Issue 26 Spring 1999 Birmingham Reading Volunteers Anne Everall and Christine Hill	Collections under which this       article appears:       Projects       Libraries       Reading Related Articles or Resources Other Articles by Author

In the beginning...
During 1995, as part of a strategy to improve reading standards in the City, Birmingham celebrated a Year of Reading. A corporate strategic Reading Development Group was established to initiate new developments and ideas around reading and to co-ordinate activities throughout the year. One of the ideas was to encourage local businesses to get involved in supporting the Birmingham Year of Reading and also to find a way of enabling adults from local communities to play a part. A way of doing this, which would at the same time help to improve overall reading levels was through them becoming volunteers, helping with reading in schools. Thus the Birmingham Reading Volunteer pilot project was established. The Careers and Education Business partnership provided initial funding for the pilot and Anne Everall, Manager of Centre for the Child (Libraries and Learning Division, Birmingham City Council) in partnership with the City's Education Department and Careers and Education Business Partnership managed it.

The original aims of the project were to:

• Provide support for children's reading in schools.
• Enthuse children, and share the ethos of reading for pleasure.
• Help raise reading standards.
• Encourage businesses to participate by becoming "Reading Volunteer Employers," releasing employees on a regular basis to spend time in schools.
• Harness support from members of Birmingham's communities.
• Build upon the developing partnerships emerging through the Birmingham Year of Reading Steering Group, and in the area of reading generally.

At the close of the Year, evaluation indicated that the project had proved to be very successful in terms of the numbers of volunteers recruited, their sustained commitment, and the positive impact the activity was having on all parties involved. The partners were in strong agreement that the scheme should continue.

It was significant that the role of trained, enthusiastic adults from a spectrum of social backgrounds and cultures had been recognised as an important part of the continuous drive to develop Birmingham into a Reading City.

Funding for a further year was secured jointly from the City's Education Department, Leisure and Community Services (Libraries and Learning), Careers and Education Business Partnership, and the Core Skills Development Partnership (SRB.) The scheme was further developed in 1997 when the post of Training and Development Co-ordinator was created and Christine Hill was appointed. Her role is to guide the continuation and growth of Birmingham Reading Volunteers (BRV) in conjunction with the Project Manager and Partners. Additional funding until March 2000 was secured from Birmingham's Core Skills Development Partnership with further contributions from Birmingham City Council.

A principle of partnership
The Library Service through the Centre for the Child plays the leading role in the overall co-ordination, administration and development of the scheme. The Training & Development Co-ordinator is herself a qualified librarian and the Centre for the Child is used as the main venue for volunteer training. The important role of libraries in the development of children's literacy is a core belief of BRV. This key message is inherent in volunteer training and by anchoring the scheme in a thriving and innovative children's library, that message is further reinforced.

However, the principle of partnership is a fundamental platform of the scheme, and BRV's continued success is due in part to the flexibility of working together with a variety of organisations. BRV embraces the emergent and established networks in the City to seek advice and information, distribute publicity, and cast the net for new volunteers. Links with Equal Opportunities Advisors have been beneficial in developing a strategic marketing plan aimed at reaching sectors of Birmingham's society not traditionally involved in volunteering. Birmingham Volunteer Bureau has been instrumental in directly recruiting community volunteers. A steering group with representatives from all partners helps to ensure that the scheme moves forward in an effective way

The Careers and Education Business Partnership (CEBP), a primary partner, has been proactive in establishing and nurturing links with businesses, and developing Reading Volunteer Employers. CEBP is responsible for identifying appropriate schools, and linking volunteers with those schools.

Birmingham Education Department provides support for initial and ongoing training of volunteers. Individual schools hosting volunteers provide an introduction to the school, and first-hand guidance for volunteer activities in the classroom. Schools are responsible for authorising criminal record checks and List 99 checks on volunteers, and ensuring that individual volunteers operate within BRV's guidelines on Safe Practice.

The ethos of inter-agency co-operation, recognising areas of expertise and experience in others and incorporating elements into the partnership, has resulted in BRV remaining a relevant and responsive scheme.

Reading Volunteering: how, what, why and who?
Once recruited and trained volunteers are matched to a school close to their home or workplace. They spend regular periods of time in the classroom, sharing reading with children on a one to one or small group basis. Activities are wide-ranging, and can include some or all of the following:

• Talking with children, and enthusing about books and reading.
• Basic confidence building.
• Listening to children read.
• Reading to children.
• Storytelling.
• Creative use of stories and books.
• Providing support for Literacy Hour activities.

Although volunteers largely work in primary schools, there are currently four secondary schools and two special schools who have had volunteers for some time. This is an area for future expansion as interest is developing.

Pupils having regular contact time with volunteers benefit from the focussed attention of enthusiastic and interested reading partners. Opportunities for reading - based discussion contribute greatly to comprehension and communication skills. Many schools and volunteers identify the positive development of mentoring and friendships anchored in books and reading. Socially, volunteers can go some way to developing understanding and respect, and transcending the barriers of age, class, and culture. Other benefits such as a rise in children's confidence and self-esteem have been noted, and seemingly huge barriers have been given perspective through the medium of interested independent adults. There is increasing evidence of improvement in children's reading where they are partnered with an interested adult volunteer, particularly when that adult is not associated with previous failure. Importantly, for some children, this contact time has also initiated a change in attitude to reading and libraries and served as a catalyst for learning. In addition, a significant proportion of children in Birmingham come from backgrounds where unemployment is prevalent. Business volunteers can serve the dual purpose of providing an insight into the world of work and a positive view of working life.

In 1997, a BRV survey which was carried out showed that volunteers came from across the City. Their age range spanned 18 - 83 years and at the time of the survey almost two-thirds were over the age of 55; 85% of the volunteers were women. Since its inception, the scheme has had a number of Business Volunteers. As part of the National Year of Reading, this has been an area that we have successfully targeted for development. Three very different companies have signed up and are now thriving Reading Volunteer Employers.

British Aluminium Plate is a major manufacturing company based in the heart of the Shard End/Kitts Green Education Action Zone. Twelve employees are supported during their working day to work in four local schools for one hour each per week.

Bucknall Austin is a city centre-based company dealing in Quantity Surveying and Construction Management. Fourteen employees are working on a team-based rota to support Literacy Hour activities in a local school in the Aston/Nechells Education Action Zone.

Cadbury Ltd had 16 Managers and Senior Managers working on a rota basis to support reading in a junior school local to the company. Evaluation highlighted the popularity and effectiveness of their involvement and in February Cadbury committed an additional 15 employees to work as Reading Volunteers in another local school with a recognised need for support. Plans are also underway to spread the opportunity of Reading Volunteering to the main workforce, with the aim of providing support for other schools within the vicinity.

All volunteers must attend initial introductory training that aims:

• To put their work as volunteers into context.
• To update their knowledge of the education system and examine the reading process.
• To focus on children and their reading needs and to highlight various reading initiatives
• To raise their awareness of current trends in children's literature and reading
• To pass on the City Council's ethos of good practice in working with children and young people
• To welcome them as individuals into the wider network of Reading Volunteers and outline the support available to them
• To show appreciation for their input to the Reading Volunteer scheme

The topics covered in the initial training course include:

• Responsibilities of the various reading volunteer partners
• An outline of Birmingham City Council's guidelines on Adults in Schools and the principles of safe practice
• Confidentiality
• An overview of education in nationally and in Birmingham
• Reading Remembered (practical exercise)
• The Reading Process - what do we know about how children learn to read, reading initiatives, research around reading
• Types of reading in the classroom
• Reading a book with a child
• Choosing books for children
• Reading stories to groups of children
• Promoting Libraries
• Golden Rules

Volunteers also receive a detailed training support pack to provide further support once they are working in schools. In order to ensure that the quality of the experience that volunteers bring to the classroom is ongoing, a programme of further additional training and development is provided for them. This training encompasses current issues and initiatives, topics to develop their awareness further and training which is responsive to needs identified by the volunteers themselves. Supplementary training held for volunteers has covered the following topics:

• Desert Island Books - favourite books for children of primary age
• Sharing Stories - the value of telling and reading stories to children
• Strategies for Learning - focusing on the ways in which children learn to read and how volunteers can support this process
• National Year of Reading/Birmingham Reads - exploring the ethos of the year and looking at national and local reading initiatives
• Storytelling with Liz Weir - the value of telling stories in children's lives and the curriculum.

The Literacy Hour
Future training courses scheduled for 1999/2000 include Boys and Reading, Specific Learning Difficulties and Information Technology and Reading.

Supporting the volunteers in their work in school is very important. It provides ongoing motivation, making the volunteer feel part of a larger group with shared goals. It also enhances volunteer 'value for money' encouraging longer commitment to the scheme by individual volunteers. An ongoing support network for the volunteers is provided via the Co-ordinator. Networking and support meetings are held as part of the supplementary training programme to provide opportunities for the volunteers to meet and discuss issues of interest. All of this helps to ensure that volunteers not only provide a quality experience for the children they work with in schools but themselves feel they are supported, valued and part of a systematic approach to improving educational attainment.

Successes and benefits
Since Birmingham Reading Volunteers began in 1995, 592 volunteers have been recruited and trained, with 280 currently active in schools. It's success can be demonstrated by the commitment of the volunteers themselves, in terms of the length of time they have stayed active within the scheme which is considerably above the national average. For volunteers continuing between two and three years, the national average is 10%, for the Birmingham Reading Volunteer scheme it is 46%. Feedback from all involved partners continues to be extremely positive and highlights the benefits to them.

Businesses feel that BRV provides them with an opportunity to publicly demonstrate their commitment to literacy in Birmingham and to raise their profile among Birmingham's communities. It also effectively supports the life long learning and development of their own employees. They have recognised that volunteering has given them better staff - more outgoing, more self valuing, with increased self confidence, team building and communication skills. Employees have welcomed the opportunity to develop within the BRV framework and report the motivational activities of their Reading Volunteer activities.

Community Volunteers report many personal benefits from being involved. For some it has been a chance to give something back to the community, others have used the skills and confidence gained to lead them in new directions such as further studies or paid employment. Many have acquired or developed skills that they have subsequently transferred to their own home and family spheres, thus positively influencing their approach to sharing reading with children and young people beyond the classroom. The following is a selection of comments from the Reading Volunteers themselves:

"I am grateful for the training which I found helpful, stimulating, and interesting and I'm sure the children with whom I came into contact have benefited."
"I have really enjoyed my time spent as a Reading Volunteer. I was told it was a great help. It was a challenge to initially have a boy who was not interested in reading, after two or three weeks, when I walked in the classroom, would jump up with his book and request he be the first to read with me."
"The staff seem to appreciate the fact that a volunteer goes regularly and are very friendly. The point was made that I am the oldest person some of the children have had contact with."
"It's very satisfying to see the children gain in confidence with their reading."
"Lovely to see the children learn and grow, and to think that in some small way I'm helping to make their futures a bit better."
"Although the children I see are struggling with reading, none of them appear resentful about reading with me. They all come with a smile. Our reading sessions are as much fun for me as they are for them."
"This wonderful scheme has given me the opportunity to pass on my love of reading to others."
"I hope that in some small way I can make a difference, maybe even encourage a child to appreciate reading for enjoyment in or outside the classroom."
"Reading Volunteering has caused quite a ripple in my pond. I have started to attend an evening class, something I have been wanting to do for many years."
"I am a newcomer to the City. This scheme has helped me to make contact on so many levels. Thank you."
"My voluntary work at a Junior School and the lectures I attended through the Reading Volunteer scheme were very beneficial. I gained a lot of confidence and inspiration and was ready to resume my teaching career after an absence of eight years."

"I go every week and spend time with the same little boy. He can't say hello with words, but I feel he is welcoming me with the way he looks. I read stories to him. He seems very engaged by the whole thing, and he has his favourite stories which I read again and again. If he finds the experience even a tenth as rewarding as I do, then it is certainly worthwhile."

"A Victorian once said that unless a child has had at least one worthwhile relationship with a teacher, that child was not really at school.
The meaning was clear: it was referring to that unique and special relationship which all of us have as children when we meet an adult whom we know takes us seriously and cares and has high expectations of us. It is not a general attitude but a particular one. Nowadays children have more chance of such a relationship in school: it comes from learning/classroom assistants and other members of staff as well as teachers.
The relationship is most profitable when it is rooted in an expectation of learning. The people who give it - teachers, support staff, adult volunteers - are generous and skilful. When the learning is connected with reading, which is the key to so much other learning, the special relationship can be the key to unlocking the barriers to a child becoming a fluent, experienced, and established reader. Parents, teachers, learning assistants, adult volunteers may all be that key.
That's why adult volunteers skilled in understanding 'reading' are so important. They may be the keys to society's future health and well being."
Prof. Tim Brighouse, Chief Education Officer, Birmingham City Council

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Anne Everall is Director, Young Readers UK and Christine Hill is Training & Development Co-ordinator, Birmingham Reading Volunteers.