Volunteer Profile
To become a VSO volunteer, it's vital you're experienced in your professional field and able to train and advise colleagues in your area of expertise. You need to be prepared to work creatively, often with few resources. Sharing your skills, you'll help build confidence to change lives and make the world fairer for all.
Becoming a great volunteer is not about matching a job title, it's more a case of matching your skills with a need. An education volunteer will often have the following:
- at least two years' classroom experience
- a degree with a recognised teaching qualification
- a knowledge of a diverse range of teaching methodologies
- experience of, or an interest in, mentoring colleagues in developing good educational practice to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
VSO educationalists are resourceful people. In a resource-poor environment, a pile of used bottle tops can become a musical instrument or pretend money in the classroom shop. VSO teachers can motivate colleagues to reflect on their own practice, so leaving behind an ethos of striving for improvement that will live on long after they have returned to the UK.
Not only do we want professional expertise, but we also need soft skills. A person who can think on their feet, can lead when called to, but is modest and patient enough to take a back seat when the occasion calls for it.
Follow current Global Skills Share volunteer Alison Helm's experiences in Ghana at http://alisonhelmcurwen.blogspot.com.
To read about our previous Global Skills Share volunteer Ian Funnel's experiences in Guyana, please visit http://guyanaeducationplacement.blogspot.com.