News
Literacy Champions support census applications in Rochdale
4 Apr 2011
Concerns have been raised that those with low levels of literacy skills will struggle to complete the census form. While people can request support from a helpline, some of our local partners are worried that those with the lowest literacy will not ask for help. In Rochdale they are planning to use their Literacy Champions programme to provide support. Literacy Champions are volunteers or frontline workers who are trained to help people to develop their literacy skills. People can live for years not realising how easy it can be to develop their skills. Literacy Champions provide informal peer-to-peer support and can help broker links to other literacy provision locally.
It can be difficult for people to admit that they have a literacy difficulty – census workers are in a unique position to offer vital contact to the very hardest to reach people. Rochdale census officers, who will be chasing up missing forms from 6 April, will let residents know that help is available and have been issued with a card to signpost people to support from a Literacy Champion. These cards can be sent back with the census worker, posted or left at the local library.
Feedback to the National Literacy Trust from local authorities has found that some people are unable or unwilling to access traditional support for literacy. Literacy Champions programmes have been developed across Rochdale and a number of other local authorities and provide an addition to other provision. Resources developed by Rochdale and other authorities are available in the Local Partnerships Zone on the National Literacy Trust’s website.
