Of course, volunteers can’t be expected to simply sign up and start tutoring. They must be provided with initial and ongoing training (see the chapter “Tutor Training”). They must be given clear guidelines about their role and also about the staff ’s role. They must also know what they can expect in terms of support, personal safety and other considerations. Appendix 4 includes some sample job descriptions from a variety of literacy agencies.

Once the prospective volunteer has been recruited, screened, trained and assigned a learner, he becomes an integral and valuable part of the literacy agency — far more than simply unpaid labour. Working together with the learner to deliver the best possible programming, the unpaid and paid practitioners form a winning combination.