1. Volunteer Role         
2. Time Commitment         
3. When does volunteering occur?         
4. Where can I volunteer?         
5. What are the selection criteria for new volunteers?             
6. Volunteer Requirements           
7. What can I hope to gain from the experience?

 

The Volunteer Role

Time Commitment:

Minimum of between 1-2 hours per week. However this can be up to just about as often as you like. We ask that you sign-on to remain with the organisation for one semester.

When?

• Individual Tutoring: It is up to you and your student to arrange times to meet after school or on the weekend at the local public library. Minimum time required is 1-2 hours per week.

• Homework Clubs: 3:15pm – 4:30pm once per week. Different Clubs run on different days of the week, you are only expected to attend one day per week.

• In-School Tutoring: Several times available during the school day. Minimum time required is 1 hour per week.
   

Where?

• Locations across Melbourne. Please see Embrace Programs for details 

Selection Criteria

1. Good communication skills and competency in English
   
   • A solid level of English reading and comprehension is necessary to be able to teach students who are themselves in need of help with their English.

2. The ability to competently tutor high-school subjects
   • We attempt to involve tutors in programs that suit their subject range, however for this to be possible tutors must feel confident to tutor at-least two common VCE subjects, or up to year 10 Maths or English in the case of In-School Tutoring.
   • Success as an Embrace tutor requires a certain minimum level of knowledge and academic ability. Although there is no strict cut-off point, this will generally equate to a previous VCE (or equivalent) score of at-least 75
      
3. Tolerance and respect towards people of other cultures and a willingness to learn from differing religious/cultural belief systems.

4. A commitment to remaining with the organisation for a period of time.
   
   • As a Uni-student volunteer run organisation we have limited resources to process volunteer applications. We therefore ask for a commitment of at-least 1-2 hours per week for one semester.

5. The attributes of maturity, empathy, good listening and interpersonal skills, patience, professional conduct, and organisational skills.
   
   • Part of the program involves mentoring disadvantaged youth and providing them with good role models to help them along in the right direction. We therefore look for volunteers that we would feel confident would set a good example.
   • Motivation and organisational skills are needed for you to succeed in any given program, particularly in terms of maintaining your student relationship in the Individual Tutoring program.
   • Patience with the learning requirements of newly arrived and/or refugee students and working with this diverse population is essential.

6. Experience in the field, (not a prerequisite but valued highly), including...
   
   • Evidence of past volunteer activity or community engagement
   • Experience as a volunteer, or paid tutor
   • Experience working with people from refugee or migrant backgrounds
     

 

Volunteer requirements:

As part of our commitment to ensuring the safety of our services, we require all volunteers to pass an interview, Police check, Working With Children check, training and appropriate reference checks, before being matched for tutoring.

Additionally volunteers must abide by a code of conduct or "Terms and Conditions of Engagement" throughout their involvement with Embrace. This document is available at http://www.embrace-education.org/resources/volunteerresources

What do we offer volunteers?

Embrace gives you the chance to make an amazing dfference to a person's life and education. As well as providing assistance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, we aim to provide volunteers with: 

1. a practical means of contributing to the community by
   • offering free tutoring and mentoring to local high-school students
   • putting knowledge and skills gained at University or high-school to immediate use by passing them on to high-school student
      
2. the chance to use their own recent high-school experience to offer guidance to students going through VCE

3. the opportunity to interact with and teach students from a range of diverse backgrounds, and thereby
   • revise their own knowledge
   • broaden their University experience
   • acquire personal and cross-cultural skills
   • enhance their Cultural and/or Social awareness
      
4. inspiration for their own studies by
   • reinforcing appreciation for the opportunities studying at University has provided
   • contributing to another's education

5. the opportunity to develop sort-after attributes such as confidence, communication, showing responsibility and demonstrating leadership by
   • acting as a role model for high-school students
   • assisting in the running of the organisation