Community Service Program

WHAT
QUALIFIES
AS
COMMUNITY SERVICE?

CRITERIA

AND

GUIDELINES
 WHAT QUALIFIES AS COMMUNITY SERVICE?

(NB: This document should be read in conjunction with the Curriculum Council’s Community
Service Guidelines.)
http://newwace.curriculum.wa.edu.au/pages/about_whatis_voluntary.asp

CRITERIA AND GUIDELINES

Definition
Community service refers to activities undertaken for the benefit of individuals
and/or the community for no financial reward.

Judging what qualifies as community service

A wide range of activities will qualify as community service. It is difficult to produce

an exhaustive list of all such activities. The approach taken, therefore, is to identify
the criteria that these activities must fulfil in order to be considered as community
service and to provide guidelines about possible areas of uncertainty or ambiguity.

The criteria that community service activities should meet are listed below, followed
by guidelines. The guidelines address areas of uncertainty.

The final decision about what will and will not qualify for community service will be at
the discretion of the school Community Service Program Coordinator. The
Coordinator’s decision on such cases should reflect the aims and spirit of the
program.

Some examples of the types of activities that qualify as community service are also
provided in the final table.

Criteria

For activities to qualify as community service they should:

 Be for the benefit of others;
 Give service in an area of need;
 Provide opportunities for learning and reflection; and
 Not involve payment. However, activities that attract a small honorarium and
fulfil the other criteria are still considered community service.

Community service activities can be:

 School-oriented or community-oriented;
 Organised by the school or by parents and students;
 Undertaken in school time or out of school time;
 One-off or more long-term; and
 Direct (involving personal contact with the person being served i.e. visiting the
elderly) or indirect (food drives, fundraising, environmental clean-ups).
Guidelines

These guidelines aim to help the Community Service Program Coordinator rule on
activities about which there is uncertainty or debate.

1. Activities that are part of the school program

Activities that are part of a student’s normal academic or general program usually
do not qualify as community service. For example, Work Experience or Structured
Workplace Learning (SWL) undertaken in service organisations, performing in the
school drama production as part of a school drama course or playing in a school
sporting team are not community service.

However, if these activities are undertaken specifically for the benefit of others,
and/or have an explicit link to the community, they do qualify as community service.
For example, dance students rehearsing in their lunchtime or after school for a
performance at a nearby primary school could count the preparation and practice
time, as well as the actual performance as community service. Other examples of
activities that are part of the school program that qualify as community service
include
 an S&E unit of work where students undertake a survey on litter for the
council
 students preparing a morning tea for senior citizens as part of T&E
 students producing games for intellectually disabled people as part of T&E.

Council-endorsed programs with a community service component will be introduced

in Year 11 and 12 as part of the WACE. This component of these courses will
qualify as community service.

2. Social and personal development activities

Social and personal development activities which involve the student learning new
skills or practicing and/or developing existing skills through membership of a sporting,
cultural or other kind of club or organisation do not qualify as community service.
For example, playing in a band, singing in a choir, belonging to a football, drama, surf
or judo club or being a scout are not community service.

However, social and personal development activities that are carried out for the
benefit of others do qualify as community service. For example, being part of a
band that plays at the community ‘Carols by Candlelight’, performing a drama
production in an aged care or other community facility, coaching younger players in a
sporting organisation, fundraising a part of Leos or Interact Clubs or providing service
as part of a project for Scouts are considered community service.

With regard to programs such as the WA Cadets and the Duke of Edinburgh Award,
the service activities carried out as part of these programs qualify as community
service, not the personal development or skill building components of the program.

3. Preparation and training

If special preparation or training is undertaken by students in order to participate in a

specific community service activity or project, a proportion of this time may be
counted as community service, as well as time spent on the activity or project. It

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is suggested that the proportion be up to 50% of a brief course (one day or less) or
no more than 6 hours.

A number of community organisations offer brief courses (one day or less) that teach
students how to involve themselves in the community and participate in service
opportunities offered by them. With the approval of the Community Service Program
coordinator, students who participate in such courses can count up to 50% of course
time or no more than 6 hours (where the course lasts two days or more) towards their
community service, IF they subsequently participate in a related service activity for at
least an equivalent number of hours.

4. Home-oriented service

Schools that have introduced programs with a service orientation from Year 8 often
include activities carried out around the student’s home as community service e.g.
cooking or cleaning for the family, gardening, shopping and baby sitting siblings.
These activities are appropriate at this level and should be encouraged. However,
they should not be counted towards the 20 hour requirement for the Community
Service Program at Years 10 and 11.

An exception is the home-oriented service given by Young Carers who support

disabled or mentally ill parents and often taken on significant parenting
responsibilities for other siblings. Home-oriented service given by students in these
circumstances should be counted as community service.

5. Fund raising activities

Fund raising activities have a number of components:

1. organisation of an event
2. conducting the event
3. getting sponsorship as an individual or for a group
4. collecting donations e.g. door to door; in a public place
5. participating in an activity for which sponsorship has been gained e.g. fasting
during the 40 Hour Famine.

Students may be involved in one or more of these components. However, only time
spent on components 1- 4 counts as community service. For example, a student
who participates in the Forty Hour Famine will be able to count the time spent gaining
and collecting sponsorship as community service and/or be credited time on the
basis of the amount of money raised (e.g. 1 hour for every $20 or other amount
determined by the CSP Coordinator). The time spent fasting will not normally be
credited as community service.

6. Payments and Honoraria

Activities that receive a small payment (an honorarium to acknowledge the young
person’s contribution or to cover costs) do qualify as community service.

Activities that receive substantial payment, such as umpiring for a number of codes)
do not qualify as community service.

7. Travel

Travel time is not counted as part of community service time.

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 Examples of Community Service Activities
School-based Community-based
(within or outside school hours) (within or outside school hours)
Projects undertaken as part of learning area Projects undertaken in the community as part
activities: of learning area activities or following
 Write a Book in a Day competition participation in skills/leadership development
(English) programs:
 environmental restoration (Science)
Leadership roles in the school:  care/restoration of historical sites (SOSE)
 school prefect  Changemakers.
 student councillor
 peer mentor/mediator/support leader Volunteer work at non-profit organisations in
 mentoring on Years 7-8 transition days areas such as:
 school-developed skills/leadership  aged care
program  animal welfare
 coaching younger students.  child care
 culture
Projects undertaken in the school following  education
participation in skills/leadership development  care of the environment
programs:  health
 school-developed skills/leadership  disability services
program.  refugee support.

Programs for community members carried Participation in citizenship/leadership service

out by students in the school: activities or events:
 Ist Click.  Youth Advisory Councils (YAC)
 Youth Parliament
Support roles at school events:  Keep Australia Beautiful Campaign
 being an official or helper at a sporting,  Clean up Australia
cultural, social and/or fundraising event.
 Australia/Anzac Day
 WA Cadets.
Voluntary activities that benefit the school
environment:
Service activities for community
 art projects
organisations:
 tree planting
 youth groups (Scouts, Leos, Interact etc)
 recycling activities
 sporting, cultural and service clubs
 garden and other maintenance.
 religious groups.
School activities performed in and for the
Volunteering as helpers at special events:
community:
 Royal Show
 drama, dance, music; debating.
 Charity Fun Run.
Activities in nearby primary schools:
Fund raising activities:
 tutoring students in school subjects
 Red Nose Day
 music, drama and other performances
 Red Shield Appeal
 coaching sporting/cultural groups.
 Telethon/Appealathon
 Walk Against Want.

Some additional, more specific suggestions for community service activities follow on pages
6-9.

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Suggested community service activities:

The following activities were suggested by teachers as activities which they believed would
qualify as community service. They are examples and need to be considered for
appropriateness to the local context. In the two tables below, activities that qualify have been
divided into school-based and community-based activities. The notes in Italics provide
feedback on suggested activities that do not qualify and the rationale behind that.

School-based

Hosting/catering

Open days
Breakfast program
School functions
Parents evenings
Enrolments
Open night
Transition days

Assisting in school

Canteen
Library
Front office } Where students have defined roles assisting in the
Uniform shop school, these activities can qualify as
community service.

School farm: work at the school farm does not qualify if it is part of students’
agriculture course/curriculum, but if students are caring for animals in their own time it
does qualify as community service).

Assisting gardener: when students assist the gardener and it is not part of a
punishment, their work can qualify as community service.

Raise and lower flag: if a student has taken on the task of raising and lowering the
flag for a considerable amount of time, eg a term or semester, the time spent can
count towards their 20 hours.

Activities that are part of each students’ tasks in school do not count towards community
service hours:
Assemblies
Class based activities
Rubbish duty
Gym monitors: handing out equipment

Organising

Lunch time activities, eg for younger students can count as community service.

Student-organised events like:

Graduation ceremony (planning, MC, making and serving supper)
School ball
Health fair
School production (just taking part in it or performing support roles like costume
making/lighting do not qualify, but performances for community do count)

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For community

Teaching elderly people computer skills

Construction of equipment: sand pits/play equipment etc.

Fundraisings

Jeans for genes

Shoebox activities (Christmas gifts)
Shave for a cure
Sponsor children
Red Nose day
40 hour famine
Preparing food parcels for Christmas
World Vision: sponsor a child
Particular parts of the process can count towards the community service hours. These
include: fundraising and the organisation of the event. It does not include the actual
participation in the event (eg 40 hour famine).

Service-learning

Painting murals as a school/community beautification project – Art

Coaching/umpiring at, eg a local Primary School – PE
Catering at community events – café studies
Sports (on/off site) – PE : Just participating in sports activities does not qualify as
community service.

Leadership/peer support activities

Mentor program
Year 7 transition program
Assisting with activities for younger students
Being a camp leader
Assisting with study club
Assisting a student with disabilities
Y-turn: Youth led change

Doing a leadership course: the course itself does not count towards community service hours
(see point 3 on page 3 for further information about requirements for counting part of the
training), applying the leadership skills in a project/activity that benefits the (school-)
community does count.

Extra-curricular activities

Making the school video

Producing news-letter } if for the (school) community and unpaid
Producing radio programs
Writing newspaper articles
Being on the Year Book committee
Filming community events
Recycling (if an organised project for (school) community)
Representing school at: ANZAC day/remembrance day/harmony day/leadership
forum

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Career expo/Drug and health expo/ Road safety awareness day: if students have a particular
role to play in the event their work can qualify as community service. If students only attend
the expo/day their time does not count towards the 20 hours of service.

School leadership roles

Membership student council

In other leadership roles such as:

house captain
sports captain

students can count activities they undertake for the (school) community if they are over and
above their normal duties in this role, eg when undertaken in their own time.

Education support

Reverse integration (mentoring a mainstream student)

Tidy up staffroom
Washing PE/spare uniforms
Helping Science EA with the worm farm
Keeping garden-bed next to classroom weed free
Distributing home cleaning products to other classes in school (teaches respect; talk
politely to other classes, learn courtesies and manners)

Other

Amnesty, eg writing letters to political prisoners abroad

Duke of Edinburgh award

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 Community-based

Environmental

Tidy towns activities

Green up/clean up activities
Toad busters
Tree plantings
Clean Up Australia day
Land Care nursery
Landscaping for activ industries
Rubbish pickup school/community (yes, if part of eg Clean Up Australia day)
Bush rangers

Service-learning

Working with Primary schools – as part of Early Childhood Studies

Reading groups in Primary schools – as part of English
Painting bus shelters/murals – as part of Art (organised in collaboration with
appropriate authorities)
Coaching/umpiring – as part of PE
Catering (for senior citizens/hospital) – as part of Café Studies

Activities undertaken as part of SWL or VET only qualify as community service if they are
over and above the hours students are required to do as part of their VET course. Activities
that could qualify include:
Child care – certificate II community services
Activities coordinator (hospital/shire) – career and enterprise studies
SWL or work experience – in a service industry

Leadership/mentoring
YAC (Youth Advisory Council)
Mentoring program with Primary school

Other
Assisting at a conference
Helping at old people’s homes
Shire/local council: meeting attendance (yes, if it means participation in YAC, no if just
attending a council meeting)
Blood donations (Year 12)
Young carers (where a student takes on a significant caring role because of parent
mental illness etc.)
Cadets WA

Rubbish collection for council: $5 per bag does not qualify as community service because
this is paid work.

Further Information
Community Service Program
Behaviour Standards and Wellbeing Directorate
Department of Education and Training
T: 9264 4027
F: 9264 4754
E: [email protected]
W: www.det.wa.edu.au/behaviourandwellbeing