The Read Write Now! literacy tutoring program
The Community Adult Literacy Foundation works in close partnership with Read Write Now! to support fee-free community-tutoring by its volunteer tutors.
Originally known as the Volunteer Tutor Scheme and operating continuously since 1977, the Read Write Now! organisation makes 1:1 tutoring accessible, free of charge, to self-referred adults and is primarily to assist people who are significantly disadvantaged by their lower literacy skills.
Self-referred adult learners (and people interested in volunteering) find out about the Program through word of mouth from family, friends and colleagues, local agencies, colleges , schools and libraries, through local or National advertising (e.g. through the Literacy Hotline) and often, by searching online.
The Program is managed from a Central Office hosted by the Central Institute of Technology in Perth. The Western Australian Government (through the Department of Training and Workforce Development, DTWD) funds the Program’s executive management, administration and tutor training.
Over 600 volunteers work across metropolitan Perth and in regional Western Australia. Volunteer Regional Coordinators administer the Program from local offices wherever possible and access online data management systems as required by the DTWD, using IT equipment provided by the Community Adult Literacy Foundation.
Winner of Volunteering WA “Western Australia Community Volunteer of the Year Award” 2012
The Community Adult Literacy Foundation provides essential office equipment and contemporary tutoring resources to Read Write Now! volunteers which would not otherwise be available and which help to ensure the continuing success of community-tutoring.
Up-to-date resources mean volunteers can deliver ‘real-world’, quality tutoring for adult Western Australians and concurrently develop their own skills. They feel motivated and engaged, with a vital sense of self-worth important to the sustainability of volunteering and which adds to the overall social benefits realised by all participants in the Program.
Adult literacy students
Problems with reading, writing and numeracy are often the result of lost or denied opportunities in childhood and do not reflect the intelligence or ability of an individual to learn, given the right support.
There are many different reasons why people can miss learning the foundation skills so vital for reading and writing. Individual development of literacy & other life-long learning depends on having a good foundation so it can be very difficult for an adult to ‘pick-up’ learning again, in order to catch-up with everyone else.
Each person has a different set of circumstances that brings them to seek help through community-tutoring with what is, all too often for them, a cause for embarrassment, shame and a lack of confidence.
| Low literacy keeps many adults disadvantaged, disempowered and disengaged from society. |  |
Many people need the support and unique learning opportunities achievable only through 1:1 tutoring. |
Access to learner-focussed, fee-free 1:1 tutoring in local communities allows skills such as reading and reading comprehension, writing and written expression, spelling, speaking and listening, to be addressed as required by the individual. Volunteer tutors create a confidential, supportive and non-judgemental environment to allow their adult student to improve their skills, sometimes for the first time in their lives.
Using contemporary techniques and resources provided by the Community Adult Literacy Foundation, tutors build an individual learning program to specifically address the literacy-needs of each student.
Do you know anyone who wants to improve their reading or writing?
Adults in Western Australian with lower literacy or numeracy skills, who feel they have missed-out on developing their skills before or who simply wish to improve their reading or writing, can ask about community-tutoring by phoning the Read Write Now! free-call number 1800 018 802.
Literacy volunteers
Volunteer tutors are ‘everyday people’ with a keen interest in literacy who understand the difficulties faced by those with low literacy and who enjoy helping other adults in their local community to improve their lives through developing their reading, writing and numeracy skills.
Volunteer tutors complete a Tutor Training Course and keep in touch with trends in adult literacy tutoring in Western Australia, Australia and internationally through Professional Development meetings and workshops held each year.
Tutors meet their students weekly in local libraries, community centres or other public venues that are generously made available, at no cost, by local authorities and other organisations who support and value community volunteering.
With no fixed curriculum to restrict or dictate what students can learn, tutors work independently on learning goals chosen by their students, guiding the student and ‘tailoring’ tutoring to help develop the real-world literacy skills that are relevant to each individual.
In this way and with essential resources provided by the Community Adult Literacy Foundation, volunteers actively support adult-learning in communities across Western Australia.