Read Easy Coordinator

We are looking for new Coordinators to join our team. Read Easy Coordinators are central to the running of each Read Easy group.

Are you highly organised with strong communication and people skills. Do you have time, energy and enthusiasm? Are you looking for a rewarding, flexible and challenging volunteering opportunity?

In this role you will:

• Enrol and assess new Readers
• Match Readers with Coaches
• Visit and provide ongoing support to Reading Pairs
• Collaborate and use initiative
• Keep records and use your IT literacy

To be an effective Management Team member or Coordinator, volunteers will be committed and enjoy using their own initiative. Ideally, they will also be confident, as well as passionate about helping others and bringing their community together. In general our volunteers are likely to need to have the equivalent of around one day per week to spare and some of this time needs to be within the working week in order to network with other organisations. 

The impact of learning to read is tangible for both volunteers and new readers. The phrase we hear from our new Readers time-and-time again is ‘life-changing’. But for our volunteers too the process of helping adults learn to read can have a profound effect on their lives.

If you’d like to play a key part in helping to transform the lives of adults near you, while developing existing skills and learning new ones in a supportive environment, then why not get in touch?

Would you like to help adults learn to read in your community here in Cornwall?

Read Easy launched in Cornwall in late 2022 and we are now into our second year. Looking back on the previous months we are thrilled to have been able to successfully set up a number of new Coach/Reader pairs, spread throughout Cornwall from Penzance to Bude to Liskeard, and are aiming to considerably expand this number during the rest of 2024 and into 2025. As a consequence of this we are looking to expand our team and fill some vacancies.

We are hoping to help more adults in Cornwall who need reading support. We know that there are a surprisingly large number of adults in Cornwall who can’t read or struggle with everyday reading, and we’re passionate about transforming more lives in the community through our proven, confidential programme of free, one-to-one, volunteer-led adult reading coaching.

It is believed that 2.4m adults in the UK cannot read, while 2.5m struggle to read, on a practical level, this means that even carrying out everyday tasks can be challenging, if not impossible. Many of our new readers struggle with the everyday situations that most of us take for granted such as doctor and hospital visits, filling in forms, reading with and to their children. Sadly, statutory provision, provided by local authority adult education, does not look likely to improve, with funding increasingly cut. Even where such classes are available it can be challenging for potential readers to come forward for help in a classroom environment where they are likely to have to explain their difficulties to staff. We know from experience that people who cannot read are nervous and embarrassed about joining adult learning groups. This is the motivation behind the Read Easy model: to provide accessible, free, and confidential one-to-one reading coaching wherever the need is greatest. And this why we need your help!

Becoming a volunteer for Read Easy is fun and fulfilling and requires commitment and passion. You’ll be given lots of support, meet a diverse range of people, and be part of a genuinely life-changing organisation. We know that learning to read really does change lives and being part of that process is special.

Volunteering is an exciting chance to play a key role in bringing your community together, and to make a real difference in your area, whether you’ve got existing skills you’d like to put to good use, or are looking to develop new ones, becoming a Management Team Volunteer or Coordinator can be a great chance to learn something new

Get in touch

To learn more about becoming a Read Easy Management Team Volunteer or a Volunteer Coordinator in Cornwall or to have a chat about what it entails please contact Cathy Smith, Volunteer Recruiter Cornwall on cornwallrecruiter@readeasy.org.uk.