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Introducing the voluntary sector
Introducing the voluntary sector

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7 Summary

During the past eight weeks you have been finding out about the nature of the voluntary sector and, if you are new to it, you might have been thinking about whether you would like to work or volunteer in the sector. You have been encouraged to apply ideas to your own situation, and to reflect on your experiences. Remember to include this course on your CV as it will be relevant to jobs and volunteering in the sector.

In Week 8, you have learned:

  • how to reflect on your learning
  • how to start planning for your next steps
  • the benefits of volunteering
  • how to start looking for a volunteer or paid role in the voluntary sector
  • what the learning cycle is and how to apply it to your work or volunteering.

There are other free courses from OpenLearn that may be relevant to you, for example, Working in voluntary organisations, which builds on this course. Succeed in the workplace will help you in crystallising your thoughts further on looking for a new job or volunteering. The Open University [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] offers many formal qualifications relevant to the voluntary sector, for example in business and management, health and social care, development studies, the environment, arts and education, and so on.

If you’ve gained your badge, you’ll receive an email to notify you. You can view and manage your badges in My OpenLearn within 24 hours of completing all the criteria to gain a badge.

Now you’ve completed the course, we would again appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us a bit about your experience of studying it and what you plan to do next. We will use this information to provide better online experiences for all our learners and to share our findings with others. If you’d like to help, please fill in this optional survey.

You can now return to the course page.