1980 - 1999
1980s
In 1980 the Student Community Action Resource Programme folded due to financial mismanagement, with the staff team being made redundant. For a few months there was no national organisation in place to support student volunteering. Following the collapse of SCARP, students involved in SCA elected a National Committee to support the network of community action groups across the country. In 1981 the Student Community Action Development Unit was set up with funding from the Voluntary Services Unit of the Home Office (it became a registered charity in 1983). The SCADU employed two workers who worked closely with student representatives on the SCA National Committee. SCA publications throughout the 1980s emphasised the importance of the Development Unit workers remaining responsive to the needs of the local membership, hence it was the responsibility of the National Committee to develop policy and set the agenda. In the mid 1980s there were SCA groups in 90 universities, colleges and polytechnics involving 15,000 students a year. Thirty of the larger and more established groups employed a member of staff.
A key feature of student volunteering and community action through history has been the ability of student groups to respond to changing needs. With unemployment growing in the early 1980s, students became involved supporting centres for the unemployed, particularly the young unemployed. Student Community Action Groups also lobbied for ‘community access’, aiming to make colleges and student unions more accessible to local people. Some SCA groups created associate membership schemes for young unemployed people who could access facilities and join clubs and societies. In this climate too there was new recognition of the skills students themselves gained from involvement in volunteering and the potential of SCA involvement in influencing career choices. In addition SCA groups began to place increasing emphasis on training for volunteers and in 1992 a training and induction pack for new volunteers was published by SCADU.
A growing interest among student volunteers in the 1980s was in problems faced by disabled people living in British society. From the late 1970s this concern led to a pioneering model of student voluntarism, ‘group homes’ where students lived alongside people with mental disabilities. These homes received national publicity in a 1984 Guardian article. Other campaigns focussed on anti-racism and how to involve more black students in SCA and other ‘equal opportunities’ issues.
1990s
The early 1990s marked another period of uncertainty for the student volunteering infrastructure because of the Conservative Government’s attempt to make student union membership voluntary and thereby make SCA a non-core service. The SCA National Committee (renamed the Network Committee) was involved in successfully lobbying the House of Lords against the bill. In the mid-1990s youth and student volunteering issues were high on the policy agenda through the Major Government’s Make a Difference Strategy (1994-1997) and the Citizen Service debates.
In 1995 the SCA Development Unit was re-named the National Centre for Student Volunteering in the Community and a new staff team was recruited. Major funding was received from the Make a Difference Initiative, Unilever, Lloyds and the national Lottery Charities Board. The work of the National Centre focused on working directly with the network of local groups to build a national network. The team’s work focussed on issues such as training, good volunteering practice, new group development, developing a national profile and promotion of student volunteering. Its success may be measured by the growth in the number of student community action groups, up from around 100 in 1990 to 140 by 1997.
The 1990s saw significant changes to student financing, as loans began to replace grants, with the inevitable knock-on effect that more students were seeking paid employment in term-time. The new emphasis on student volunteering for skills development and enhancing employability was part of the response to such challenges. There was a further shift in the recognition of the role that student volunteering and community action could play in improving a university’s relations with its local community.
In the 1990s local SCA groups were involved in a very wide range of activities. The most popular volunteering was with children, followed by activities with disabled people, work with elderly people, work with offenders and visiting prisons or hospitals, environmental and animal welfare work, work with Black and minority ethic communities, women only work, fundraising, campaigning, gardening, minibus driving, furniture collection and advice work.
The 1980s and 1990s also marked the rebirth of student rag weeks. Having survived the criticisms of the student community action movement in the late 1960s and 1970s, rag groups continued to raise large sums of money for charity, although the carnivals and processions, sexist and racist ‘rag mags’, and beauty contests which characterised rags in mid-century had largely disappeared. Students began to define rag as ‘raise and give’. The newer universities took up rag as an important aspect of student culture.
In 1980 the Student Community Action Resource Programme folded due to financial mismanagement, with the staff team being made redundant. For a few months there was no national organisation in place to support student volunteering. Following the collapse of SCARP, students involved in SCA elected a National Committee to support the network of community action groups across the country. In 1981 the Student Community Action Development Unit was set up with funding from the Voluntary Services Unit of the Home Office (it became a registered charity in 1983). The SCADU employed two workers who worked closely with student representatives on the SCA National Committee. SCA publications throughout the 1980s emphasised the importance of the Development Unit workers remaining responsive to the needs of the local membership, hence it was the responsibility of the National Committee to develop policy and set the agenda. In the mid 1980s there were SCA groups in 90 universities, colleges and polytechnics involving 15,000 students a year. Thirty of the larger and more established groups employed a member of staff.
A key feature of student volunteering and community action through history has been the ability of student groups to respond to changing needs. With unemployment growing in the early 1980s, students became involved supporting centres for the unemployed, particularly the young unemployed. Student Community Action Groups also lobbied for ‘community access’, aiming to make colleges and student unions more accessible to local people. Some SCA groups created associate membership schemes for young unemployed people who could access facilities and join clubs and societies. In this climate too there was new recognition of the skills students themselves gained from involvement in volunteering and the potential of SCA involvement in influencing career choices. In addition SCA groups began to place increasing emphasis on training for volunteers and in 1992 a training and induction pack for new volunteers was published by SCADU.
A growing interest among student volunteers in the 1980s was in problems faced by disabled people living in British society. From the late 1970s this concern led to a pioneering model of student voluntarism, ‘group homes’ where students lived alongside people with mental disabilities. These homes received national publicity in a 1984 Guardian article. Other campaigns focussed on anti-racism and how to involve more black students in SCA and other ‘equal opportunities’ issues.
1990s
The early 1990s marked another period of uncertainty for the student volunteering infrastructure because of the Conservative Government’s attempt to make student union membership voluntary and thereby make SCA a non-core service. The SCA National Committee (renamed the Network Committee) was involved in successfully lobbying the House of Lords against the bill. In the mid-1990s youth and student volunteering issues were high on the policy agenda through the Major Government’s Make a Difference Strategy (1994-1997) and the Citizen Service debates.
In 1995 the SCA Development Unit was re-named the National Centre for Student Volunteering in the Community and a new staff team was recruited. Major funding was received from the Make a Difference Initiative, Unilever, Lloyds and the national Lottery Charities Board. The work of the National Centre focused on working directly with the network of local groups to build a national network. The team’s work focussed on issues such as training, good volunteering practice, new group development, developing a national profile and promotion of student volunteering. Its success may be measured by the growth in the number of student community action groups, up from around 100 in 1990 to 140 by 1997.
The 1990s saw significant changes to student financing, as loans began to replace grants, with the inevitable knock-on effect that more students were seeking paid employment in term-time. The new emphasis on student volunteering for skills development and enhancing employability was part of the response to such challenges. There was a further shift in the recognition of the role that student volunteering and community action could play in improving a university’s relations with its local community.
In the 1990s local SCA groups were involved in a very wide range of activities. The most popular volunteering was with children, followed by activities with disabled people, work with elderly people, work with offenders and visiting prisons or hospitals, environmental and animal welfare work, work with Black and minority ethic communities, women only work, fundraising, campaigning, gardening, minibus driving, furniture collection and advice work.
The 1980s and 1990s also marked the rebirth of student rag weeks. Having survived the criticisms of the student community action movement in the late 1960s and 1970s, rag groups continued to raise large sums of money for charity, although the carnivals and processions, sexist and racist ‘rag mags’, and beauty contests which characterised rags in mid-century had largely disappeared. Students began to define rag as ‘raise and give’. The newer universities took up rag as an important aspect of student culture.
