Volunteerism and Collaboration - A Panacea for Difficult Times?

As we brace for the effects of the economic downturn, the motivation for volunteerism will be more crucial than ever. Volunteerism has been defined as "the policy or practice of volunteering one's time or talents for charitable, educational, or other worthwhile activities, esp. in one's community"; as well as the "use of or reliance on volunteers, especially to perform social or educational work in communities".

Having been a volunteer with the Malay Youth Literary Association (4PM) since 1989, this year will mark my 20th year in service. Towards the end of 2008, I had planned to focus on my own personal and professional development from 2009, but the impending effects of the economic climate has made me review my own decision; and remain committed to volunteerism.

In times like this, one of the cost factors that could easily be removed will be manpower or HR costs. In support of our children's education, complimentary (or free) tuition and other forms of learning support could help ensure that our children's future remain promising. 4PM was formed in the initial years for such a purpose - to help families cope with the demands of education at minimal costs. Our years of providing affordable tuition and learning support classes to complement and supplement a student's formal education in school will continue despite the economic climate. Now, we find it more pertinent to enhance and ensure greater efficiency so as to make the best of the limited funds that we have.

As the transfer of knowledge and skills can actually be at very minimal cost, nothing - short of a trainers' or educators' need for his/her own economic sustenance - could prevent such a thing from continuing. Of course, the need for materials and equipment will be equally important. Hence, voluntary services in the areas of education and training can actually help to defray costs significantly. Every savings in terms of trainers' and educators' fees will mean that more money can be set aside for materials and equipment.

Another cost to education and training that could be easily reduced will be the cost of facility rental - i.e. the use of space to conduct such programmes for training and learning support. One of the main challenge that I faced in the past was to find an affordable training room to conduct a low-cost Learning Facilitation Programme for students. While I could volunteer my services and reduce material costs, the cost of renting a space remains one of a my main problem.

Another cost that will be a burden of some sort has been transport cost. While any volunteer can forgo a meal or expend their time, without much support with transport cost, the extent to which the volunteer could travel to provide his/her services can be greatly reduced. Hence, one of the challenge I face currently in an attempt to coordinate a Javanese Language Cost for members of the Javanese Singaporeans Facebook group will be to find an affordable training venue and

I created the Learning Facilitation Programme (LFP) in 2003 based on my earlier years of providing complimentary learning support to relatives and students from my wife's school when she was teaching. Every Saturday, I would conduct a session from about 2.00 pm in the afternoon to about 6.00 pm in the evening. These sessions taught me one very important lesson - that equipping students with the necessary attitude, motivation, knowledge and skills about themselves and their learning can reap much better results in the long run.

One of the things that will always change will be the academic curriculum and the contents that students learn. One of the things that will never change will be the need for each of us to develop a learning capacity that will be adaptive to the changes in how we learn, unlearn and relearn new knowledge and skills. Hence, LFP was deisgned to help students develop their unique learning capacities from young so that they are much better prepared to be self-directed and collaborative learners. An important aspect of LFP has been the maintenance of a three-tiered level of enquiry - i.e. self, peer and facilitator.

Given my belief in such a process-based learning programme, I could easily adapt myself to the pedagogical approach advocated at my current workplace - Republic Polytechnic (RP). At RP, teachers are called facilitators; and our main aim has been to facilitate students' motivation for self-directed and collaborative learning on a daily basis. As the emphasis will be on the process of learning rather than the acquisition of knowledge content, one of the hopes will be for students to develop the necessary learning skills and attitude that will help them cope with the process of learning, unlearning and relearning.

In these difficult times, the services of volunteers in providing supplementary and complementary learning support and facilitation programmes can help reduce overall costs of education. Collaboration by transport providers and venue owners in reducing transport and rental costs can make it lesser of a financial burden for volunteers and further reduce costs of running such programmes. Ultimately, when students are equipped with the necessary tools, attitude, skills and knowledge for effective self-directed and collaborative learning, they should be able to cope with the challenges of education without need for supplementary support - i.e. becoming autodidactic. Hence, I will be much more motivated than ever to be more active in running LFPs and its like in these difficult times; as well as continuing to be a volunteer.