Introduction and guidance

Taking part in the voluntary sector will develop your knowledge and skills for working in the voluntary sector. You will be introduced to some key ideas around how voluntary organisations function and have the opportunity to reflect on how these ideas might be applied in practice.

The course will be particularly relevant if you are considering a move into, or have recently started working or volunteering in, the voluntary sector as it will help develop your awareness of issues and areas of work which are unique to the sector. You may notice that some activities ask you to think about your own work or volunteering, so if you do not have a current role you might want to use these activities to think about an organisation you are interested in and how its staff or volunteers might manage a particular situation.

Each section of the course offers short, interactive quizzes to test your knowledge and provide you with the opportunity to earn a digital badge.

Successful completion of the course will enable you to gain a suite of online badges and a statement of participation. The badges are validated by the Social Partnerships Network (SPN), a group of organisations with a shared commitment to extending education opportunities to all those that wish to benefit. These courses do not carry any formal academic credit. However, they do provide a way to help you progress from informal to formal learning.

Taking part in the voluntary sector is one of a suite of six free online SPN-badged courses that aim to provide you with an opportunity to engage with learning informally, studying as much or as little of the course and at your own pace.