Young People in Scotland Volunteering Survey. 45% of young people have formally volunteered, with the majority volunteering in their spare time. 9% of young people volunteer in both their spare time and in school time. 16-18 year olds are twice as likely to volunteer in school time than younger age groups 11-15 year olds are more likely to consider volunteering in the future than 16-18 year olds More girls volunteer in their spare time than boys and girls are more likely to consider volunteering in the future 19% of boys expressed no interest in volunteering compared to only 9% of girls

1. Young People In Scotland
Survey
High level summary of survey evidence
March 2015
Kathleen Doyle and Gemma Jackson
Volunteer Scotland, Policy and Research
kathleen.doyle@volunteerscotland.org.uk
gemma.jackson@volunteerscotland.org.uk
www.volunteerscotland.org.uk @VolScot

2. Key points to cover…….
 Results: Current Volunteering
 levels of volunteering
 frequency
 routes into volunteering
 Results: Future Volunteering
 perceptions
 spare time activities
 encouragement to volunteer
 areas of interest

3. LEVELS OF VOLUNTEERING
“Thinking back over the last 12 months, have you given
up any of your time to help out with things like clubs,
campaigns or organisations without being paid?”

4. Levels of Volunteering
 45% of young people have formally volunteered, with the majority
volunteering in their spare time
 9% of young people volunteer in both their spare time and in school time
34%
20%
18%
14%
23%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Yes, in my own spare
time
Yes, in school time No, but would
consider doing so
No, and would not
consider doing so
Other
45%
32%
23% Yes
Yes
No
Other

5. Levels of Volunteering
More girls volunteer in their spare time than boys
and girls are more likely to consider volunteering in
the future
19% of boys expressed no interest in volunteering
compared to only 9% of girls
16-18 year olds are twice as likely to volunteer in
school time than younger age groups
11-15 year olds are more likely to consider
volunteering in the future than 16-18 year olds

6. FREQUENCY OF VOLUNTEERING
“How often have you volunteered in the last 12
months?”

7. Frequency of Volunteering
 59% of young volunteers are
volunteering on a regular
basis (at least once a month)
 38% of young volunteers are
volunteering on an occasional
basis
11%
19%
7%
13%
27%
19%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
No more than once a year
A few times a year
Five or six times a year
At least once a month
About once a week
A few times a week

8. Frequency of Volunteering
Girls are more likely to volunteer regularly (66%)
than boys (52%)
Boys are more likely to volunteer occasionally (46%)
than girls (31%)
Frequency of volunteering increases with age, with
72% of 16-18 year olds volunteering regularly,
compared to 49% of 11-13 year olds
Occasional volunteering is highest amongst 11-13
year olds (47%) and 14-15 year olds (40%)

9. ROUTES INTO VOLUNTEERING
“Did any of these people help you to begin
volunteering? They might have done this by telling you
about things that you could do to help, showing you
how to get started, or just by encouraging you”.

10. Routes into Volunteering
 Parents/guardians are most
likely to help young people
into volunteering, followed by
teachers and then friends
 Only 6% of young people
start volunteering on their own
0%
1%
2%
6%
10%
11%
18%
24%
30%
32%
41%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Neighbour
Someone at local job centre
Someone else
Did it on my own
Community organisation
Scheme Rep (DofE)
Other family member
Someone at a club/group
Friend
Teacher
Parent/guardian

11. Routes into Volunteering
Girls are more likely to be influenced by their friends
into volunteering (35%) than boys (25%)
The influence of family and friends is highest
amongst 11-13 year olds and decreases with age
The influence of teachers increases with age,
peaking at 45% for 16-18 year olds, compared to
around 25% for the younger age groups

12. PERCEPTIONS OF VOLUNTEERING
“When you think about volunteering, which of these
words and phrases comes to mind?”

13. Positive Negative
 Young people have a very positive
perception of volunteering
 A high proportion of young people
identify with the traditional ‘altruistic’
concept of volunteering (e.g. helping
other people and being a good citizen)
 Few young people have a negative
perception of volunteering
 This has improved from 2009, when
19% of 11-16 year olds thought it was
boring and 18% ‘goody-goody’ (Being
Young in Scotland, YouthLink Scotland, 2009)
Perceptions of Volunteering
78%
58% 56%
50%
43%
32%
15%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
10% 9% 8%
4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%

14. Perceptions of Volunteering
Girls are more likely to identify with the altruistic
notions of volunteering, whilst boys have more
negative perceptions
Girls are more likely to see volunteering as an
opportunity to make friends (38%) than boys (26%)
16-18 year olds are more likely to identify with the
altruistic notions of volunteering than younger age
groups
Volunteering as a way to develop skills/gain
experience increases with age (46% of 11-13 year
olds compared to 71% of 16-18 year olds)

15. SPARE TIME ACTIVITIES
“Which of these activities would you most like to do in
your spare time?”

16. Spare Time Activities
% of all young people
% of young people
54
20
8
8
7
14
12
16
13
5
4
52
29
27
25
18
17
18
9
4
8
6
Boys Girls
Go to sports clubs, gyms, exercise or dance groups 52
Help out your friends/neighbours 24
Go to drama, music or singing groups 18
Volunteer with a local group or charity 16
Go to an art or crafts club 12
Take part in youth groups 16
Go to under 18s club/venues 15
None of these 12
Take part in a computer club or group 8
Take part in campaigns or demonstrations 6
Go to a church/other religious group 5

17. Spare Time Activities
Girls are most interested in creative activities
(drama, music and art) and both formal and informal
volunteering
Boys are more interested in computer club (13%)
than girls (4%)
Interest in volunteering with a local group/charity
increases with age, with 24% of 16-18 year olds
interested compared to 14% of younger groups
Youth groups, drama/music and computer clubs are
of most interest to 11-13 year olds

18. VOLUNTEERING – ‘INFLUENCES’
“Which of these things would encourage you to do
any/more volunteering in the future?”

19. Volunteering – ‘Influences’
 Volunteering with
friends would most
encourage young people
to volunteer, followed by
if it would improve their
career prospects
 18% of young people
would be more
encouraged to volunteer
if they could do so in
school time, compared to
11% in their own time
9%
9%
11%
11%
13%
18%
19%
21%
29%
29%
37%
56%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Help to find opportunities
Volunteer with family
Volunteer outside school time
In charge of own volunteering
Consistency
Volunteer in school time
If someone asked me
'Taster' session
Close to home
Improve skills
Improve career prospects
Volunteer with friends

20. Volunteering – ‘Influences’
More girls want to volunteer with their friends (62%)
than boys (49%)
More girls would consider volunteering in their spare
time (16%) than boys (7%)
A quarter of all young people would be more
interested in volunteering if they could do so close to
where they live
11-13 year olds are more interested in being able to
volunteer with their family than older age groups

21. AREAS OF INTEREST
“In which of the following areas would you say you
would be most interested in volunteering with?”

22. Areas of Interest
 Young people are most
interested in sport-related
volunteering, followed by
helping children or young
people in school
 Hobbies, arts and
animal welfare also
feature within the top 5
areas of interest
3%
4%
5%
7%
11%
12%
14%
14%
15%
19%
22%
22%
26%
34%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Religious groups
Local community groups
Environmental protection
Political groups
Justice and human rights
First aid or safety
Older people/the elderly
Health or disabilities
Wildlife protection
Children or YP's groups
(outside school)
Animal welfare
Hobbies/arts/recreation/social
clubs
Children or YP (in school)
Sport or exercise

23. Areas of Interest
Sports and exercise are of most interest to boys
(43% compared to 26% of girls)
Helping out with children, young people and animal
welfare are of most interest to girls
Interest in volunteering within areas of health,
disabilities, First Aid and safety increases with age
An interest in activism (e.g. political groups,
environmental protection and Justice and Human
Rights) also increases with age

24. Overall Themes
 Scotland’s young people are very ‘volunteer’ active, and
could create a step change in volunteer growth for
generations to come
 Young people are particularly interested in sport-related
volunteering opportunities and volunteering with their
friends - growth will come from turning interest into
action
 Age is a key factor – a tailored approach to volunteer
development and involvement is needed to take account
of (and challenge) different views and interests
 Boys and girls current and future interest in volunteering
is different - playing out some gender stereotypes

25. • IPSOS Mori Survey (2014):
– data collected from a representative sample of over
2,000 young people
– aged 11-18 years
– carried out across 50 state-sector secondary schools in
Scotland
– self-completion survey
– conducted in mixed ability classes such as personal and
social education (P.S.E)
– produced large representative dataset which allows for
robust sub-group analysis
Technical Note