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How can I get involved?
What does volunteering involve?
How to volunteer
Government policy on adult literacy
How can I get involved?
There are many ways to support adults in reading or with their literacy. The most obvious one is to volunteer with a college or other provider of classes for literacy/English for speakers of other languages.
You can also consider motivating those around you to appreciate the value of reading for pleasure. The evidence is that it is usually a family member, a carer or a close friend who has the most influence on enjoyment of reading. There are lots of ways you can get involved in your community or even your own home.
The NLT runs Reading Champions, which uses the motivational power of male reading role models to inspire other boys and men to read. Any man with a passion for reading can become a Reading Champion and many have already signed up.
What does volunteering
involve?
Arrangements for adult literacy volunteering vary from area
to area. Generally, a volunteer coordinator interviews volunteers
to assess their suitability. Volunteers may need to complete
a course (usually two hours a week for eight weeks). Most
colleges require volunteers to complete the City and Guilds
Level 2 Certificate in Adult Learner Support, although some
may offer their own training. For more information on these,
other teaching qualifications and a career in adult literacy,
language or numeracy, call Lifelong
Learning UK on 020 7936 5798 or visit www.lifelonglearninguk.org. For information on City and Guilds qualifications
visit www.city-and-guilds.co.uk.
Trained volunteers may either be placed in a group to
support a paid tutor or may work with a student on a one-to-one
basis. Commitment is essential: two hours a week for at least
a year is often expected. Classes often take place in
the evening so it is possible to volunteer alongside a full-time
day job.
Some colleges do not use volunteers, or supporters, at all, preferring to focus instead on recruiting fully-qualified tutors with the Level 4 Certificate required to lead a class.
How to volunteer
Remember, arrangements vary from area to area. The NLT cannot supply potential volunteers with individual contact names. The first step
is to contact an adult literacy coordinator (sometimes called
a Skills for Life or adult basic skills coordinator) at a further
education college or a local authority adult and community
education department. They will be able to explain about their
own use of volunteers, what training is required and how you
can get involved. You should also try contacting your local
volunteer centre through Volunteering
England or www.doit.org.uk,
and your local library to find out if there are any other
local projects running that you could be involved with.
Government policy
on adult literacy
The Government's national strategy for improving adult literacy
and numeracy skills is Skills
for Life. It says of volunteers who support literacy teaching:
"Up to 10,000 volunteers are currently engaged in activities
to support adult literacy and numeracy learning and in helping
speakers of other languages acquire English language skills.
Volunteers can never take the place of trained professional
teachers, but evidence indicates that learners of literacy
and numeracy make more progress if they receive additional
support from volunteers or paid assistants."
Between November 2001 and July 2004, the Link Up project
developed pilot programmes for adult literacy and English
as an additional language volunteering. Priority was given
to developing and validating new training programmes and forging
new approaches to the use of volunteers. Each English region
included two pilot programmes and a further two pilots focused
on the use of basic skills volunteers in the prison service.
Now this project is complete, the lessons learned are being
disseminated throughout the sector to improve the effectiveness
of the use of volunteers. More
on Link Up
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