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Volunteer Vacancy: Membership Engagement

Why volunteer?  

Large scale studies suggest that 1 in 6 working age adults across the UK have low literacy skills[1]: reading, writing, speaking and listening are a barrier to full participation in everyday life for millions of adults. Around half of the population struggles to understand information, for example about their health[2]. 1 in 3 young adults do not pass English GCSE[3]; most don’t pass resits[4]. The good news is that many adults improve their literacy over the years[5].

Adult literacy tutors put learners at the heart of everything they do; RaPAL puts adult literacy at the heart of everything we do. By volunteering, you offer support to benefit learners, teachers and the wider community. Everyone at RaPAL is a volunteer.

 

[1] PIAAC, Survey of Adult Skills, 2012 (https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile) and see PIAAC, Survey of Adult Skills, 2024 due 10th December 2024; Scottish Government, Adult Literacies in Scotland 2020: Strategic guidance, 2010 (https://www.gov.scot/publications/adult-literacies-scotland-2020-strategic-guidance/pages/4/); Welsh Government Social Research, National Survey of Adult Skills in

Wales 2010, 2011 (https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/statistics-and-research/2019-01/national-survey-of-adult-skills-in-wales-2010.pdf)

[2] NIHR Evidence: Health information: are you getting your message across?; June 2022; doi: 10.3310/nihrevidence_51109 (https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/collection/health-information-are-you-getting-your-message-across/)

[3] FFT Education Datalab, GCSE results 2024: The main trends in grades and entries, 22/08/24 (https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2024/08/gcse-results-2024-the-main-trends-in-grades-and-entries/)

[4] FE Week, GCSE resits 2024: Maths pass rate up but English falls again, 19/09/24 (https://feweek.co.uk/gcse-resits-2024-maths-pass-rate-up-but-english-falls-again/)

[5] Reder, S., Gauly, B. & Lechner, C. (2020) ‘Practice makes perfect: Practice engagement theory and the development of adult literacy and numeracy proficiency’. International Review of Education 66, pp.267–288 Available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09830-5

RaPAL volunteers work remotely across the UK and Ireland. The hours are flexible, requiring 1 – 2 hours per week on average. We are currently recruiting volunteers to support our membership engagement activities in some or all of the following:

Main areas of activity

  • Work with the Chair and others
  • Post relevant content regularly online
  • Respond to members’ occasional enquiries, including welcoming new members
  • Maintain spreadsheet data and mailing lists
  • Send annual renewals
  • Report on membership activity

What we are looking for

  • An interest in the adult literacies sector
  • Good communication skills
  • Working knowledge of some or all of,
  1. word processing
  2. spreadsheets
  3. online meeting software
  4. social media
  5. website platforms
  • Willingness to learn and to complete training
  • Understanding of and commitment to RaPAL’s core values; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Data Protection; and Safeguarding.
  • The capacity to work remotely

If you're interested in volunteering in Membership Engagement, please email info@rapal.org.uk to introduce yourself and let us know why you're interested in volunteering with us and what you would bring to the role.