I

Chinmay Bhandari

Student Number: 110145499

Supervisor: Dr. John P. Wilson

DOES INFORMAL LEARNING MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

A Study of the Relationship between Informal Learning and Personal

Development of Voluntary Teachers

Dissertation Submitted in Part Requirement for the Degree of MSc Human

Resource Management, of the University of Sheffield

September 2012

II

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. John P. Wilson for his guidance throughout

the course of this dissertation. I am also grateful to Jithin, Sanjana and the rest of the

national core team at Make a Difference, and the volunteers who participated in this

study, for their support and cooperation.

III

Executive Summary

Informal learning is a process that encompasses different spheres of an individual’s life such

as actions, experiences and social interactions. The process of informal learning has a definite

impact on an individual’s personal development. This development includes apparent, as well

as latent qualities, such as professional skills, attitudes and behavioural traits.

This dissertation aims to identify the ways, in which, the informal learning experience of

Make a Difference volunteers leads to their personal development. Secondly, it explores the

utility of the findings for the purpose of organisational development.

The dissertation looks at a wide range of academic discourse that consists of prominent

themes such as the nature and scope of informal learning, informal learning through the

experience of volunteering and teaching, and its effect on the personal development of

individuals.

It is an inductive study that takes a social constructionist approach to explore how volunteers

reflect upon, and interpret, their individual experiences. In total, 16 semi-structured

qualitative interviews were carried out for this purpose. These interviews were carried out

either via Skype or telephonically.

The volunteers, who participated in this study, were considerably aware of their learning,

which occurred through the experience of working with the organisation. It was found that

volunteers learnt through various avenues such as the experience of teaching, co-teaching,

interactions with students and other volunteers, informal events, and activities such as a

fundraising drive or placement activity. Their experience was influenced by several factors

such as co-teachers, centre related issues and class dynamics.

Such a multi-faceted learning experience had a profound impact on the development of

volunteers. The findings suggest that the volunteers developed numerous traits and skills

such as patience, empathy, sense of initiative, extroversion, leadership skills and

communication skills through their experience of working with the organisation.

Based on the findings, this study hints at the possibility of utilising these results in the process

of recruitment and selection, and through a mentoring programme for the purpose of

organisational development.

IV

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 ABOUT THE ORGANISATION .......................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 SUBJECT ................................................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................................... 4

1.4 IMPORTANCE AND RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH TOPIC ..................................................................................... 4

1.5 A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................................................ 4

SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................. 5

2 LITERATURE REVIEW – A DISCUSSION ON INFORMAL LEARNING AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT OF

TEACHERS IN A VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION .................................................................................................. 6

2.1 LEARNING – A BRIEF OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................... 6

2.2 INFORMAL LEARNING .................................................................................................................................. 7

2.2.1 Informal learning in voluntary work ............................................................................................... 11

2.2.2 Informal Learning and Teaching ..................................................................................................... 12

2.3 ENGLISH TEACHING IN THE CONTEXT OF MAKE A DIFFERENCE ........................................................................... 14

2.4 INFORMAL LEARNING AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................... 15

SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 16

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 18

3.1 RESEARCH APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 18

3.2 RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................................................................................ 19

3.3 RESEARCH SAMPLE AND DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................... 20

3.4 LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH ........................................................................................................................ 22

SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 22

4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS ........................................................................................................................ 24

4.1 MOTIVATIONS BEHIND THE DECISION TO VOLUNTEER ...................................................................................... 24

4.2 THE ROLE OF THE TRAINING PROGRAMME, EXPERIENCE OF TEACHING AND INFORMAL EVENTS ............................... 25

4.3 OTHER AVENUES OF INFORMAL LEARNING .................................................................................................... 27

4.4 TEACHING AND MANAGING A CLASSROOM ................................................................................................... 29

4.5 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE VOLUNTEERS’ EXPERIENCE ..................................................................................... 31

4.6 TEACHING COMPETENCIES ......................................................................................................................... 33

4.7 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH WORKING WITH MAKE A DIFFERENCE ........................................................ 35

SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 37

5 CONCLUDING DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND REFLECTION..................................................... 38

5.1 CONCLUDING DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................... 38

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE ............................................................................................... 39

5.3 FUTURE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................... 40

5.4 REFLECTION ............................................................................................................................................ 40

6 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 42

7 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... 46

APPENDIX A: SUMMARY OF ALL INTERVIEWS .............................................................................................................. 46

APPENDIX B: AN EXCERPT OF AN INTERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 47

V

List of Tables

TABLE 2:1 FORMAL AND INFORMAL LEARNING ..................................................................................................... 7

TABLE 2:2 TYPES OF INFORMAL LEARNING .......................................................................................................... 8

TABLE 2:3 TESOL COMPETENCIES ................................................................................................................... 14

TABLE 4:1 MOTIVATIONS BEHIND VOLUNTEERING .............................................................................................. 24

TABLE 4:2 THE AVENUES OF INFORMAL LEARNING.............................................................................................. 27

TABLE 4:3 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE VOLUNTEERS EXPERIENCE ............................................................................ 31

TABLE 4:4 COMPETENCIES OF A MAKE A DIFFERENCE VOLUNTEER ........................................................................ 34

TABLE 4:5 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................................... 35

List of Figures

FIGURE 1.1 ORGANOGRAM OF MAKE A DIFFERENCE ............................................................................................. 2

FIGURE 1.2 FORMAL TRAINING PROCESS ............................................................................................................ 2

FIGURE 2.1 INFORMAL LEARNING ...................................................................................................................... 8

1

1 Introduction

―Most learning that is of relevance to work is not achieved through education or

training. The figure that comes out as a general average from all the research

studies is that at most 10-20 per cent of what makes a person effective comes from

education and training … Most work based learning is opportunistic and unplanned.

People learn from things as they happen.‖ - (Cunningham, Dawes, Bennett 2004, pp.

8, 9)

Cunningham et al. (2004) succinctly highlight the significance of informal learning in the

organisational context. However, informal learning experience has an equally pronounced

impact on personal development as well. Chetley and Vincent (2003, p. 5) put this aspect into

perspective, when they state as follows:

―Learning is not just about knowledge. It is also about skills, insights, beliefs, values,

attitudes, habits, feelings, wisdom, shared understandings and self-awareness.‖

Informal learning experience, its impact on the personal development and its utility for the

development of organisations has been central to a significant amount of research. However,

despite the enormous research in this particular area, voluntary sector youth organisations

remain a comparatively less explored territory.

This dissertation aims to study the impact of informal learning experience on the personal

development of volunteers of a youth organisation, Make a Difference.

1.1 About the organisation

Make a Difference is a voluntary organisation that is dedicated to teaching English to

underprivileged children in India. Presently, Make a Difference is operating in 24 cities in

India, and it is teaching to 4600 students. The volunteer strength of the organisation is

approximately 1500. The volunteers are either university students or young professionals.

The organisation is highly structuralised. Every city branch works at several centres. Each

class includes 5-10 students in most cases, and every class is taught by a pair of volunteers.

The centres have two or three weekly batches. These batches consist of 8-12 volunteers. A

batch is managed by a batch-head, who coordinates with the volunteers. Every centre further

has a centre-head. The centre-head coordinates all batches, and he or she is the link between

the organisation and the centre authorities. Every city has a core team that looks after the

functioning of Make a Difference in the given city. The Core team consists of “fellows”, who

manage different verticals such as Human Resources, Fund raising, Finance, Operations and

English Project (it includes training, as well). The core-team is headed by the city president.

2

The highest level of this hierarchy is the national core team, which is responsible for the

operations of the entire organisation.

Figure 1.1 Organogram of Make a Difference

Make a Difference has a very sophisticated mechanism of volunteers’ training.

Figure 1.2 Formal Training Process

The process starts with the orientation programme. Every individual aspiring to be a volunteer

goes through the orientation programme. In this event, they learn about the organization and

different projects undertaken by it. The orientation programme is followed by the recruitment

process. Once a volunteer is recruited, he or she goes through the process training. This

Orientation Programme

Recruitment Process Training Teachers’ and

Curriculum Training

Make a Difference

National Core Team

Centre Heads

Batch heads

Teacher

Volunteers

Admin

Volunteers

City Core Teams

3

programme covers the organization and projects in more detail. It introduces a volunteer to

different aspects of working with the organisation such as the logistics of being a Make a

Difference volunteer, volunteers’ responsibilities, internal reporting and the prospective career

path. This is attended by every new volunteer irrespective of his or her project or the

administrative profile. In addition to it, there is a specific training programme for teacher

volunteers. Teacher volunteers undergo three sessions that cover teacher and curriculum

training. The organisation is launching another layer to volunteers’ training from the academic

year 2012/13 i.e. a monthly booster training programme. This could be a physical or even an

e-module that will assess the pain-points faced by volunteers.

The formal training programmes of the organisation are indeed comprehensive. They are

accompanied by several avenues that facilitate informal learning for the volunteers. These

avenues are both organisational and individual in terms of their scope. The organisational level

avenues are events such as “all volunteers meeting” that is attended by all volunteers of a city

branch, and “centre circle time” that is attended by the volunteers of the given centre. These

events provide the volunteers with an opportunity to form networks. At these events, a

volunteer could find another person, who is facing a similar issue at the workplace, or someone

who has a solution for it. The informal learning experience on the individual level consists of

classroom teaching, other forms of communication with students and working with other

volunteers.

1.2 Subject

The experience of working with Make a Difference is a great learning experience for its

volunteers. This experience encompasses various significant aspects such as team work,

interactions with people from varied backgrounds, and teaching children that live in an entirely

different world and culture as compared to the volunteers. Such a multi-faceted experience is

likely to have a great impact on the volunteers of Make a Difference, especially as they are

young and in most cases students.

Hence it is a worthy endeavour to explore the real growth that a volunteer makes through

working with Make a Difference. This growth could denote the development of skills such as

leadership skills or communication skills. It could also manifest itself through the development

of personality traits such as confidence, empathy and patience.

The objectives of this dissertation, which are as following, are based on this backdrop.

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1.3 Objectives

This dissertation aims to achieve the following objectives.

1. To identify the ways, in which, the informal learning experience facilitates the

personal development of volunteers of Make a Difference.

2. To explore how the findings could be used for the organisational development of Make

a Difference through their utility for the processes such as recruitment and selection,

and training.

1.4 Importance and relevance of the research topic

This dissertation and its findings could prove to be significant in two ways.

Firstly, considering that Make a Difference is a young non-governmental organisation (NGO),

the findings of this study hold a substantial benefit to the organisation. NGOs are heavily

dependent on fundraising to finance their operations. It also puts a limitation on the funding

available for training and development purposes. Britton (2009), thus, suggests that NGOs

need to learn from their own experience to enhance their organisational learning.

The findings of this dissertation are grounded in the experience of individual volunteers. They

could help processes such as recruitment and selection or training and development

mechanisms, as it would enable the organisation to create a portfolio of qualities that are

essential to succeed as a Make a Difference volunteer, and qualities that develop through

working with the organisation. It would, in turn, assist the organisational development.

Secondly, this dissertation looks at a topic of informal learning of volunteers, which has been

relatively less discussed in the academic research. Schugurensky and Mündel (2005) cite that

learning is hardly ever the motive behind volunteering. Moreover due to the tacit quality of

informal learning, its connection with volunteering has never been fully explored. This

research gap could be attributed to the complexities associated with both informal learning and

volunteering, which are duly discussed in the next chapters of this dissertation.

1.5 A brief overview of the dissertation

This dissertation is a qualitative study, which uses inductive approach to explore the informal

learning of volunteers and its effect on their personal development. The research for this

dissertation was carried out by using the method of semi-structured interviews. A total of 16

interviews were conducted. The interviewees include teacher-volunteers from 14 city branches

and two members of the national core team.

5

The dissertation is divided in four further chapters.

The second chapter is a literature review. It provides a glimpse into the academic

literature, which encompasses dimensions such as informal learning, informal learning

and voluntary work, informal learning through teaching and the relationship between

informal learning and personal development.

The third chapter discusses the research methodology adopted for this study, and the

rationale behind it. It covers aspects such as the philosophical foundation of the study,

research approach and research strategy, research methodology and the research

methods, research sampling and the data collection.

The fourth chapter reveals the results of the interviews. It analyses the results, and also

compares them with the trends in literature that are cited in the second chapter.

The fifth and final chapter of the dissertation derives and discusses the conclusion of

the present study. The chapter also entails recommendations to the organisation,

implications for future research and author’s personal reflection.

Summary

Informal learning is an eminent aspect of organisational dynamics. It is not only a significant

source of organisational knowledge, but it also has a profound impact on the development of

individuals through the development of personal traits, attitudes and skills. In the context of

Make a Difference, the nature of the process of informal learning and its benefits becomes

multi-faceted, as it involves prominent dimensions such as volunteering and teaching.

The next chapter, which is the literature review, analyses these themes and relevant academic

literature in detail.

6

2 Literature review – A discussion on informal learning and

personal development of teachers in a voluntary organisation

Introduction

This literature review aims to explore informal learning and its effect on the personal

development of teachers in a voluntary organisation. In order to accomplish this, numerous

topics will be discussed in the following discourse. These topics shall be discussed under the

following four headings.

2.1 Learning – A Brief Overview

2.2 Informal Learning – Nature and Salient Features

2.3 English Teaching in the Indian Context

2.4 Informal Learning and Personal Development

The heading “Informal Learning – Nature and Salient Features” further includes two main

themes under the subheadings “informal learning in voluntary work” and “informal learning

through teaching”.

2.1 Learning – A brief Overview

This section provides a brief overview of learning and its primary forms. One could state

that learning is one of the fundamental processes of life, and the ability to learn is inherent

to human nature.

―Learning takes place everywhere on a college campus. In fact, learning arguably happens

everywhere—on city sidewalks, in airplanes, in restaurants, in bookstores, and on

playgrounds. Human beings—wherever they are—have the capacity to learn through their

experiences and reflections‖ - (Chism 2006, p. 2.2)

In simpler terms, learning is a process in which people attempt to make sense of their world.

However, the true nature of learning transcends this definition. As Hicks (2005) defines,

learning is a process that leads to new behaviour and actions or new understanding and

knowledge. Marsick and Watkins define learning in the following manner:

"Learning is the way in which individuals or groups acquire, interpret, reorganise, change or

assimilate a related cluster of information, skills and feelings. It is also a way in which people

construct meanings in their individual or organisational lives.‖- (Marsick & Watkins, 1990, p.

4)

The significance of learning can hardly be overstated. Learning is the primary source of

knowledge, and it is the bedrock of personal development. Therefore, an individual’s ability to

learn, and in turn to develop, has become crucial in the present environment that is marked by

uncertainty and intense competition, (Huczynski and Buchanan 2007). It is an environment, in

7

which organisations are dynamic and require employees to be innovative and adaptive,

(Pulkos, Arad, Donovan & Plamondon, 1999).

There are several avenues and situations in which people learn. They are categorised in two

principal forms of learning – formal learning and informal learning. Formal learning is a

“learning that occurs in an organised and structured environment (e.g. in an education or

training institution or on the job) and is explicitly designated as learning (in terms of

objectives, time or resources). Formal learning is intentional from the learner‘s point of view.

It typically leads to validation and certification‖, (Cedefop 2008, p. 85). Informal learning, on

the other hand, is a self-directed process, which is typically described as being undertaken on

our own, either individually or collectively, without either externally imposed criteria or the

presence of an institutionally authorized instructor, (Lucas and Moreira, 2009). According to

Garrick (1998), informal learning is predominantly experiential and non-institutional.

Schugurensky distinguishes informal learning from formal learning on the following basis.

Table 2:1

Formal Learning Informal Learning

a. Institutionalised a. Non-Institutional, but could be

organised

b. Includes a period of compulsory basic

education

b. personal activity that could be life-long

c. Prominent Role of Teachers/Trainers c. A personal initiative that could be

externally guided

d. Involves a reward of certification at

completion

d. In most cases there is no formal

recognition

Source: (Schugurensky 2000, p. 1)

2.2 Informal learning

This section discusses the process of informal learning. It offers an overview of existing

research on the informal learning, informal learning in voluntary work and informal learning

through teaching.

Informal learning is defined in many ways by academia. One could describe informal learning

as a process, in which, an individual learns from actions, experiences and interactions.

Informal learning is a ―learning resulting from daily activities related to work, family or

leisure. It is not intended or structured in terms of objectives, time or learning support.

Informal learning is in most cases unintentional from the learner‘s perspective. –

informal learning outcomes do not usually lead to certification but may be validated and

certified in the framework of recognition of prior learning schemes; informal learning is

also referred to as experiential or incidental/random learning‖, (Cedefop 2008, p. 93).

8

According to Eraut (2004), informal learning is on the job learning. It draws attention to the

learning that takes place in the spaces surrounding activities and events with a more overt

formal purpose, and which takes place in a much wider variety of settings than formal

education or training. Marsick and Watkins (1990), however, offer a differing point view.

They distinguish between non-intentional and intentional forms of informal learning. They

refer to unintentional informal learning as incidental learning. The primary difference being

that informal learning could be deliberately encouraged and arranged as opposed to incidental

learning, which is a subconscious process of learning from daily experiences.

The following diagram illustrates the nature and the scope of informal learning, and it

highlights the primary distinctions between informal learning and formal learning.

Figure 2.1

As the above diagram suggests, informal learning could be either intentional or unintentional

in nature. Various academics, however, have categorised informal learning in various further

forms. Schugurensky (2000) identifies three prominent forms of informal learning.

Table 2:2

Form Intentionality Awareness of the process

Self-directed Yes Yes

Incidental No Yes

Socialisation No No

Source: (Schugurensky 2000, p. 3)

Learning

Informal Learning

Intentional

Self-Directed (for e.g. Communities of

practices)

Non-Intentional

Incidental learning, Socialisation

Formal Learning

Intentional and Institutional

Classroom teaching, training programmes

9

Self-directed informal learning refers to learning projects undertaken by an individual, and

which might involve a presence of a guide or supervisor. Incidental learning refers to the

learning that takes place unintentionally. However, after such a learning experience, the learner

is aware of the experience and its outcome. Socialisation (also referred to as tacit learning)

refers to the internalization of values, attitudes, behaviours, skills, etc. that occur during

everyday life. This process is both unintentional and subconscious, (Schugurensky 2000).

Fox (2005, p. 87) identifies five types of informal learning, which are relatively spontaneous

and cognitive in nature.

a. Learning through imitation (For e.g. the system 'sitting next to Nellie' in which a

newcomer sat next to, observed and subsequently tried to emulate a skilled operator,

(Hunt 2004))

b. Habituation and perceptual learning (for e.g., recognising voices, places or faces,

adaption of actions and management of skilled movements)

c. Learning association between events (a cognitive connection between two similar

events or experiences)

d. Informal problem solving (Learning through trials and errors)

e. Implicit learning (unintentional, subconscious learning that leads to tacit skills)

The eight forms of informal learning mentioned above are varied in nature; however they have

three elements in common that are experiences, actions and the reflection. Together they

represent the two prominent dimensions of the informal learning process, which are

experiential learning and action learning. Beard and Wilson (2006 p. 19) define experiential

learning as ―the sense-making process of active engagement between the inner world of the

person and the outer world of the environment". They deem experiential learning to be the

underpinning process of all forms of learning. Action learning is a comparatively formalized

learning process. It is based on a premise that neither action nor learning could exist in the

absence of one another. In action learning, the task is used as the vehicle of learning by the

organisations, (Marsick & O’Neil, 1999). In essence, it could be said that informal learning

includes learning while performing a specific action, and then learning through reflecting upon

its experience.

Informal learning has its own share of strengths and limitations. Schulz and Roßnagel (2010)

highlight that in the case of non-intentional informal learning; it might not even be recognised

by people as a learning experience. Hence, it becomes a daunting task to identify, and then, to

capitalise on the Informal learning of individuals. According to Collis and Margaryan (2005),

informal learning lacks a mechanism that would enable it to be stretched beyond one’s

particular task. However they also go on to add that the informal learning could be directly

relevant to one’s task, and it could be tested in practice as the learning occurs. Secondly,

informal learning satisfies some learning needs that cannot be satisfied with formal training

10

programmes. It allows an individual to imbibe skills that cannot be taught, (Sonnentag,

Niessen and Ohly, 2008).

It becomes apparent on such a backdrop that informal learning is a vital component of

organisational life. It encompasses several aspects of an individual’s environment such as the

relationship with colleagues, job-role functions and social interaction, etc. Coffield (2000)

draws an analogy of an iceberg to explain the significant scope of informal learning. He deems

formal learning to be the tip of the iceberg, and considers informal learning to be the

submerged two thirds. Tannenbaum, Beard, McNall and Salas (2009) assert that informal

learning is at least as important as formal learning in organisations if not more.

Informal learning has become even more significant in the event of the economic downturn. In

the wake of recession, there has been an increasing trend in organisations towards reducing the

expenditure on learning and development policies. CIPD’s annual survey report on learning

and talent development (2012) reveals that the median annual training budget per employee in

the United Kingdom reduced to £276 from £350 in 2010/2011. The organisations are turning

towards learning programmes, which are informal in nature. The survey shows that the

popularity of learning mechanisms such as internal knowledge-sharing events has been on a

consistent rise in the past few years of recession. One of the popular forms of internal

knowledge sharing is communities of practice. Communities of practice are groups of people

with a common concern or a passion for something they do. These people interact regularly,

and thus, learn how to do it better, (Wenger 1998).

There are two ways, in which, organisations have attempted to ameliorate the informal

learning of its employees. The first and more common approach has been to formalize the

activities, that is, to officially sanction and structure them. It represents espoused and

sanctioned practices of organizations. A second, less common approach has been to

restructure the organizational environment so that it is more conducive to self-initiated

engagement in these types of learning activities. This approach nurtures naturally occurring

practices of emergent or existing communities of practice in organizations, which are seldom

recognized by the organization. Learners construct their own understanding out of entities such

as ambient social and physical circumstances and histories and social relations of the people

involved, (Lohman 2000).

Livingstone (2001), in a survey of informal learning of Canadian adults, highlights four

avenues of informal learning.

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a. Employment-related informal learning activity

b. House work-related informal learning activity

c. Other general interests-related informal learning activity

d. Community voluntary work-related informal learning activity

Employment related informal learning takes place through activities such as new job tasks,

keeping up with job-related knowledge, communication skills and new technology etc. House

work-related activities include household work, child-care, gardening, maintenance etc. Other

interests consist of activities such as social and political issues, hobbies and sports. The fourth

sphere of informal learning is community voluntary work-related activities, (Livingstone

2001).

2.2.1 Informal learning in voluntary work

―In many respects, volunteer activities represent the most intriguing form of helping.

Volunteers actively seek out opportunities to help. Rather than being pressed into service

by circumstance or fate, they may deliberate long and hard about the decision to get

involved, about the extent of their involvement, and about the degree to which different

volunteer opportunities suit them.‖ - (Snyder 1994, p. 164)

Bussell and Forbes (2002, p. 4) define voluntary work as a work that “―involves contributions

of time without coercion or remuneration‖. They describe a volunteer as someone who

donates time and efforts for a social good or for a non-profit organisation in non-emergency

situations. Snyder (1994) points out three prominent personality traits of the people who

volunteer.

a. social responsibility

b. nurturance

c. empathy

People who volunteer have different underlying motivations behind their decision. Houle,

Sagarin and Kaplan (2005, p. 338) highlight six such motivational factors.

a. Values (social awareness)

b. Understanding (A desire for learning and personal development)

c. Career (to enhance job prospects)

d. Social (for social interaction, recognition from others or due to peer pressure)

e. Protective function (to reduce the guilt of “being privileged”)

f. Esteem (to enhance self-esteem, self-confidence)

They further suggest that volunteers tend to choose the work that suites their motives.

Irrespective of the nature of work, voluntary work is a significant source of informal learning.

The research conducted by NALL (New Approaches to Lifelong Learning research network,

Canada) found that there is a much stronger association between community volunteer work

time and community-related informal learning as compared to paid employment time and job-

12

related informal learning. It supports the notion that informal learning is more effective when it

is self-directed, (Schugurensky and Mündel, 2005).

The connection between learning and voluntary work is relatively less explored. Apart from

the formal training programmes offered by an organisation, the learning in voluntary work is

seldom identified. Schugurensky and Mündel (2005, p. 1006) put it succinctly when they say,

―For reasons probably related to the invisibility and the tacit character of informal learning,

the connection between learning and volunteering is mostly perceived as a one-way street.‖

They further state that volunteering is rarely motivated by explicit educational motives.

Therefore, volunteers generally perceive their actions as “doing” rather than “learning”.

Another aspect that poses a challenge to assessment of learning in voluntary work is its

“voluntary” nature. The participation in community volunteer work is a matter of choice.

Hence, despite the popularity of volunteering, the number of dedicated volunteers remains low.

Livingston (2001, p. 13) states, ―this (voluntary) is the most discretionary type of work in

advanced industrial societies and many people simply choose to opt out.‖

Livingstone (2001), however, also identifies a few avenues in which people learn through

voluntary work. These avenues include interpersonal activities, communications, social issues,

the application of organizational/managerial skills, fund raising and other technical skills.

2.2.2 Informal Learning and Teaching

There is a strong connection between informal learning and teaching, as teaching consists of

several dimensions such as interpersonal relationships, social interactions and the learning

itself.

Informal learning of teachers could occur through talking and sharing materials with other

teachers, through searching the Internet for instructional content, and through experimenting

with new instructional strategies, (Lohman, 2000). Teachers belong to more than one

community of practices at once such as colleagues and students. Informal learning can occur

easily through such a pattern of overlapping memberships. A school, in essence, encompasses

a “constellation” of communities of practice. It, therefore, creates a rich web of relationships

and interactions that effectively facilitates informal learning of teachers, (Printy 2008 ).

Another significant way of teachers’ informal learning is formal and/or informal induction

programmes for new teachers. Formal induction programmes are those, which are organised

by the authorities. Informal induction programmes are arranged by senior and experienced

teachers, (Sacilotto-Vasylenko 2010). Sacilotto-Vasylenko (2010, p. 130) further cites four

methods used during the teacher’s induction in Québec, which could be called as the best

practices for the facilitation of teachers’ informal learning.

13

a. Individual meetings between beginners and experienced teachers

b. Mentoring or the choice of a “resource person

c. Discussion groups

d. A network of mutual aid

These four mechanisms could pave a way for a few aforementioned forms of informal learning

such as self-directed informal learning, learning through imitation and socialisation. Senior

(2007, p. 65) puts it into perspective while quoting a language teacher:

―You listened to people around you and thought to yourself, ‗Gosh is that really what

they do?‘ I always reflected and I thought, ‗This is the way I‘d want to do it.‘ I didn‘t

necessarily want to copy them exactly.‖

There are several factors, which have a great impact on the informal learning of teachers.

These factors are both intrinsic and environmental in nature.

Garrick (1998) claims that one’s social standing has a pronounced influence over informal

learning, and how it would shape one’s identity and one’s interpretations of the reality.

Teachers, in particular, have a strong professional and social identity. Teachers are looked

upon as a figure to look up to. However, such perceptions may not always be compatible with

the personality of a teacher. Dehli and Fumia (2002) argue that the conflict between normative

voice and resistive voice shapes up the learning and personal development of a teacher. The

normative voice denotes the ideal image of what a teacher should be. The resistive voice, on

the other hand, represents one’s own personal convictions and beliefs.

According to Boud and Middleton (2003), the informal learning process is influenced by three

external factors:

a. Mastery over the task

b. Relationships with colleagues (in case of teachers, it includes students, as well)

c. Ascent of atypical issues

Lohman (2000) cites four following environmental factors that affect the informal learning of

teachers:

a. Lack of time for learning

b. Increasing number of students with special needs,

c. Increasing non-teaching responsibilities and lack of proximity to learning resources

d. The learning resources (department offices, classrooms of other teachers, libraries and

computer labs)

These above mentioned seven factors determine the scope for opportunities of informal

learning. They also define the learning capability of a teacher, for e.g. with a better grasp on

teaching, a teacher could deal with atypical issues in a better way.

14

2.3 English Teaching in the Context of Make a Difference

Two themes shall briefly be discussed in this section, which are essential in comprehending the

context of Make a Difference. These themes are the Direct Method of language teaching and

the primary competencies of English language teachers.

Direct Method

Crandall (1997) points out that that in a country like India English is the primary language of

education for just a few students, whereas it remains the second language for the rest. In case

of the latter group, the direct method of language teaching is often applied, in which pupils are

taught through and instructed in the second language. The underlying belief is that non-native

languages, akin to native languages, could be learned without translations and detailed

explanations. Proponents of this method also argue that by being aided with actions or images

when necessary, the learner could acquire a second language naturally and directly, (Mackey

2006).

English teaching Competencies

Teaching English to students, for whom English is the second language, requires various

competencies on the part of teachers. TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other

Languages, Inc.) has long worked on identifying the core competencies that are essential for

becoming a good English teacher. The following table enlists the competencies that teachers

should be endowed with. These competencies are identified by TESOL Australia and New

Zealand.

Table 2:3

Competencies

a. Know their subject content and how to teach that content to students

b. Know their students and how they learn

c. Plan, assess and report for effective learning

d. Communicate effectively with students

e. Create and maintain safe and challenging learning environments through the use of

classroom management skills

f. Continually improve their professional knowledge and practice

g. Be actively engaged members of their profession and the wider community

Source: (Murray 2009, p. 20)

The nature of these competencies also sheds light on another aspect of teachers’, which is their

personal attributes. Personal attributes of a teacher could comprise of various factors, for e.g.

15

skills such as communication skills, a knack for building relationships, a trait such as

motivation and the self-directed behaviour.

The importance of teachers’ personal development is only magnified on such a backdrop.

2.4 Informal learning and personal development

Informal learning shares a significant relationship with the development of an individual. This

section aims to explore this relationship.

The research, which is cited in previous sections, highlights that informal learning covers

many aspects of individual life such as experiences, actions and social interactions. Such a

multi-faceted nature of informal learning has an equally diverse effect on the development of

an individual. It is usually manifested in the development of attitudes, behavioural traits and

skills. It could also translate into the expansion of vistas. The following examples of teachers,

which are provided by the existing research, are apt in the context.

―Beginning teaching means that many of these new teachers are ‗learning‘ about the

wider world that some children actually inhabit, lives in which one ‗broke down in tears‘

and in which some are ‗carers in their homes‘.‖ – (McNally 2006, p. 86)

McNally (2006) in his research found that a teacher begins to develop both sympathetic and

empathetic behaviours after beginning to teach. The confidence in one’s own skills is

developed gradually, as well. Once teachers become experienced and self-assured, it further

leads to the development of several attributes of teaching. Borg (2003) argues that as language

teachers gain more experience they gain more insight into the nuances of language. They

concern themselves less about class control issues, and in turn, they are able to improvise more

effectively. The teaching experience, in this case, cultivates the decision-making skills of

teachers.

The role of informal learning in the personal development of teachers is, however, not limited

to the development of confidence and related skills. Fox (2005) states that teachers develop

more effective communication skills. They learn how to ask good questions and how to deal

with students’ doubts. It enables them to demonstrate and apply their knowledge sans any

inhibitions, and that enhances their capability to deal with atypical issues. They begin to be

more open towards and more apt at experimentation. They can recognise when their class is

losing its direction and focus. It nurtures an acute sense of judgement, as their ability to assess

and recognise the learning improves.

In case of informal learning in a voluntary work, the personal development results in the

development of a few attributes such as personal confidence, empowerment, making

16

constructive relationships, organizational learning, and the ability and willingness to shoulder

responsibility, (Schugurensky and Mündel, 2005). Schugurensky and Mündel (2005) further

cite Ilsley (1990), who discovered that informal learning in voluntary work leads to

social/expressive learning and critical reflection learning. Social/expressive learning refers to

communication, trust, respect, compassion, and openness. This learning results from the

experiential learning of volunteers. Critical reflection signifies an ability to introspect and

deliberately analysing one’s own politics, values, and priorities as well as those of the society.

The non-intentional learning experience leads to the development of tacit skills. However, it

has been already cited that due to its unintentional and at times tacit nature, the learner fails to

recognise the learning process, (Schulz and Roßnagel, 2010). The personal development in

such cases could not even be recognised. Cedefop (2009) however maintains that the

identification and validation of non‑formal and informal adult learning can address the

problem of invisibility and help adults become more conscious of their broader, personal

knowledge, skills and competencies. It could play a pivotal role in the development of

individuals. However, for this to happen, the distinct voluntary nature of this process must be

maintained.

A significant aspect of personal development through informal learning and tacit skills is the

appropriation of experiences and the rationalisation of tacit skills. Anderson, Boud and Cohen

(1995) assert that “the ultimate goal of experiential learning involves the learner‘s own

appropriation of something that is to them personally significant and meaningful (sometimes

spoken in terms of the learning being ‗true to the lived experience of learners‘),‖ (1995, p.

208). A prevalent stance in the second language teaching, however, suggests that this aspect

may well hinder the development of teachers, as teachers ground their understanding of

teaching and learning in their experiences as a teacher and as a learner. In the absence of

formal training programmes, this kind of experiential learning is insufficient or even

detrimental in the development of teachers’ acumen, (Johnson and Golombek, 2011).

Summary

The diverse academic literature cited above elucidates that the informal learning is a multi-

faceted and an intricate process. It underlines the pervading effect of informal learning on the

personal development of individuals, which takes place through social interactions,

experiences and the reflection.

In case of teachers, they learn through the experience of teaching, through the complex web of

relationships existent in schools. Such a learning experience has a profound impact their

personal development, as it leads to the development of various traits and skills such as

17

confidence, empathy and effective communication skills. When it comes to the voluntary

work, volunteers learn through wider social settings. They learn from the people they work

with, and they learn from the people they serve. The informal learning of volunteers leads to

the development of skills and traits such as inter-personal skills, compassion and ability to

shoulder responsibilities.

However, it should be noted that despite its significant role informal learning requires formal

learning for appropriate directions and structures. Secondly, the abstract nature of informal

learning makes it difficult to identify, to verbalise, and in turn, to capitalise on the learning

experience.

On such a backdrop, the next chapter discusses the research methodology adopted for this

dissertation, the logic behind it and its limitations.

18

3 Research Methodology

Introduction

The complex nature of the process of informal learning is amply demonstrated by the literature

review. However, it is also reflected in the varied research methodologies adopted by the past

research. Livingstone (2001) cites few of the earliest empirical studies of informal learning and

their respective methodologies. Allen Tough opted for the interview-based case study

approach for his studies of adults’ self-directed learning, which took place in late 1960’s.

Patrick Penland (1979), in what would be the first large scale national level study of informal

learning, carried out an interview based survey, (Livingstone, 2001). Lohman (2000) carried

out a qualitative study of teachers’ informal learning, which is prominently cited in the

literature review. She carried out semi-structured interviews of 22 teachers with a minimum

teaching experience of three years.

The research methodology for this study was designed after considering this backdrop and the

scope and limitations of the present study. This chapter offers an overview of the chosen

research methodology, and it explains the rationale behind the decision, as well. It is discussed

under the following headings:

3.1 Research Approach and Methodology

3.2 Research Methods

3.3 Research Sampling and Data Collection

3.4 Limitations of Research

3.1 Research Approach and Methodology

The philosophical foundation of this dissertation lies in the idea of social constructionism.

Social constructionism focuses on the way people make sense of the world especially through

sharing their experiences with others via the medium of language, (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe

and Lowe, 2002). The social constructionist approach further states that every person perceives

the world differently and actively creates their own meanings from the event, (Burr 2003).

The nature of informal learning aptly reflects this ideology. The process of informal learning

and the subsequent development of tacit skills is a deeply personal and contextual experience,

(Lam 2000). In this process, it is very much possible for two individuals to draw different

learning outcomes from the same learning experience. Every individual has a unique way of

experiencing, understanding and interpreting the process of informal learning. Therefore, it is

very difficult to generalise it. In such a scenario, one cannot form any hypothesis to guide the

investigation of this process.

19

The dissertation was carried out by adopting the inductive approach. The inductive approach

does not focus on generalising data; it rather acknowledges the value of deep and personal

accounts. It involves observation and investigation of the relationship between meanings and

actions. There are no presumptions about categorisation or measurement of the data. This

approach accepts the significance of situations and contexts. It attempts to understand the

rationale behind and the purposive nature of human decisions. The goal of this approach is to

build a credible explanation of behaviours that have been investigated, (Anderson 2009).

The research strategy of this study exhibits some characteristics of the case study research

strategy. Case study research focuses on the dynamics which are present in a single setting. It

could be a study of single organisation or of several organisations with similar properties. Case

studies typically involve a combination of research methods such as interviews and

questionnaires. The data could be either qualitative or quantitative or both, (Eisenhardt 1989).

This dissertation studies the single organisation. The participants share similar settings of the

workplace. However, this study does not satisfy one requirement of the typical case study,

which is the combination of research methods. This dissertation was carried out by using a

single method of research, and the data produced is that of only qualitative nature.

The research methodology used in this dissertation is the qualitative methodology. Although

quantitative methods of research such as questionnaire surveys or structured interviews could

have offered a great deal of data, their utility for this study was diminished by the nature of

informal learning. The experience of informal learning is unique to every individual, and it is

also contextual. Research questions in such a case have deeper answers than a simple ―Yes‖ or

―No”, and which could not be bracketed under predetermined categories.

3.2 Research Methods

The two prominent qualitative research methods, which were also the relevant choices for this

study, were focus groups and qualitative interviews.

The focus group is an effective method of the qualitative research, in which participants are

involved in a group interview that is moderated by the researcher. In this method, the accent is

upon constructing a joint meaning through the interaction within the group, (Bryman and Bell,

2011). This method allows participants to share own experiences, and to compare them with

others. Despite its advantages, this method was not employed in this dissertation. The primary

reason behind not opting for a focus group lied in the geographical limitation as participants

were located in different cities of India. The other reason was another aspect of the informal

learning experience. Due to its tacit quality and the personal nature, it is difficult to share the

experience with others outside the team, (Endres, Endres , Chowdhury and Alam, 2007).

20

The other method, which was adopted for the purpose of this study, is qualitative interviews.

Bryman and Bell (2011) deem interviews to be the most widely employed qualitative method

of research. While highlighting the foremost advantage of qualitative interviews, Easterby-

Smith et al. (2002, p. 86-87) quote Burgess (1982:107) as following:

―(The interview) is… the opportunity for the researcher to probe deeply to uncover new

clues, open up new dimensions of a problem and to secure vivid, accurate inclusive

accounts that are based on personal experience‖

Easterby-Smith et al. (2002) further state that qualitative interviews help to understand how

people construct the reality of their situations based on the complex framework of beliefs and

values. As Bryman and Bell (2011) underline, qualitative interviews offer rich and detailed

answers from the interviewees. It gives insight into what the interviewee perceives as relevant

and important. It offers a certain amount of flexibility in accord with the response of

interviewees.

Along with its aforementioned advantages, the main reason behind opting for interviews was

its suitability with the personal and contextual nature of informal learning. In this method, the

Interviewer has an opportunity to gain the trust of interviewees through personal interactions.

There is a scope for prompting and probing the interviewee to make him or her reflect on

different experiences.

Qualitative interviews could be either unstructured or semi-structured. However, only semi-

structured interviews will be used in this study. The primary reason behind using semi-

structured interviews was that the scope of this study encompassed prominent and somewhat

abstract themes such as informal learning, its role in volunteering and teaching, and the

consequent personal development of volunteers. Interviews, in this case, needed well-defined

guiding questions that would act as a hedge to ensure that an interview does not lose its track.

On the other hand, it also required a significant amount of probing by the interviewer to obtain

maximum information from the participants. It mirrors what in the opinion of Bryman and Bell

(2011) is the main advantage of semi-structured interviews. They state that semi structured

interviews provide the essential structure of research to the interviewer, while offering a great

deal of leeway to the interviewee in terms of responses.

3.3 Research Sample and Data Collection

Irrespective of its nature, the success of interviews depends upon the selection of the sample

(interviewees).

21

There are two methods of selecting the research sample, which are probability sampling and

non-probability sampling. In probability sampling, the sample is randomly selected without

any systematic bias. This method is significant, when the endeavour is to generalise findings of

large-scale research. In non-probability sampling, the sample is chosen deliberately. It is

predominantly used when the population is small, and the research is qualitative, (Schutt

2008). This study, given its small and scattered population, inductive approach and the

qualitative nature, opted for the non-probability sampling.

The selection of interviewees for this dissertation borrows the elements of purposive sampling

and quota sampling.

Purposive sampling is selected for a purpose. It could be a study of key personnel. In this

sampling it is preferred if the informant is knowledgeable about the experience that is being

researched. Quota sampling aims to ensure that the sample represents certain categories in

proportion to their prevalence in the population, (Engel and Schutt, 2005).

Since the study deals with unravelling the experience of teaching for the organisation, the

interviewees were selected on the basis of their position and their experience. The interviewees

included the CEO of the organisation and the director of the English project. Their inclusion

was based on the premise that they could offer the panoramic view of the organisation and its

experience. The rest of the interviewees included teacher-volunteers with the teaching

experience of a minimum of one academic year. The reason behind this criterion was that the

informal learning experience needs some time to translate into substantial and recognisable

personal development. Based on this criterion, the interviewees in this study included one

volunteer from each of the 14 city branches of Make A Difference that have been functioning

for at least one year. 5 out of these 14 volunteers were core team members of their city

branches. These included two city presidents, two vice presidents for human resources and one

vice president for operations. There was an inclusion of one centre head, as well. The

participants were recommended by the organisation.

The interviews were either conducted telephonically or via Skype according to the preference

of the Participant. The primary advantage of these interview methods is their wide

geographical access, (Opdenakker 2006). That was precisely the reason behind opting for these

two interview methods, as the interviewer and interviewees reside in two different countries.

Prior to the interview process, one pilot open ended questionnaire was administered to gauge

the scope and answerability of questions. Its result led to some modifications of interview

questions. It also reemphasised the need for probing by the interviewer during interviews.

22

Given the abstract nature of this topic, the participants were provided with the guiding

questions in advance. The main reason behind this decision was the inherent quality of

informal learning and the consequent development of tacit qualities that makes it difficult to

formalise and communicate the process. Even senior professionals find it to be a daunting task

to verbalise this experience (Nonaka & Krogh, 2009). In such a scenario, young volunteers

would have found it extremely difficult to provide an impromptu account of their experience

accurately.

The interview process adopted a small element of grounded theory research approach to ensure

effective data collection and analysis. In a grounded theory approach, interviews are often

taken in a set of a few interviews. The data is analysed at the end of each set. It allows the

interviewer to assess and to improvise on the interview process, and thus, to not miss any

salient aspect of the research topic, (Corbin and Strauss, 1990).

3.4 Limitations of Research

This dissertation was carried out by using full qualitative methodology, and only one research

method i.e. semi-structured interviews was used. Therefore, data analysis was entirely subject

to the interpretation of the interviewer, who has previously been a part of the organisation. It

may have affected the objectivity of the study to an extent.

Three limitations of this research are associated with the sampling and the interview process.

As mentioned above, the participants were recommended by the organisation. It is, thus,

possible that the participants were more inclined towards the management perspective.

Secondly, the interviewees were provided with guiding questions prior to the interview. It

raises a possibility that a few participants would have attempted to come up with the ideal

answer instead of the honest answer. Third limitation is associated with the nature of

telephonic and online interviews. In case of telephonic interviews and audio Skype interviews,

the interviewer missed out on clues that are provided by the body language of interviewees,

which are often helpful in effective probing and overall analysis.

A general limitation of this study lies with generalizability of the results. The settings and

dynamics of the organisation are unique. Therefore, the results are not universally applicable in

its entirety.

Summary

This dissertation is a qualitative study of a single organisation, which used only one method of

research i.e. qualitative semi-structured interviews. The interviewees included purposefully

23

selected volunteers with substantial teaching experience. These interviews were carried out

telephonically or via Skype.

The endeavour was to explore the relation between volunteers’ informal learning and the

consequent personal development by tapping into their experiences and their respective

interpretations of those experiences. The next chapter discusses the findings and the results of

these interviews.

24

4 Results and Findings

Introduction

This chapter will explore the salient findings of semi-structured qualitative interviews that

were carried out for the purpose of this dissertation.

This chapter will be divided in seven subheadings that are based on the interview questions

relating to respective aspects of this study. These subheadings are sequenced in such a way

that they cover different stages of volunteers’ informal learning and consequent personal

development. These sections include volunteers’ motivation behind joining the organisation,

role of training, experience and informal events, other avenues of informal learning, the

experience of teaching and managing a classroom, factors that influence volunteers’ overall

experience, prerequisite qualities of Make a Difference teachers, and volunteers’ personal

development.

4.1 Motivations behind the Decision to Volunteer

An individual’s learning from a particular task often depends upon the motive behind

performing that task. In the case of Make a Difference volunteers, this motive relates to their

decision to volunteer for a work that involves teaching young children.

The following table enlists different reasons provided by the interviewees. The table also

consists of motivational factors that Houle, Sagarin, and Kaplan (2005) put forward in their

research, and which are already referred to in the literature review.

Table 4:1

Academic Literature Interview Findings

a. Values (social awareness) a. A desire to contribute to the society

b. a desire to do something constructive

b. Understanding (A desire for learning

and personal development)

-

c. Career (to enhance job prospects) -

d. Social (for social interaction,

recognition from others or due to peer

pressure)

c. presence or recommendation of

friends or siblings

e. Protective function (to reduce the guilt

of “being privileged”)

-

f. Esteem (to enhance self-esteem, self-

confidence)

-

- d. A desire for teaching and a desire to

contribute towards education

25

A desire to contribute to the society and a desire to do something constructive was the most

common reason provided by the interviewees. This was followed by the social reasons that are

either a recommendation by a friend or a sibling, or their presence in the organisation. A

couple of volunteers suggested that they opted to volunteer because of their aptitude for

teaching or their wish to contribute towards the education of children. No interviewee stated

that they joined the organisation for personal development purposes or for the enhancement of

career prospects.

One of the senior volunteers, while emphasising that personal development of volunteers

depends on the reason as to why they joined in the first place, conceded the following:

―The thing is that most of the volunteers come to MAD because their friends suggest

them to. There are people, who are here for the certificate. There are very few people

who come with the inclination of working.‖

Although his remarks are not very consistent with the main findings of this study, they

nonetheless acknowledge that some people do join the organisation to boost their career

prospects by gaining a certificate. These results also confirmed the argument of Schugurensky

and Mündel (2005), where they assert that volunteering is seldom motivated by educational or

learning purposes, and thus, the process of volunteering is seen as “doing” rather than

“learning”.

4.2 The Role of the Training programme, Experience of Teaching and

Informal Events

Role of training programmes and the actual experience of teaching

The interviewees were asked about the way in which training programmes and the overall

experience of teaching shape their development as a teacher.

Volunteers asserted that training plays a very important role for them. The organisation has a

systematic formal training programme that includes three sessions of teachers’ training and

curriculum training. Answers indicated that these sessions serve three significant purposes for

volunteers via imparting some transferrable skills. It gives them an idea as to how to take a

class, and it teaches them the basics of class management. It helps in understanding different

roles that a teacher is supposed to perform. And thirdly, it helps volunteers to deal with

problems associated with the second language teaching. One of the interviewees, while

explaining the language problem they faced, stated the following:

―It was a challenge, I would say. These people never understood a word that we spoke

in English. It took us double time since we had to speak in vernacular, and then

26

translate it. But our trainer, she managed it, and gradually it all came on the right

track.‖

Although volunteers acknowledged the significance of training, they also emphasised on the

role of experience. The following statement by the volunteer from Pune echoes the opinion of

Sonnentag, Niessen and Ohly (2008) that informal learning satisfies some learning needs that

cannot be satisfied with formal training programmes.

―However, Then I won‘t say training teaches you everything. Because once you start

teaching at your centre, the actual learning begins. It begins when you start interacting

with children. There is a vast difference between training in an air conditioned room,

and teaching in a room without any blackboard, chair to sit or even chalks.‖

Shruthi, however, said that experience does not necessarily make one a good teacher. She had

the following to say:

―I wouldn‘t say so. It is not necessary that an experienced volunteer would be a good

teacher. At times even a new volunteer can prove to be a good teacher. For example,

recently during my class, a new volunteer did a very good job of managing a

classroom. May be he just has a knack for it. On the other hand, I had better

knowledge and understanding of children. This aspect comes from experience, may be.

You begin to understand and know your students better‖

A general consensus was that the training and experience both go together. A volunteer, who

had a significant experience of teaching, elaborated on how both experience and introduction

of training helped her to become a better teacher.

‖It‘s been three years. So, every year has been an improvement on the earlier one. So

in the beginning, I was sort of doing what I was asked to. I was just going to my classes

every week. After that, there were improvements in MAD itself; it added training and

other things. So, that really helped. By the second year, I was trying out a lot more

things in class. I was trying to make sure that the class was more effective and

interesting”

In summation, experience, according to interviewees, helps one to improvise and to understand

their children better. However, they also noted that one needs training to get the most out of

the experience, as training provides the necessary directions.

The role of informal events

Sacilotto-Vasylenko (2010) argued that informal events could provide teachers with four

opportunities for informal learning, which are individual meetings between beginners and

experienced teachers, mentoring or the choice of a “resource person, discussion groups and a

network of mutual aid.

27

The informal events in Make a Difference such as AVMs (all volunteers’ meeting) and CCTs

(centre circle time) also provide all these four opportunities. Volunteers stated that these events

give them an opportunity to meet new people, and it broadens the scope of their learning.

These events give new volunteers an opportunity to connect with senior volunteers, and share

their experiences. The following two quotations from two volunteers sum it up.

“Obviously, when you meet different people from different places, and after facing

different set of children gather, and when they share their experiences, it broadens your

knowledge and scope of learning things.”

“We have a lot of problems like centre related problems, problems related to children.

So here the new volunteers get to talk to experienced volunteers, who know how to

handle these issues, who could identify if a student is learning or not.”

However one of city presidents, while talking about the significance of these events,

underlined one significant benefit that transcends the professional aspect.

―The thing about teaching or voluntary programme is that sometimes a volunteer

might lose steam. Since it involves teaching young kids, it can get frustrating at the end

of it … (these events) help volunteers to recharge their batteries, otherwise it becomes

very difficult to keep going for the class week after week if you are facing problems. So

when you make friends within the organisation, then even though you might feel not up

to it, even though you might want to just give it up, the influence of your friends can

hold you back in the one weak moment that you might have.‖

Formal training programmes, the actual experience of teaching and informal events are the

three premier sources of learning for volunteers. These ways do not only cover the professional

aspect of teaching, but they also influence the identity and social life of volunteers.

4.3 Other Avenues of Informal Learning

There are various avenues, in which, a Make a Difference volunteer learns informally. Some of

these avenues are related to voluntary work and some are related to teaching.

Table 4:2

Informal learning through volunteering Informal learning through teaching

a. Ground level challenges a. Interaction with children

b. Fundraising b. Senior teachers

c. Placement activities c. Learning by example

d. Outdoor visits

Teamwork

28

Informal Learning through Voluntary work

The avenues identified by volunteers are very consistent with the learning avenues put forward

by Livingstone (2001). Livingstone suggested that volunteers learn through interpersonal

activities, communications, social issues, the application of organizational/managerial skills,

fund raising and other technical skills.

Volunteers asserted that activities such as fundraising and placement activities provided them

with opportunities to learn real life skills. One volunteer, Manish, pointed out students’

outdoor visits as a learning opportunity.

―As soon as you take your kids out of the centres, you have to be responsible for

managing them. That is a huge responsibility. You have to ensure that are learning as

well.‖

The interviewees included a few volunteers, who had been a part of founding members of their

respective city branches, and who were or are core team members. They said that the ground

level challenges taught them a lot. One of these volunteers stated the following:

―There are many things that make you learn. Last year was the first year of MAD in

Gwalior. So we had to face a lot of ground challenges. People did not know anything

about Make a Difference. So it was difficult for us to make them understand. Shelter

home authorities were very new about the concept of giving their children to another

organisation, and to trust them. You know (it was difficult) to tackle these kind of

situations and making people understand what is right and what is wrong. So Make a

Difference has taught me how to plan your future, and how to make others think about

a positive future.‖

Informal Learning through Teaching

The findings of interviews in this case are consistent with the view of Printy (2008) that a

teacher learns through his or her interactions and relationships with students and colleagues.

Volunteers deemed the interaction with students to be one of the most prominent ways of

learning. The volunteer from Pune expressed it in the following way.

―The first and foremost would be the interaction with children. We don‘t realise it but

it teaches a lot. It teaches patience. We are all young people, who are short on

patience. Managing children teaches us how to patient.‖

Volunteers also stated that a volunteer learns from his or her interactions with senior

volunteers, and a volunteer also learns from examples.

29

―A new volunteer gets to learn from the old volunteer. The old volunteers are sincere,

and know effective teaching methods. There are some teachers, who teach awesome.

If new volunteers see them teach, it makes a lot of difference in their teaching‖ –

Dhaval

―There were so many different kinds of people in the teaching group, so you know you

would learn these small small things. For example, one of the teachers used to prepare

a class agenda, when I started doing it I realised it really helps to have a set agenda.‖ –

A volunteer from Hyderabad

Learning through the Teamwork

The most common answer given by the volunteers was that they learnt from teamwork and

from their co-teachers. Teamwork is the crux of the volunteers’ experience with Make a

Difference, as it covers both teaching and other voluntary activities.

Co-teaching is one of the foremost sources of learning for volunteers. Volunteers learn a lot of

things from their co-teacher such as how to communicate with children, how to manage their

class and teaching. One of the volunteers, who learnt how to handle his class patiently,

described his experience as the following.

―There was this volunteer. She was my co-teacher. Sometimes I tend to get frustrated

with a child that you know if he does not understand what I am trying to teach him, so

(I would) just leave it for some time and if possible we would go back to it sometime

later. But she never really got frustrated. She always took time to tell them very

patiently that this how you do it, and to ensure that they understand.‖

A city vice president for operations put her finger on the pulse, when she referred to the reason

behind teamwork being such an important factor.

―At the volunteer level you are required to coordinate with your co-teacher. So that is

the one person teaching with you, and two people who teach on the other day. That is

very important. And the thing is you have all kind of people, such as people who prefer

to work alone or who do not socialise much. But it is only when you start working with

MAD, these sorts of things, you internalising them. You may come from different

backgrounds, but you are given the same responsibilities.‖

The interviewees in this study also included some such people, who preferred to work on their

own prior to their stint with the organisation, and their accounts supported the above statement.

4.4 Teaching and Managing a Classroom

One of the biggest dimensions of Make a Difference volunteers’ informal learning experience

is the experience of teaching and managing a classroom. It in itself involves some significant

aspects such working with the co-teachers, the centre, classroom dynamics and interactions

with students and other people. This section, however, only discusses the immediate impact of

30

the experience. The other aspects have been already discussed in the previous sections of this

chapter.

The immediate learning outcome of this experience is the development of attitudes and

behaviour. It has a big impact on the way volunteers construct their identity in their

classrooms. The findings very closely reflect what Dehli and Fumia (2002) argued to be the

conflict between normative voice and resistive voice, which shapes up the learning and

personal development of a teacher. The normative voice denotes the ideal image of what a

teacher should be. The resistive voice, on the other hand, represents one’s own personal

convictions and beliefs.

The interviewees provided very contrasting opinions. Some suggested that one should

assimilate with the children and become one of them, so that the communication would

become smoother. Some on the other hand warned against it by suggesting that ―You don‘t

need to get too close. If you are too nice to them, they take you for a ride.‖

This confusion stems from two factors. The first is the perceived role of the teacher.

―When I went to the classroom, I was like I have to be a teacher. So when I started, I

used to go with the strict teacher impression. So kids used to behave well, but they

were not expressive to me.‖ – Dhaval

The second aspect is the nature of the classroom, and which, in a way, defines the learning and

the consequent personal development of a volunteer.

―It is different from a regular classroom. I did not expect it. It is not exactly teaching.

It is rather helping them. And, it works both ways. You help them, and they help you

too.‖ – Shruthi

Her statement is supported by a lot of other volunteers. As they point out, the classrooms often

lack even the basic amenities such as blackboards, chairs and chalks. More significantly, these

children are underprivileged, and a lot of them face severe issues in their personal lives. This is

the very factor that distinguishes a Make a Difference teacher. It makes volunteers aware of

their role and responsibility. The following two statements by two of the female volunteers

underline this.

―At times we don‘t realise it when we are sitting in a classroom and the next person is

teaching … And you know when we are standing at the same position and we go to the

Make A Difference class, and we are the ones teaching, then these kids look up to you

for that. They will look up to you; listen to you because they want to learn.‖

31

―If you are a teacher, you are an idol of all those children. So, you have to be very

regular, and very sincere about whatever you are doing. You always have to give them

a good message. So you have to be very sincere and responsible.‖

This realisation changes the course for a lot of volunteers, as it motivates them, and stimulates

their personal development.

4.5 Factors That Influence Volunteers’ experience

There are various factors, which affect the informal learning of teachers by affecting the

experience of teaching. The literature review has already referred to seven such factors, which

are put forth by Boud and Middleton (2003) and Lohman (2000) respectively. The following

table consists of the findings of the interviews conducted for this study.

Table 4:3

Academic literature Interview Findings

a. Mastery over the task -

b. Relationship with colleagues a. Co-teacher

c. Ascent of atypical issues b. Centre related issues

d. Lack of time for learning -

e. Increasing non-teaching

responsibilities

-

f. Increasing number of students with

special needs

c. Class Dynamics

g. Learning resources d. Availability of teaching resources

- e. Language barriers

- f. Responsiveness and motivation of

Students

- g. Personal State of Mind and self-

motivation

Volunteers, who were interviewed, did not suggest three factors that were identified in the

literature review. These factors are mastery over the task, increasing non-teaching

responsibilities, and the lack of time for learning. This inconsistency could be attributed to the

difference between research samples. The literature speaks about professional full-time

teachers in a normal classroom, whereas this study looks at voluntary part-time teachers, who

teach underprivileged children.

A couple of volunteers cited language barrier as a factor. The reason behind this is the multi-

lingual culture of India. These volunteers had a little knowledge of the vernacular language

spoken by their students, whereas the students had a very little understanding of English. One

volunteer mentioned that availability of teaching resources influenced his teaching positively.

32

Few volunteers referred to responsiveness and motivation of students as an influencing factor.

One volunteer noted:

“The zest of the children to show up every day and their willingness to learn

something new keeps one going, makes you teach better and better.”

Interestingly, three factors that correspond to the past studies cited in the above table, emerged

as the most common and prominent answers. These three factors are the co-teacher, centre

related issues and class dynamics.

The Co-Teacher

Co-teacher is the factor that was referred to by almost every volunteer. One of the

interviewees, a city president, described its importance as the following:

―If you don‘t have that sort of understanding with the co-teacher and co-teachers on

the other day, you would not know where to begin with, what was taught in the last

class and which children were having a problem.‖

The positive impact of a co-teacher is significant as well. A volunteer from Pune summarises it

in the following manner:

―You have your co-volunteers. You have volunteers who have already taught before

you, who are experienced. One gets to learn a lot. The concept of having someone

else is really fantastic. It ensures teamwork. The best part of having someone to

work with you is the optimism you share with them, and the positivity they have.‖

Centre-related issues

A lot of volunteers stated that centre related issues could affect the experience of teaching to a

great extent. This factor included several issues such as lack of basic teaching resources such

as blackboards or even a classroom in some cases, lack of co-operation on the part of the

centre staff and cancellation of classes at a very short notice. Volunteers suggested that such

issues are highly demotivating for a voluntary teacher.

Class dynamics

Class dynamics was another oft cited factor. There were two different aspects to it.

The first aspect was the combinations of students with different learning capabilities. Some

volunteers said that they had to tread very patiently since the class included some bright and

some weak students. They had strike a balance while paying attention to every student.

33

The second aspect was the nature and attitude of the class. Many classes are conducted at

centres that have peculiar and idiosyncratic environments. Such classes proved to be very

challenging for volunteers.

―I knew that every individual child was dealing with their own personal issues in their

life. But when it came to the classroom discipline I could not understand that why some

of them were so unruly while others were fairly ok. So that can sometimes turn you

off.‖ – Kaustubhi

Self-Motivation

While this factor is not mentioned in the cited literature, it was a common answer by the

interviewees. It was asserted that when a volunteer enjoys taking his or her class, the

volunteers tries to excel. One of the core-team members summed it very succinctly.

―But then again, it is completely up to you. You would have volunteers who have just

joined for themselves. They may not choose to take so much out of it. They will just

come every week, do their bit of teaching and go back. They may not be that involved.

Most of them just quit after one year.‖

A view from the top

Since it emerged that Centre related issues, co-teacher and classroom dynamics are the

three most prominent factors that affect the learning and teaching volunteers, this aspect

was discussed in interviews with core team members.

The national president, Samarth, explained that the decision to allocate a centre is taken

after taking the volunteers’ preference and volunteers’ distance proximity to the centre. A

city vice president for “operations”, the vertical that looks after the volunteers’ allocation,

explained their process behind pairing two volunteers:

―During the recruitment process, we take notes on how the person fared in the

teaching round. Then we try to balance things out. If there was some person who was

quiet and nervous, and then some person was outgoing, then we put them together. If

the class is younger children, we look for a person who has a better class control.‖

She, however, admitted that the proper allocation of volunteers still needed better

streamlining.

4.6 Teaching Competencies

Before investigating the personal development of volunteers, it is apt identifying the

prerequisite qualities of a Make a Difference teacher.

34

The following table lists the qualities that according to the interviewees are necessary to be a

good teacher in Make a Difference, along with the competencies that are listed by TESOL

(Murray 2009), and which are cited in the literature review (table 2..3). The table also includes

the qualities that were suggested by the national president of organisation, Samarth.

Table 4:4

TESOL competencies Volunteers The Organisation

a. Know their subject content

and how to teach that

content to students

a. Command over the

language

a. Command over English

b. Know their students and

how they learn

b. Ability to strike rapport

with students

-

c. Plan, assess and report for

effective learning

c. Class preparation b. Class preparation

d. Communicate effectively

with students

(Ability to strike rapport with

students)

c. Communications

e. Create and maintain safe

and challenging learning

environments through the

use of classroom

management skills

d. Class control d. Leadership and

ownership

f. Continually improve their

professional knowledge and

practice

- -

g. Be actively engaged

members of their profession

and the wider community

- -

- e. Ability to keep students

engaged

-

- f. Passion and commitment

- g. Belief in the cause e. Belief in the cause

- h. Self-motivation -

- i. Lack of inhibitions -

- j. Compassion -

- k. Creativity -

- l. Patience -

- - f. Team-work

These three different lists correspond with each other to a large extent. The differences

between TESOL competencies could be attributed to the nature of the classroom of volunteers.

However, one occurrence is notable. Each and every volunteer, who was interviewed, cited

“patience” as the first and foremost prerequisite. This attribute does not appear in either of the

other two lists. This phenomenon could be attributed to the fact that these volunteers teach to a

classroom full of highly energetic young children, and a classroom which presents a complex

combination of students. It is also worth noting that such a vital significance for patience is

well reflected in volunteers’ answers to the question of personal development.

35

4.7 Personal Development through Working with Make a Difference

The literature review has already elaborated on the strong relationship that the experience of

informal learning through teaching and volunteering shares with an individual’s personal

development. It is manifested in the development of behavioural traits, attitudes and real life

skills.

The following table enlists findings of the interviews that were conducted for this study. The

table also consists of personal development attributes that were mentioned in the literature

review, and which were propounded by authors such as McNally (2006), Borg (2003), Fox

(2005), Schugurensky and Mündel (2005) and Ilsley (1990), who is cited by Schugurensky and

Mündel (2005).

Table 4:5

Academic Literature Interview Findings

a. Confidence a. Personal spirit and confidence

b. Empathy b. Empathy

c. Sympathy c. Sympathy

d. Decision making skills -

e. Communication skills d. Communication skills

f. Ability to asses and recognise learning -

g. Critical reflection e. Development of personal vistas

h. Ability to shoulder responsibility f. Leadership qualities

i. Application of knowledge g. Application of knowledge

j. Social/expressive learning h. Social consciousness

k. Ability to build relationships i. Team-working

l. Organisational learning j. Organisational skills

- k. Patience

- l. Extroversion

- m. Sense of Initiative

- n. Career direction

As the table exhibits, findings of this dissertation are fairly consistent with the academic

literature, except for decision making skills (suggested by Borg, 2003) and ability to assess and

recognise learning (suggested by Fox, 2005).

The most common answer, which was given by each and every interviewee, and which is not

mentioned in the literature, was that they learnt how to be patient through their experience in

Make a Difference. This could be related to the fact that all these volunteers are teaching to

young children. One of the volunteers thus noted:

36

―A lot of things, I have learned personally such as it is good to listen to your lecturer. I

have learnt to be patient. It has boosted my confidence. When these kids are looking up

to me then you know I should be also something in my life. It has inspired me to

something in my life.‖

Another common response was the growth in confidence and the development of empathetic

behaviour. The volunteer from Pune answered that working with the organisation did not only

boost her confidence, but it also gave her the direction for her career. She had the following to

say:

―I will tell you one thing. I joined MAD in the second year of graduation. Now I am

doing Masters in social work. MAD has been the basic reason for me having chosen this

course. It has made me more compassionate. It has taught me both sympathy and

empathy. I am more confident about what I do. It has taught me the importance of

education in a person‘s life, and how everyone should be respected no matter what

background he or she belongs to.‖

Some volunteers indicated that the experience of teaching and volunteering developed

extroversion and their aptitude for leadership. A similar answer by some volunteers suggested

that they became team-players after working with the organisation, and they were not exactly

social or outgoing prior to this experience. One such volunteer, who initially shied away from

taking charge of situations, described her development in the following manner:

So it was only last year that I became a batch-head and then a centre head. And I found

that I enjoy taking charge as well. I have learned tremendously, and I still am. My

confidence has gone up, and my sense of initiative, also. I was never an outgoing

person, but now I am.

A vice president of human resource management for a city branch took this stance a bit further

and emphasised on this experience’s value addition to a person’s profile and development of

organisational skills:

―Whenever I go for an Interview, I definitely talk about Make a Difference. It adds more

value to your personality, your profile everything … This is by far the most organised

youth organisation I am working with. And be it leadership skills, be it development

skills, be it talking to somebody, presentation skills, everything. You get to learn a lot.

And I think, if I stay with this organisation for 3-4 more years, I will be a completely

different person‖

The city vice president for operations explained the rationale behind such personal

development, when she tied it with the responsibility that comes from teaching a class of

young children.

37

―When the person is given charge of the class that itself is the first step. Here you are

given the responsibility of a set of 10-12 children. It is totally up to you how much you

choose to make of this opportunity. So you can see a lot of volunteers when they start

out and when they finish the year. They become really good at teaching, taking charge

and ownership for the class. So they grow as teachers, they grow as leaders. A lot of

volunteers start taking a lot of initiative.‖

It also appeared that working with children, who belong to one entirely different culture and a

different way of life, and who face a lot of issues in their personal life, had a significant impact

on the way these volunteers looked at the world. While the development of empathy and

sympathy has been already mentioned, some answers also exhibited characteristics of traits

such as social/expressive learning and critical refection of Ilsley (1990), who is cited by

Schugurensky and Mündel (2005).

In one of such answers, Kaustubhi beautifully summed up the essence of one’s experience of

working for the organisation and teaching to the children:

―It shapes your personality in a way that it makes it extremely well-rounded at the end

of it. You are not living a life under an illusion that all goes well and nice. You sought

efforts to experience the life of the people who are at the other spectrum of

opportunities. And I don‘t think it makes you weaker, it makes you stronger, and

whatever you are doing in a whole, it gives you a lot of hope in doing that.‖

Summary

This chapter looked at the multi-dimensional nature of the relationship between volunteers’

informal learning and their personal development.

The following are some of the general findings of this research. Volunteers showed

considerable awareness about their individual learning and development. Another key aspect

was city level core team members. They provided some significant clues about the process of

volunteers’ development. Overall, it is suffice to say that experience of working with Make a

Difference leads to the development of various real-life skills, and evidently, volunteers’

motivation and other influencing factors shape this process to some extent.

The next chapter that is concluding discussion, recommendations and reflection discusses the

findings of this research in a broader context. It also attempts to explore the possibility of

utilising these results for the organisational development through the perspective of human

resource management.

38

5 Concluding Discussion, Recommendations and Reflection

Volunteering and teaching are activities that could leave a definite imprint on an individual’s

development. This study reveals their integrated impact on the development of volunteers of

Make a Difference. Although the findings of this study are fairly in sync with the academic

literature, the singular setting of the organisation and the age-group of the volunteers has

attributed to a few interesting results.

This chapter will discuss the principal findings of this dissertation. It will also analyse their

relevance to the broader organisational context and their implications for future research.

5.1 Concluding Discussion

This section discusses the findings that are related to the primary objective of this dissertation,

which is to identify the ways, in which, the informal learning experience of volunteers

facilitates their personal development.

Informal learning transcends any single aspect of an individual’s learning process. A person

learns from experiences, people and situations. There is as much accent on the interaction as

there is on the action. It is aptly reflected in the way informal learning experience affects one’s

personal development.

The overall findings of this study suggest that the volunteers learned from the actual

experience of teaching, interactions with co-teachers and students, and activities such as

fundraising drives. This learning process was influenced by numerous factors such as the

allocation of co-teachers, centre related issues, class dynamics and self-motivation.

There appeared to be a link between volunteers’ motivation behind volunteering and the

resultant informal learning. The volunteers, who stated that they joined the organisation with

the intention of serving the society, described a more productive learning experience. In the

case of other volunteers, the learning process was accentuated when they understood the

significance of their work for children, and when they started enjoying it. In the organisational

context, this finding suggests that the employees with constructive motivation are more likely

learn better from the different dimensions of their job.

The experience of teaching and volunteering appeared to have a salient impact on the

formation of volunteers’ individual identities. The volunteers acknowledged that they

developed a sense of accountability and initiative that comes with being responsible for a class

of young children. The experience of working with underprivileged children also broadened

their personal vistas and their outlook towards the world.

39

It was found that co-teaching and participation in events such as fundraising drives facilitated

the development of team-working skills. An opportunity to deal with ground level

organisational challenges, the task of managing and interacting with children led to the

development of skills such as communications skills and leadership skills, and personality

traits such as confidence, extroversion, empathy and patience.

The city core team members displayed a nuanced awareness of their learning process and its

outcomes. Also, due to their position they were presented with more opportunities to learn, as

their position enabled them to deal with various organisational challenges on the local level.

This finding, in a way, supports the view of Garrick (1998), who claims that the social

standing has a marked influence on ones’ informal learning and personal development.

All volunteers in this study emphasised the development of patience. This development is

related to their classrooms, which comprise of energetic young children, who in many cases

face serious personal issues. This finding endorses the longstanding stance of academia that

the development of tacit skills is a contextual and situational process, which is put forward by

authors such as Lam (2000). However, simultaneously, it slightly deviates from the argument

that such a personal development is deeply personal and two different individuals, more often

than not, derive unique meanings from the same situation. This finding points towards one

curious possibility that every situation, while leaving an immense scope for the development

of attributes that are subject to individual interpretations, inherently cultivates a certain set of

qualities. This set of qualities is tied to the nature of the task, which in this case is teaching

young children. In the organisational perspective, it also suggests that ones’ personal

development is subject to the dynamics of the workplace, which includes the job role and

position, and relationships with people such as peers, superiors and subordinates to a large

extent.

The overall development of Make a Difference volunteers’ character and personality augurs

well for their future, as above-mentioned skills are vital to the success in the organisational

arena. For example, Beddoes-Jones (2012) deems patience and empathy to be two of the

essential ingredients of “authentic leadership”, which were two of the most common responses

in this study.

5.2 Recommendations to Make a Difference

This section deals with the second objective of this study, which is to explore the utility of this

study’s overall findings for the development of the organisation. There are two ways, in which,

Make a Difference could utilise these findings for organisational development.

40

The first way is in the recruitment and selection process. It was found that a lot of volunteers

joined the organisation for reasons such as a recommendation by their friend. No volunteer

stated explicitly that he or she joined the organisation for self-development reason or because

they were eager to learn from the experience of working with Make a Difference. The results

of this study could be used to attract candidates, who are motivated by the desire to learn and

develop, and a desire to contribute to the society.

It was also observed that the volunteers’ selection process does not consist of any mechanism

that would assess a candidate’s personality. Considering that the right allocation of centres and

co-teachers are the principal influencing factors of a volunteers’ experience, an introduction of

a personality test during the selection process could help to streamline the process smoothly.

The other way is that of the mentoring programme. The organisation would be launching a

mentoring programme in September 2012, wherein a senior volunteer or a batch-head would

act as a mentor for every batch. The findings of this study consist of a set of qualities that are

essential for Make a Difference volunteers, and a set of qualities that are developed through

working with the organisation. All these qualities and skills are transferrable to varying

degrees; therefore it is possible for mentors to impart them. This would enable the organisation

to enhance the development of volunteers beyond the sphere of class management.

5.3 Future Research

An enormous amount of research has already been conducted on different aspects of both

informal learning and personal development. However, following are two of the areas that are

relatively less explored, and which could prove to be fruitful for future research.

A gender-specific study of volunteers’ personal development

An exploratory study of the relationship between the motivation behind performing a

certain task and the consequent informal learning

5.4 Reflection

The biggest challenge faced was to draw the optimum information on the abstract topic of this

study. It was apprehended that volunteers would find it difficult to interpret their experiences.

The addition of city core team members proved to be the key here, as they had a thorough

knowledge of both the organisational policy and the ground reality.

This dissertation was an inductive study of volunteers’ informal learning and personal

development. On the heels of this study, it would be advisable to carry out a deductive and

quantitative study with a pre-set hypothesis. Such a study could lead to a more definite

41

understanding of the subject. It would also help to surmount the limitation of this study, which

lies in its small purposive sample size.

In retrospect, this study taught one how to reflect on experiences. It presented one with an

exquisite opportunity to learn and understand the intricate processes of informal learning and

experiential learning.

42

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7 Appendices

Appendix A: Summary of All Interviews

Event: Interviews

Participants: Mayank, Dhaval, Manish, Shruthi, Kaustubhi, Vivek, volunteers from Pune, Chandigarh, Gwalior, Bhopal, Delhi, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Lucknow.

Date - From July 31st to August 16th

Method: Via Skype or Telephonic

no. Topic Answers

1 Motivation behind Volunteering

A desire to contribute to the society, a desire to do something constructive, preference for teaching,

presence or recommendation of friends or siblings,

2

Teaching and Managing a Classroom

Formation and development of teachers’ identity, confidence and belief

3

Factors influencing the teaching experience

Class dynamics, co-volunteer, language barriers, personal state of mind, centre related issues,

availability of teaching resources, motivation of children, self-motivation

4

Teaching Competencies

Patience, ability to keep students engaged, command over the language, ability to strike rapport with

students, passion and commitment, self-motivation, creativity, class control, compassion, clarity of

purpose, lack of inhibition,

5 Training Programmes

Helps to solve the second language problem, give the primary idea about how to take classes, understanding

of the role of a teacher

6 Role of Experience

Teaches how to apply techniques learnt in training, Improves the understanding of students,

improvisation

7 Avenues of Learning

Ground level challenges, fundraising, placement activities, AVMs, CCTs, outdoor visits, teamwork, co-

teacher, teaching, interaction with children

8 Informal events (AVMs, CCTs) Knowledge and experience sharing, broadens the

scope of learning, emotional bonding

9

Learning from the Teamwork, co-volunteers

Patience, teaching techniques and methods, class control

10

Personal Development

Patience, Team-working, leadership qualities, personal spirit, communication skills, career direction,

application of knowledge, development of personal vistas, social consciousness, presentation skills,

extroversion

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Appendix B: An Excerpt of an Interview

Interviewee – A City President

Date: 06.08.2012

Following is an excerpt of an interview with a city president. The content includes portions

of the interviewee’s answers that were relevant to the objectives of this research.

Ouestion.1 When did you join Make a Difference?

I joined Make a Difference in last year (2011), at the end of August.

Ouestion.2 Why did you decide to do a voluntary work?

I always wanted do something society, I always wanted to give back to society.

Ouestion.3 By any chance, was it your motive to learn something new through the

voluntary work?

When I began, my motive was just to teach and to give back to the society. But, yes, over

the course of time, as I have worked with Make a Difference, I have known a lot of

things. I am not really the same person that I was before Make a Difference. There have

been a lot of changes; a lot of things that I have learned.

Ouestion.4 In MAD you work closely with your co-volunteers and senior volunteers. How

has been the experience of that? Has it taught you anything?

Sometimes it becomes very frustrating. You are trying to communicate something to

your fellows, something to your volunteers, which they are not able to understand …

And at other times, the MADSTERs is a great community. You share a lot of things. You

get to learn a lot of things, a lot of new things. It is like any other group of friends. You

learn something. You fight with them, and then you patch up. So everything goes on.

Ouestion.5 So, Can you give me an example of learning something from other volunteers?

There is this volunteer, she was my co-teacher. Sometimes I tend to get frustrated with a

child, that you know he does not understand what I am trying to teach him, so just leave

it for some time and if possible we will go back to it sometime later. But she never really

got frustrated. She always took time to tell them very patients that this how you do it,

and to ensure that they understand.

Ouestion.6 Teaching children and managing a classroom would be a great experience.

Could you tell me something about it?

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It can be difficult, since MAD has this open door policy. You have to give them

incentives.

Ouestion.7 Could you think of any factors or situations that have influenced your

experience of teaching?

Out of all the factors the one I think is the co-teacher. If you don‘t have that rapport or

the understanding with your co-teacher, then you are not able to give your best. Some

activities, which require both teachers to work together so that the best outcome can

come, those activities suffer. When one teacher is teaching, the other one has to ensure

that the kids are actually studying, whether they are noting down whatever going on,

whether their spellings are right or wrong. So and plus you also have to make sure that

both teacher are well prepared. If you don‘t have that sort of understanding with the co-

teacher and the co-teachers on the other day, you would not know where to begin with,

what was taught in the last class and which children were having a problem.

Ouestion.8 Do you think working with MAD and teaching children has been a learning

experience for you?

Yeah, absolutely! There are a lot of things I have learnt that I wouldn‘t have, had I not

been working with MAD, not only through teaching but as a part of the core team, as

well. We started in the city last year. So all the managerial tasks that one could

probably undergo during the starter, I had undergone all of them, when we started last

year. So lot of organisational stuff, managerial skills, how to handle volunteers, how to

talk to kids, how to organise events, all of these things I would have learnt, had I not

been working with Make a Difference.

Ouestion.9 Could you identify different activities or ways, through which, not only you or

a core team member, but any MAD volunteer gets to learn from?

See even if you take classes well it is enough. The way MAD is structured is that to take

your classes you have to undergo training. Then once you start taking classes, you have

to make sure to that you are interacting with your co-teacher and you are planning your

classes. Then you have AVMs and city circles. Then there are placement activities and

fundraising drives.

Ouestion.10 Judging from your own experience, could you identify some qualities

and skills that one requires to be a good teacher?

Good grasp of English

Passion

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Commitment

Ouestion.11 On that note, do you think the training programmes are capable of

teaching all those attributes to a new volunteer?

That is what we aim at … Out training programmes are basically the experiences that

the organisation has had over the last four or five years. So it is not possible to distil all

those experiences in a four hour or five hour or eight hour training. What it does is it

gives a start, so that volunteers have an idea about how they can start taking a class.

Once they start taking classes in a certain way, and they start encountering problems

that is when the problem solving occurs and that is when the learning begins. So if

someone has a problem either he or she will try to solve problem on their own, or at the

end of the day, they will come to the experienced volunteer or batch head or centre head

or a core team member that this is the problem I am facing. Either these people will

have knowledge about the situation, or MAD is spread across 24 cities and there are

over 1500 volunteers, so someone has already faced the situation somewhere else. So

most of the times we are not solving the problem we just applying the solution that is

already there.

That is why AVMs and CCTs are so important. That is one place where all volunteers

get to get it, and it is basically that is where volunteer could say ―I face this problem‖,

and someone else might have a solution for it. That is how learning begins out of

collaboration of sorts.

Ouestion.12 Also do AVMs and CCTs help you to prepare yourself for the MAD

experience?

The thing about teaching or voluntary programme is that sometimes a volunteer might

lose steam. Since it involves teaching young kids, it can get frustrating at the end of it.

So, the main goal of AVMs is to get all volunteers at the one single place, so that they

can talk to each other about the various problems they have faced. That is the basic aim.

What it also does is it brings all volunteers at the same place, so that they could know

each other. Then when they have to work on different events such fundraising drives,

these volunteers know each other well, so that the events organised very well.

More importantly, not only do they (these events) help volunteers to recharge their

batteries, otherwise it becomes very difficult to keep going for the class week after week

if you are facing the problems. So when you make friends within the organisation, then

even though you might feel not up to it, even though you might want to just give it up,

50

the influence of your friends can hold you back in the one weak moment that you might

have.

Ouestion.13 Now, finally, looking back at your overall experience, do you think

that teaching has added anything to your personality?

It has made more patient. It has made me think before I speak. After working with Make

a Difference, and especially after working as a part of the core team and handling so

many volunteers, it has taught me to be polite and patient.