ABSTRACT

From grassroots to mega-event level, the sport sector has long-relied on volunteers to function effectively. While the nature of sport volunteering varies, scholars have identified that volunteerism is built around characteristics (e.g. altruism, civic participation, acquisition of social capital, personal and professional development) that draw individuals together and contribute to a sense of community. In providing sites for life-skills training, mentoring, coaching, and/or leadership, volunteer communities in sport are also informal and formal learning environments. Notwithstanding research examining learning opportunities within individual volunteer experiences, work remains on articulating the ideological, structural and experiential complexities of volunteering as pedagogical terrain. To illuminate some of these educational nuances, this paper interrogates the experiences of a cohort of regional football volunteers in the United Kingdom. Drawing on spatial theory, we utilise a holistic framework comprising thought, production and action space to understand volunteer communities and opportunities for learning therein. We draw data from questionnaires, and focus groups undertaken with volunteers working in one of the UK’s largest provinces. We contend that football volunteerism comprises a potentially rich context in which an array of learning opportunities exist that can be nurtured and enacted upon over volunteers’ life courses. Educational characteristics of volunteering, or the creation of effective learning communities in the sector are not, however, always guaranteed. Rather, individual and collective investments may be required by both volunteers and supporting organisations. Furthering recent criticisms of the wider sport sector, and beyond affording greater appreciation of volunteer learning, we advocate for a rethink of organisation’s ethical responsibilities and resourcing vis-à-vis educational duties of care and sustainability.

摘要

从基层到大型赛事，体育部门长期以来一直依赖志愿者来有效运作。虽然体育志愿服务的性质各不相同，但学者们已经确定志愿服务是围绕着将个人聚集在一起并有助于社区意识的特征（例如利他主义、公民参与、获得社会资本、个人和专业发展）而建立的。在为生活技能培训、指导、辅导和/或领导提供场所时，体育志愿者社区也是非正式和正式的学习环境。尽管研究检查了个人志愿者经历中的学习机会，但工作仍在阐明作为教学领域的志愿服务的意识形态、结构和体验的复杂性。为了阐明其中一些教育细微差别，本文询问了英国一组区域足球志愿者的经历。借鉴空间理论，我们利用由思想、生产和行动空间组成的整体框架来了解志愿者社区及其学习机会。我们从问卷和焦点小组中获取数据，这些数据由在英国最大省份之一工作的志愿者组成。我们认为，足球志愿服务包含一个潜在的丰富背景，其中存在一系列学习机会，可以在志愿者的生活课程中培养和实施。然而，志愿服务的教育特征或在该部门创建有效的学习社区并不总是得到保证。相当，志愿者和支持组织可能需要个人和集体投资。最近对更广泛的体育部门的批评进一步加剧，除了对志愿者学习给予更大的赞赏之外，我们还主张重新考虑组织的道德责任和资源与关怀和可持续性教育职责的关系。