Helping adult learners become successful readers

The Adult Literacy Trust (ALT) believes that literacy is a right, not a privilege. Poor literacy can be a main contributor to a life of hardship, as a contributor to unemployment and inability to access benefits and services.

The Axis Foundation donated £4,766 towards ALT’s Reading Coaches programme which operates in the London Boroughs of Hackney and Southwark, recruiting and training volunteers who will help adult learners become successful readers.

“We at Adult Literacy Trust are delighted that our application for funding from the Axis Foundation has been approved. We have long admired the ethos and the approach of your grant-making and are honoured to be able to bring that to life through this very welcome grant.

“We rely entirely on the generosity of organisations such as the Axis Foundation to allow this to happen. Together, we are convinced we can make a huge difference to the life chances of so many.”  Robert Glick OBE, Chair

More about ALT

Poor literacy can be a main contributor to a life of hardship, as a contributor to unemployment and inability to access benefits and services. Conversely, improved reading skills bring profound and long-lasting improvements in employability, health and wellbeing and family and social interactions.

ALT’s Reading Coaches programme recruits and trains approximately 80 local volunteers who complement formal learning in (often overcrowded) classrooms by providing one-to-one support for 80-120 adult learners to gain the confidence to become successful readers.

They are currently working in the London boroughs of Hackney and Southwark (both boroughs have higher than UK and London averages for poverty) and plan to roll the Reading Coaches programme out across more London boroughs and also throughout the UK.

ALT partnered New City College and Mary Ward Centre to design and deliver the Reading Coaches programme. ALT’s work has been informed by experts, including from University College London, Workers’ Educational Association, and Learning & Work Institute.See more about ALT here