Why volunteering matters for children’s literacy

We want every child to read. But right now, we’re not reaching them all. 

Across the country, demand from schools for one-to-one reading support continues to grow – and volunteer recruitment isn’t keeping up. That means too many children who would benefit from extra support are missing out, putting them at a greater risk of falling behind. 

This National Year of Reading, we’ve partnered with leading literacy charities: Chapter One, Coram Beanstalk and Schoolreaders as part of The Literacy Link, to shine a light on scale of the impact volunteers are already making – and the urgent need for more people to step forward. 

Read on to find out more about the rising demand for reading volunteers and how you can help. 

The growing gap in reading support

Last academic year alone, across the four Literacy Link charities, 9,832 trained volunteers worked incredibly hard, delivering 464,895 hours of support, and reaching 46,907 children across 2,566 primary schools. 

That’s thousands of volunteers taking time to support children’s reading confidence, skills and love of reading – we couldn’t be more grateful. 

But there are still thousands of children still waiting, and with school budgets stretched too thin to hire additional support, urgent action is needed to prevent children being left behind. 

As our Interim CEO Frankie Smith explains: 

“Across our schools, demand for one-to-one reading support continues to exceed capacity. At Bookmark alone, we need around 25% more volunteers to meet current demand from schools.” 

Without urgent action, more children will be left behind.

Why one-to-one reading support matters

When a child receives one‑to‑one support from a volunteer, it often fills a gap that can transform their learning journey and beyond. 

Many children don’t have an adult at home who can regularly read with them. In fact, nearly half of parents don’t read with their children* – due to lack of time, confidence or access to books. For these children, a volunteer may be the only adult who can sit down with them each week to read, talk and listen. 

A teacher from a Bookmark partner school shared: ​‘The children we tend to put forward are the ones who never read at home, haven’t got a good role model, haven’t got language and need someone to talk to and experience words and pictures.” 

Without the support of their reading volunteer, children risk falling further behind which can impact their life well beyond school.

What the data shows about one-to-one volunteer support

And we see that transformation clearly in our own data and across the Literacy Link partnership.

Last academic year, teachers consistently report improvements in children’s attitudes, behaviours and skills: 

• 96% of teachers noticed an increase in reading confidence
• 73% of teachers noticed children reading more often
• 86% of teachers noticed an increase in children’s reading skills 

One teacher from a Bookmark partner school shared: 

“[Reading with their volunteers] has made such a positive difference to their assessment results in reading. All of the children have looked forward to their sessions. We must congratulate the volunteers on the fantastic, supportive, positive and professional relationships that they have created with the pupils.” 

Last academic year, across the Literacy Link charities:

• 84% of teachers reported improved reading fluency
• 67% saw better comprehension
• 94% reported improved communication and oracy skills
• 94% saw increased reading confidence

This is why one-to-one support matters. It’s not just about helping a child catch up, it’s about changing how they feel about reading and themselves.

Coming together to support children’s literacy

Each Literacy Link charity delivers reading support in different ways – online, in schools, through community, corporate or youth volunteers – but we are united by the same goal: to get more children reading. 

And across all our programmes, the evidence consistently points in the same direction: trained volunteers, giving regular time to a struggling reader, make a real and measurable difference to children’s reading ability, confidence, enjoyment and motivation. 

The impact on volunteers

The impact doesn’t stop with children. Across the four Literacy Link charities: 

• 98% of volunteers would recommend the experience 
• Around 80% report a greater sense of purpose or life satisfaction 

Volunteers often tell us how meaningful it feels to know that, once a week, they are providing something a child might not otherwise receive. 

Volunteer Ruth shared: ​“The satisfaction that you’ve got after, you know, completing a really good session with the children and, you know, when they’re communicating back and they’re enjoying what they’re doing, it’s just wonderful.” 

Bookmark volunteer Ollie also reflects on the rewarding feeling you get from seeing your reader progress: ​“Volunteering with Bookmark is incredibly rewarding, and especially because of the time frame of the programmes in that they take place over a number of weeks, you can really get a palpable sense of how the time you’re giving and the lessons that you’re imparting are really, really impactful. And often you see it in various ways in my experience: it’s in the very small ways like more confidence in reading, or it’s a knowing the sort of way to say a certain word that might be tricky.” 

How you can help improve children’s literacy

These figures are being released during the National Year of Reading, where there is a national drive to recruit 100,000 volunteers. 

With only one in four children in England leaving primary school unable to read well, and 10% of pupils who fall behind at primary school going on to pass GCSE English and Maths**, the importance of early, targeted intervention can’t be overstated. 

You can be part of that change.

By giving just a small amount of time each week, you can help a child build the confidence, skills and love of reading that will shape their future.

*National Literacy Trust. 

**Education Endowment Foundation.