbeing and the curriculum – and then engaging staff and parents as well through that process.”
Blood says it is proving transformative holistically in the education of the school’s students, particularly in galvanising and providing identity for those within their house groups to work together to serve others, who are very often vulnerable.
“It can really shape and change the hearts of many of the boys that we have here,” Blood shares.
“So it’s just a shift of a mindset and a culture of giving rather than receiving.”
Huw Blood has worked in public, Catholic and independent schools, teaching PDHPE and science across his 17-year career. “Being able to teach in the country, but also in different sectors, has really helped my career,” he says. “It gives you different skill sets and opportunities to engage with different students and communities.”
The value of time, rather than money, spent
Where previously, students’ giving was most often characterised by donating to a Christmas appeal once a year or bringing in items for fundraising initiatives, Blood was keen on a far more impacting and personal experience.
“I really wanted to change the focus of service and actually give our time rather than our money,” Blood, who has been at Shore now for 13 years, says.
“That’s been a real goal, where we’re giving tangible, tactile experiences for boys to actually serve and interact with people in the community.
“It’s also been about making it an educative process, so that boys can understand the needs and the rationale of why these organisations and charities exist, who they’re serving, why they’re serving – and how it links to a lot of the curriculum that we teach across different subject areas in the senior school."
It’s also been a way of providing a palpable sense of belonging and a community connection for students as well.
“I’ve seen boys that are quiet and may not be a sporting star or the best at music, or the strongest academically, but they shine and thrive in that environment, which has been really, really pleasing to see, because the boys have an experience that they love and are passionate about.
"It’s their time to shine in that sense.”
While some all-boys private schools have come into their share of criticism for perceived misogyny and outdated attitudes in recent years, within the Service Learning program, Blood says the feedback he receives paints a picture far removed from the headlines.
“For a lot of the boys, they’ve really shifted from looking at that stereotypical 'working in finance' or similar career paths to more of, ‘how can I actually make a difference in the community?’
That’s been a real light bulb moment, for many, he says, and something that has really been transformative in the lives of the boys.
“…we hear a lot about toxic masculinity. Well, some of the characteristics I’ve seen are in stark contrast to that,” Blood, who grew up in Bathurst in central western New South Wales, explains.
“So developing positive characteristics in young men, like empathy and compassion and kindness, has been a real success through this program.
“By talking to an elderly person or engaging with a homeless person, really shifts that narrative, and that’s been a real change in some of the boys that I see face-to face-daily."
He says the programme gives a common cause for both staff and the boys in the school’s pastoral care system.
“Shore talks about building good men. Well, this is building good men. It’s fundamental and key to what the school is trying to achieve as a holistic educational experience.”
The National Strategy for Volunteering action plan ties into a 10-year national volunteer strategy with three focus areas: individual potential and the volunteer experience, community and social impact and conditions for volunteering to thrive.
Real people, real conversations, real impact
Each Tuesday night Blood and his students serve tea, coffee and cordial to patrons through Rough Edges, a non-government, faith-based not-for-profit organisation that aims to relieve suffering in the inner Sydney area.
The boys sit down and engage with attendees, play Scrabble and cards and really just chat and add to the community experience for the patrons.
Another charity in Bondi cooks around 7000 meals a week for a range of communities that are doing it tough.
“So our 18 house groups each go out once in a calendar year with parents and boys, and we work together to create 300 or 400 meals, and then deliver them to places like Rough Edges or Mates for Plates or other such organisations,” Blood explains proudly.
“So they learn about the why and the how, and actually have that experience of cooking food together.”
Shore also has a relationship with Baptist Care, where boys head out to Macquarie Park in Sydney and sit down and talk to elderly patrons and residents in aged care facilities, who don’t get many visitors and who might be isolated or withdrawn or lonely.
“So that’s another service experience the boys really value and really enjoy,” Blood says.
But how does he try to ensure these experiences aren’t simply limited to school years, but inspire Shore’s boys to want to carry this notion of volunteering their time into their adulthood?
“It’s really good question, and it’s not something you can easily measure,” Blood says.
“We have boys present on what they’ve done, and they do reflection pieces on some of the service that they provide.
“I think having tangible experiences over five or six years throughout their formal education here just slowly changes their narrative and their heart in terms of wanting to serve beyond school, and we have a number of those organisations come into the school and speak about opportunities and pathways that they can serve in, obviously, during school, but post school as well.”
Award-winning ways proof of purpose
Blood’s efforts and the success of his programme saw him recently receive an ACEL NSW Leadership Award for demonstrating outstanding performance in leading an educational initiative or organisation, resulting in significant growth and positive cultural change.
While extremely proud of the achievement, which is all the more significant given awardees are chosen from all public, independent and Catholic schools, the passionate educator feels like he’s only getting started.
“I really want to ingrain a culture of service at this school. I think it’s something that historically, we’ve done in bits and pieces, but to have a really structured program for service and service learning from Kindergarten through to Year 12...
“I feel like I’m in my infancy in terms of that.”
To learn more about the National Strategy for Volunteering 2023-2033, click here.
