Volunteers for Educational Support & Learning
An important announcement regarding the future of VESL’s volunteer programme from Ian Livingstone, VESL’s CEO. Some of you may already be aware that Lauren Pluss, our Programme Manager and sole
In response to today’s BBC News article on volunteering overseas, we’d like to stress that nothing about volunteering with VESL is ‘voluntourism’… it’s challenging work, and of real and measurable
December 5th is the UN’s International Volunteer Day… For volunteers this represents an opportunity to take stock of the valued work they are involved in and a chance to remind
VESL is extremely pleased to announce that we have appointed Lauren Pluss as our new Programme Manager. Lauren is a past VESL volunteer and returned this year volunteering as an
We’ve been able to collate photos from a number of our 2011 volunteers and have just added 4 new photo galleries… Kerala 2011 Thanks go to Elaine Abili & Kath
Alex Quinn has been featured in a 2012 Gap Year Travel Guide… Alex is one of our long term volunteers in Northern Thailand on an 11 month project that
“The teaching was great fun and, as someone with little prior experience, I would definitely say that it’s not as scary as you might think!” Alisdair Smith, Volunteer in Thailand, 2011
2011 has certainly been a busy year for VESL… here are a few highlights from the year : Kerala We had great success with our new programme working in schools
“We made a difference by teaching English to children who live in poor conditions and seeing them improve day-by-day in their English language as well as having fun, smiling and laughing with happiness was a joy every day.” Emma Powell, Thailand, 2010-11
“It is surprising how quick we settled in. Everyone was so helpful and caring.” Caley Vye, Thailand, 2010-11
“I cannot think of a better way to spend my summer… it will be an experience you will always remember” Emma Warrington, Thailand, 2010
The Society of Educational Studies (SES) funded VESL to undertake a research project looking at the effects on attitudes and practice of teachers undertaking voluntary projects overseas. ‘Global Educators’ Report
We’ve received a great response from universities to our new Student Leadership Programme. After receiving several notes of interest from past volunteers we were been able to establish Student Lead
Two of VESL’s past volunteers in India and Sri Lanka have been profiled in Susan Giffith’s new book, ‘Gap Year’s for Grown Ups’