UNISON inclusive learning e-Bulletin – June 2016

inclusivelearning e-bulletin/June 2016

JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK

Hello.

And welcome. It has been yet another busy month and well done to you all for working so hard to support and develop learning opportunities. As you can see, UNISON learning reps really help people get on at work.

Have you thought about making links with the equality reps to potentially develop some learning around equality? It’s just an idea: let us know what you think.

And do you need any help setting up a learning event?

Then why not contact us, the ULF team? We would be more than happy to help.

Please keep us posted. And remember you can also apply for Kickstart funding to help start the ball rolling.

To find out more, please contact Jon Tennison: j.tennison@unison.co.uk

CONFIDENCE SKILLS FOR YOUNG WOMEN MEMBERS Tuesday 8 - Wednesday 9 November 2016 (starts 11am on first day, finishes at 4pm second day) UNISON Centre, London A two-day training course aimed at young women members (under the age of 27 on 9 November) who want to become more active in UNISON or existing young women members who want to improve their confidence in different situations. This course will: ■ look at your strengths and areas of development ■ enable you to practise assertiveness skills ■ increase your confidence to participate in meetings/conferences ■ help you read body language to build rapport.

We will cover expenses including travel, accommodation and childcare.

To register your interest in attending, please email learningandorganising@unison.co.uk or phone 020 7121 5116.

Please note: application forms will be sent out early September.

Martin Russo, Inclusive Learning Project Manager

LAOS FRINGE MEETING AT NDC 2016 Thursday 23 June, 12.45pm – 1.45pm Syndicate 1, Brighton Centre Learning in the workplace – strengthening our union – supporting the organising agenda Speakers: Liz Rees, Director, unionlearn; Ruth Spellman, Chief Executive, WEA; Jane Eyre, UNISON ULR, Blackpool Health Chair: Chris Tansley, Chair, UNISON Development and Organising Committee With our member learning programme and Union Learning Fund resources, we are uniquely placed to help workers gain confidence and skills not only for their job and personal development but also to get active in the union.

DIARY DATE

Supporting Learners Day Tuesday 13 September 2016

For further information contact: 020 7121 5116 Follow us on facebook /unisonlearning Follow us on twitter @unisonlearning

inclusivelearning e-bulletin/June 2016 SASA SEVIC

JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK

JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK

New agreement

Information station

Classroom CPD

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Health Branch is running a series of roadshows this month to promote learning and development opportunities to staff at the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust.

ULR Thamby Rajah ran a UNISON information stall at the staff drop-in fair at London’s Whittington Hospital, which was organised by the learning and development team at the Trust to mark Learning At Work Week last month.

Bridges to Learning, the UNISON partnership with the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), has helped north-east schools staff develop their emotional intelligence for the classroom at a half-day workshop.

The branch is promoting the new learning agreement it has signed with the mental health and disability Trust, which is one of the largest in the country, employing 6,000 staff across 60-plus sites.

“The idea behind the agreement is to encourage employees to engage in a broad range of learning opportunities to develop their own potential,” says Joint Branch Secretary Susie Taylor.

The agreement sets up a learning committee with representatives from all the unions and the employer to identify learning needs, develop strategies, monitor and evaluate the agreement and support the ULRs. The branch has set up its own network of UNISON ULRs, which will be developing an action plan once the roadshows are over. The agreement provides for reasonable paid time off for ULRs to carry out their role.

“Staff picked up a lot of information about all the learning available through UNISON, and we handed out recruitment forms to those who weren’t union members,” Thamby says.

“Most people were wanting to do something for their own personal development, not something identified through their Personal Development Review (PDR).”

The stall also offered information about learning opportunities through online platforms such as FutureLearn, edX, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) run by universities, BBC Learning Zone, TED, Khan Academy, Memrise and Duolingo.

The local provider the branch has been working with also brought details of dance and yoga courses it is offering for active well-being as well as English, maths and IT courses.

Delivered by award-winning WEA tutor Margaret McCormick in Darlington in March, the workshop explored: ■ the importance of emotional quotient (EQ) and its impact on reasoning measurements such as IQ; ■ how schools staff could use their own emotional intelligence to improve communication with pupils; ■ how to encourage children to become more aware of their own feelings and the impact of their emotions on their learning and behaviour.

The workshop proved popular with participants, says Bridges to Learning Director Anne Hansen.

“Through Bridges to Learning, we feel that we are giving UNISON members some good Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to help them do their jobs better, which is what they want.”

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For further information contact: 020 7121 5116