This paper explores the nature and quality of the participation that characterises the Bank's consultations with external actors and examines the extent to which the Bank is responsive to such feedback when it comes to defining its policy preferences and strategies in the education domain. It draws on a case study of the participatory process that…

The historiographical tradition which developed within the history of education from the 1970s regarded religious organisations as distractions from the "real" task of developing state-funded universal compulsory education. Despite more positive evaluations of voluntary agencies within the history of social policy, since the 1980s, the…

While people might not be familiar with the term "voluntary arts", they are probably either involved with some voluntary arts activity themselves or they know someone who is. They use "voluntary arts" to mean any situation in which someone is voluntarily participating in an art form for pleasure, social reasons, skills…

Open Stages is Britain's biggest amateur theatre project, a hugely ambitious scheme to bring the professional and amateur theatre worlds together. It is a learning project but, as the Royal Shakespeare Company's Ian Wainwright tells this author, it is not only the amateurs who are learning. Wainwright states that the amateur and professional…

Generalized trust varies across individuals and countries. Past studies on trust have demonstrated that voluntary association membership, inequality and ethnic homogeneity at country level are important. However, those studies examined either individual-level or country-level factors separately. In this paper, we conceptualized the emergence of…

Twelve clients attending a voluntary agency, a local Council on Alcohol in a Scottish Community, were interviewed individually over a period of up to 1 year. The aims of this study were to explore clients' perceptions of their experiences during the year and their perceptions of help received from the agency. A qualitative approach was used.…

This study examined the effects of citizen journalism practices on social capital concerning nonprofit and voluntary organizations (i.e., satisfaction, trust, and engagement). Through a quasi-experimental design, the analyses revealed that students in the treatment group, in which participants engaged in citizen journalism practice, had greater…

In this article, the author talks about Up for Arts, a Liverpool-based radio project aimed at promoting engagement in the arts. Up for Arts is a unique social action project which uses radio as a means of increasing public engagement in the voluntary arts and crafts. Its success has depended not only on the commitment of its partner organisations…

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is the umbrella organisation for Member Organisations from 145 countries, with a total membership of 10 million. While Member Organisations offer training and development within their own countries, WAGGGS offers international opportunities, such as leadership development at…

From President Kennedy's first announcement of a non-military US volunteer corps in 1961, the Peace Corps has been one of the preeminent government grassroots volunteer development agency. This study explores the history of the ambiguities inherent in this contention, pressure primarily stemming from the organization's role as both a governmental…

In this article we examine how 19 students in creative arts disciplines in two universities experience work in not-for-profit and public sectors. We explore the notion of transfer from university education and suggest that "creative transfer" is taking place, often in more than one direction. Students draw on their life-wide experiences…

Measuring the various structural aspects of the organizing framework for this volume and relating them to match quality and relevant developmental outcomes is a critical step toward assessing the framework's utility for practitioners, policymakers, and program evaluators. Nakkula and Harris take a step in that direction by exploring core…

Alongside the UK Coalition Government's historic public spending cuts, the "Big Society" has become a major narrative in UK political discourse. This article reviews key features of Big Society policies against their aims of rebalancing the economy and mending "Broken Britain", with particular reference to their implications…

Background/Context: The history curriculum is often used to help reach the goal of racial tolerance and understanding by teaching about the nation's diversity. Many educators believe that teaching about diverse peoples in schools will bring about greater equity in society. This historical study looks at the segregated American South from 1928 to…

Diversity in the workforce can be attributed to both a popular, cultural shift and legislative intervention. Despite these forces, discrimination endures in all aspects of Western society from education to employment. Unequal pay and opportunities for promotion are symptoms of a systematic discrimination of individuals based on race and gender.…