SENIOR executives and school prefects have long known that the Duke of Edinburgh Award is the volunteering equivalent of an MBA. Yet they’re utterly confused about the relative merits of other types of volunteering.
To help to ease confusion it has been suggested that all volunteers should gain credits towards a recognised qualification such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or NVQs.
Jamie Thomas, the head of the Russell commission review team, which is drawing up a framework to boost youth volunteering, tells Third Sector (Feb 9): “Young people don’t feel that employers recognise what it has meant for them to have done some volunteering.” But consultation with business leaders reveals that they are confused by all the different volunteering awards and accreditation schemes. The only one they are familiar with is the Duke of Edinburgh Award — often because they have done it themselves.
“The challenge is to come up with something like that, but that is perceived to be more inclusive. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is perceived as a bit middle-class, which in practice is probably not true, but that is the perception.
“We need to simplify the process so there is just one major vehicle that all employers will recognise,” Thomas says.