UNISON – THE LEARNING UNION
SUMMER 2010 IN THIS ISSUE
Health staff get skills checkups Young people: you’re hired! Opening up higher education Return to Learn arrives on stage
Get the recipe SS FOR LEARNING SUCCE
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32 UNISON ULearn magazine Editor: Martin Moriarty, martinmoriarty@mac.com
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Design: www.design-mill.co.uk Cover picture: Andrew Wiard
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WELCOME 04 Four pages of news, awards and UNISON initiatives 08 Helping low-paid NHS staff get the most out of KSF 10 Why Skills for Life is an equalities issue 14 Healthworkers get their careers on track through UNISON 16 Reading branch serves up cookery courses 18 Banner Theatre helps us spread the lifelong learning message 20 De Montfort University branch boosts workplace learning 22 UNISON Power branch grows through learning 24 ULR Portrait: Julian Price and Jason Whitwell from Gwent Healthcare branch 26 Progress your career with the UNISON/Open University partnership 28 Glasgow transport workers celebrate lifelong learning award 30 All you need to know about public sector apprenticeships 32 How to use the new right to request time to train 34 Resources: all the new booklets, leaflets, briefings and guides
Everyone knew life wasn’t going to be easy for the public services, regardless of who won the election: after all, all the political parties seemed to agree during the campaign about how they would be making deep cuts in public finances afterwards. But now we know exactly what we’re facing – a planned tsunami of public spending cuts, wage cuts and redundancies, in the words of UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis. We will resist those plans, not simply because they would spell disaster for our members and the vulnerable people they serve but because they make no economic sense at all and risk undermining the recovery. But there’s something else UNISON branches can do – and that’s promote more learning opportunities to our members and potential members.
“We can offer our members practical help by encouraging them to take advantage of the wide range of learning opportunities” At a time when our members are facing enormous insecurity at work, we can offer them practical, concrete help by encouraging them to take advantage of the wide range of learning opportunities now available through UNISON. They may need help and support to tackle Skills for Life issues and improve their reading, writing and maths – we can help them with that. People with fresh literacy and numeracy qualifications stand a better chance of staying in work.
AMANDA KENDAL
Contents
Sue Highton
They may want to undertake professional training to help them do a different job – we can help them with that too. Continuous Professional Development courses can help union members develop their careers in ways that work for them. Or they may want to tackle higher-level education, perhaps through the Open University – we can help them do that, too. Our partnership with the OU has helped hundreds of our members move on already. I hope that UNISON members and activists will take inspiration from the stories in this new edition of Ulearn and recognise that, whatever goes on in the political arena, learning can offer a whole range of opportunities to transform the lives of individuals and local branches.
Sue Highton, chair of the NEC Development and Organisation Committee of UNISON’s National Executive Council
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LIFELONG LEARNING
NIACE to sign you, to sign you NIACE!
UNISON GENERAL SECRETARY DAVE PRENTIS AND NIACE’S RACHEL THOMSON (CENTRE) SIGN THE MEMORANDUM, WATCHED BY UNISON HEAD OF LEARNING AND ORGANISING PAM JOHNSON
UNISON has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with adult learning campaigning body NIACE which aims to encourage even more people to improve their skills and to influence the wider learning agenda.
Signed in front of 700 people at UNISON’s 2010 Women’s Conference in Gateshead, the memorandum commits both organisations to helping improve access to learning opportunities, especially for adults in groups that are under-represented in current provision. “We are proud to have signed this memorandum and especially proud to have done so at the Women’s Conference, as it is women who have particularly benefited from UNISON’s learning agenda,” says UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis. “UNISON shares with NIACE its commitment to lifelong learning and welcomes this as an opportunity to work together to engage more people in learning and influence and shape the learning agenda.” NIACE Senior Programme Director Rachel Thomson is delighted that Britain and Europe’s largest public sector union has shown its commitment to adult learning by signing the memorandum. “This agreement is a welcome development along the learning journey we are making together: through its extensive network of union learning reps, introducing learning in the workplace has been a priority for UNISON for many years,” she says. n
GET IT FAST UNISON has sponsored a range of titles in the NIACE Fast Facts series of booklets, which contain key information relevant to various particular sectors and are designed to fit into a top pocket or purse. The booklets are ideal aids for people who don’t have instant access to a dictionary, textbook, calculator or spell-checker. The sectors covered are: • Direct Care for Elders • Catering in the NHS • Early Years Child Care • Health Professionals • Healthcare Assistants • Hospital Domestic Staff
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• Street/Refuse and Recycling Operatives • Teaching Assistants We have a limited supply of the booklets and are keen for them to be used at targeted events for these sectors. Please contact Learning & Workforce Development Officer Davinder Sandhu for more information. Email: D.Sandhu@unison.co.uk n
ROUNDUP
TRAINING COMPETITION
ULF RATES OUR INFORMAL LEARNING
O.UK
COMEDIAN LENNY HENRY PRESENTED UNISON WITH THE ULF AWARD FOR INFORMAL ADULT LEARNING
L.C ORTDIGITA
Sunderland City Council’s union learning reps helped ensure the authority won £10 million worth of training when it took first prize in a competition run by international computer giant Microsoft. The Britain Works Challenge offered councils across the country up to 100,000 Microsoft Training Vouchers with which to devise effective programmes to address unemployment and availability of digital skills in the local community. The first prize, which includes 100,000 Essential Skills vouchers, 5,000 Business Worker vouchers plus 2,500 exam fees and 2,500 Technical Specialist vouchers plus 1,000 exam fees, is worth around £10 million in total. Sunderland UNISON ULR Co-ordinator Howard Fawcett persuaded the authority to enter the competition late last year, and was part of the team that presented the bid at Microsoft’s London headquarters in February. “I was able to tell them that the 3,000 ULRs in the region, already responsible for 43 learning programmes in 100 organisations, would be able to sustain and take forward IT learning in the area if the prize money was won,” Howard says. “As a union co-ordinator, I have been able to build up the will here that made the bid possible and it will be fantastic to be able to forge ahead with all this extra funding.” n
EP SS HURD/R PHOTOS: JE
ULRs help North-East council win big bucks
UNISON’s informal adult learning projects have helped the union secure one of 12 awards to mark the first 12 years of the Union Learning Fund. Comedian and lifelong learner Lenny Henry presented UNISON with the informal adult learning award when the Union Learning Fund hosted a glittering ceremony in March 2010 to recognise the contributions of the key projects it has supported in its first 12 years of existence. UNISON’s informal adult learning programme has included the Living Books project in the North-West, debt awareness workshops in the South-West, short course Continuous Professional Development in Northern Ireland and the Black and minority ethnic members into management workshop. In the North-East, the union’s Bridges to Learning project uses informal adult learning to engage hard-toreach learners in local government and health. The project runs Return to Learn courses, with embedded Skills for Life – around 60 per cent of all Return to Learn students progress to further learning opportunities. It also delivers taster sessions in each of the Bridges to Learning workplaces six times per year to generate interest in progression routes through to higher level skills. “The project recognises the profound importance of informal adult learning to people’s lives and well-being: informal learning can be an important stepping stone to further learning, qualifications and more rewarding work,” says Bridges to Learning Director Anne Hansen. n
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LEDU PROJECT
UNISON wins more support for flagship project
23,728 579 number of learners supported on courses
number of apprentices backed
JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
UNISON has secured the money to extend its Learning, Equality and Diversity in UNISON (LEDU) project for a further two years from the Union Learning Fund (ULF). In addition, the Scottish TUC and the Scottish Executive have funded two UNISON learning posts until May 2011, and the Welsh Assembly has backed five three-year UNISON projects to promote learning in health, local government and the third sector across Wales. The new ULF project will support further branch-based activity to recruit ULRs, set up branch education teams, and offer learning opportunities to UNISON members and potential members. It will also maximise the ability of branches to link the learning agenda to the key industrial relations issues facing the branch, including tackling the effects of recession and redundancy. The project will again focus on developing strong awareness of Skills for Life, with pilots developed in the previous project publicised and available in accessible form to ULRs.
A new toolkit which brings together good ideas about setting up informal adult learning is being developed over the first year that will include straightforward “how-to� information, links to providers and a wide range of ideas, from living libraries (see p13) to credit crunch cookery (pp16-17) to photography and political education. In addition, the union will be developing progression routes for learners through partnership with the Open University and other providers, including short Continuing Professional Development courses which can be run in branches for key groups including school support staff. For more information about how to get projects started, please contact your regional learning organiser or get in touch with Education Officer Joanna Cain at Mabledon Place. Email: j.cain@unison.co.uk n
1,790
number helped onto Open University courses
330
number of ULRs sent on second stage courses
LEARNINGBYNUMBERS UNISON ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE PAST TWO YEARS:
113 2,000
number of learning agreements signed with employers 6
number of new members recruited at learning events
84
number of branches directly funded to create or strengthen branch education teams
925
number of trained union learning reps across the union
ROUNDUP
PROMOTING EQUALITY
PHILIP WOLMUTH
NEWHAM COUNCIL STAFF HAVE ACCESSED SKILLS FOR LIFE LEARNING WITH THE HELP OF THE ULRS AT THE AUTHORITY
London calling A pioneering project in two London boroughs has shown the work that still needs to be done to tackle learning inequalities UNISON’s London Region has completed a pioneering project aimed at achieving genuine equality of learning opportunity in the public sector workforce. The Voice For All project brought together ULRs and learning and development staff in the London Boroughs of Newham and Waltham Forest to look into workforce training needs – the first time a union and employers have collaborated in this way. The objective was to identify inequalities in access to training and development opportunities, with UNISON and both employers committed to examining the detail of the findings and developing an action plan to address learning and development inequality. The project aimed to further develop the union’s “whole organisation” workplace partnership model, which recognises learning as an equalities issue, and to raise the profile of the union’s learning reps in the workplace. A 20-strong team of ULRs from the two authorities, specifically trained for the project, ensured over 260 learning surveys were completed across both boroughs to record the
development opportunities staff had taken in the past and present and to identify development aspirations for the future. The results were then passed on to the College of North East London (CONEL) for analysis, which revealed that pay grade significantly determines the type of training workers are offered. While most staff on the lower grades had had access to learning, this was mostly either mandatory and/or short non-accredited training; while higher up the salary scale, training was of a longer period and more career developmental. “We will be having further discussions with both Waltham Forest and Newham around the detailed findings of the survey which we hope will lead to better skill development opportunities being offered to staff,” says Regional Education Officer Les Perkins. “We hope to convince other branches and employers that the method used in the project is an extremely useful tool particularly linked to equality and diversity opportunities, not forgetting workforce development plans that we are hoping become a common industrial relations issue.” n 7
UNISON and the Workers’ Educational Association are helping administrative and support staff in NHSScotland get the most out of the Knowledge and Skills Framework
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PAUL BOX/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
UNISON and the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) have launched the second phase of their pilot programme to help low-paid NHSScotland staff get to grips with the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF). Phase one ran a series of one-day courses called KSF Skills Essentials in 2009 to help people understand individual core dimensions of the KSF, since research had shown significant numbers of staff in Bands 1-4 needed support to put together evidence of skills and learning as part of their KSF Professional Development Review (PDR) and many didn’t have a Personal Development Plan. Around 300 staff took part in the pilot, which successfully delivered 31 courses across 12 NHS Boards, providing valuable support to staff in the target groups. “Anything we can do to help lower-paid people in the workplace to make the most of the KSF process is a good thing for the members, for the union and for the NHS in Scotland,” says John Keggie, UNISON Scotland’s Regional Manager responsible for lifelong learning. Phase two of the programme targets staff in Bands 1-3 and their managers and concentrates on how KSF Skills Essentials can be integrated into existing systems and provision at local level. The courses, which are delivered during work time in the workplace, are available in a flexible mix of styles and formats depending on what’s agreed at local level to best meet the needs of participating staff groups. “We want to clarify the language, the
Getting down to the KSF
essentials jargon and the process, and help people see how things can be done in a fairly straightforward, uncomplicated way,” explains WEA Return To Learn Co-ordinator David Howie. “We’ll be using some of the elements that worked really well last year but we’ll also be adding in some different elements that we
CASE STUDIES
hope will help people move through the KSF more easily.” The programme has prompted a positive response and high level of commitment from organisations in NHSScotland, David says. “We ran two courses for 24 people up in Shetland recently, and the employers closed reception and one of the health centres to enable staff to take part,” says David. The NHS Boards participating in the second phase of the pilot have been asked to survey the KSF PDRs of staff who attend the KSF Skills Essentials courses to measure the impact of attendance on participation in the review process. The results could prove very useful when funding for the pilot runs out, to help convince the NHS Boards themselves to fund further work in this area (the Scottish government has declined to make more centralised money available).
“The programme has prompted a positive response and high level of commitment from organisations in NHSScotland”
about the e r o m t u o Find tland at .uk o c S in A E W otland.org www.weasc
“Over the last ten years in Scotland, UNISON and the WEA have levered a lot of money for learning that’s gone into a lot of public sector workplaces, and a lot of NHS Boards and local authorities have benefited to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of learning,” says David. John Keggie agrees. “The KSF Skills Essentials project is one of a number of workplace learning initiatives UNISON has run or supported in Scotland: we are determined to put some pressure back on employers to match the commitments UNISON and our members have made.” n
BE MY BUDDY Branches can get lots of good advice about how to develop and support their activists in the new UNISON booklet, Developing and supporting workplace representatives: A guide for branches. The guide is packed with useful tips and concrete advice to help branches guard against the burnout and disillusion that can lead isolated workplace reps to throw in the towel. “Our objective is to ensure that we have reps who are trained and active across every workplace where there are UNISON members,” says General Secretary Dave Prentis in his foreword. The guide suggests branches develop the approach to buddying and mentoring that is likely to work best for them, and it shows smaller branches how to set up informal buddy systems and larger, wellorganised branches how to establish formal mentoring schemes.
Buddies are experienced existing reps or branch officers who have completed the appropriate training about how best to support and encourage newer reps – experienced ULRs can buddy new learning reps. Mentors play a similar role, but as well as supporting and encouraging new reps, mentors are trained to help with problemsolving and coaching reps through difficult situations. The booklet includes templates for activist development, a mentoring diary, and a checklist for setting up buddying/mentoring schemes in the branch. n
ur copy from You can download yoba 19013.pdf unison.org.uk/acro t/ 9
JANINA STRUK/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
o t k c a b g n Goi
basics A new Skills for Life strategy is empowering members to take part in union activities by encouraging branches to understand literacy and numeracy are all about equality and inclusion Everyone at work needs to have good Skills for Life. We need to be able to read health and safety information, take phone messages, make notes in meetings, write reports, use computers, calculate percentages, read timetables and check our payslips. All of this is has become even more important in the current economic climate: members with Skills for Life needs are at higher risk of disciplinary action or redundancy and, what’s worse, may not 10
even be aware of their rights when they find themselves in these situations. That’s why UNISON is in the process of implementing a comprehensive Skills for Life strategy, which will: • embed literacy, language, numeracy and functional IT issues in the mainstream training of members and activists; • produce guidance on how to address Skills for Life issues in the workplace; • develop innovative learning opportunities to address Skills for Life issues.
The Br it Associa ish Dyslexia t is full o ion style guid f e for pre useful advice p and we aring docume bsites. nts tinyurl. com/l4 3y2q
SKILLS FOR LIFE
PROMOTING SKILLS FOR LIFE IN THE WORKPLACE Many branches are already doing excellent work to promote Skills for Life in the workplace. At the ABM University NHS Trust in Wales, the Connecting Health Through Learning Project has ensured workers are enrolled on appropriate courses when Skills for Life needs are identified in staff appraisals, and UNISON ULRs regularly accompany less confident members to introduce them to tutors and the learning process. “This gives the member of staff the feeling of confidence and improves their skills, and the managers are willing to let the staff have time off to attend as they are improving the skills that they need to do their job well,” explains the project’s Ruth Gates. In addition, Connecting Health Through Learning also works with nursing staff and students to improve their maths skills around drip rates and dosage calculations. “Even though some qualified staff will have qualifications in maths, they have lost some skills and confidence in applying the maths skills needed for their roles: the project provides tutor support for help in completing an online course, with explanations around the maths if needed,” explains Ruth.
THE CONNECTING HEALTH THROUGH LEARNING PROJECT HELPS ENSURE ABM UNIVERSITY NHS STAFF CAN ACCESS SKILLS FOR LIFE TRAINING IN THE WORKPLACE
“We’re looking at embedding literacy, numeracy, language and IT issues within all UNISON training and development for members and activists,” explains UNISON Learning & Workforce Development Officer Davinder Sandhu. “We want to encourage our members to engage in learning to help them progress within their workplaces, to feel more confident and to be more active within the union,” she says. A series of surveys to establish a Skills for Life baseline for the union is helping to paint a fuller picture of UNISON’s members and their Skills for Life needs. For instance, while 70 per cent of respondents at the 2009 National Delegate Conference had at least Level 2 qualifications, 49 per cent were interested in training on report writing, while 32 per cent wanted help with working out calculations. In addition, smaller-scale surveys at the women’s, health and cleaners’ conferences suggest members with Level 2 qualifications or above tend to be more active in UNISON, which implies the union could do more to encourage wider participation. As part of an ongoing review of activist education, the union is ensuring Skills for Life issues are addressed on courses as they are updated as well as developing new provision.
“We want to encourage our members to engage in learning to help them progress within their workplaces” Already, for example, new Skills for Life case studies and activities have been included in the Information, Advice & Guidance (IAG) in the Workplace Course to better equip ULRs to support members with literacy and numeracy issues. In addition, the union has successfully piloted a new workshop, Guide To Initial Assessment For ULRs, which explains the various Skills for Life levels and examines different assessment tools, as well as 11
“It’s about raising awareness and encouraging people to think about Skills for Life in the same way they do about gender or ethnicity” showing how Skills for Life links to workplace performance and why it’s a union issue. The workshop can be used as part of awareness-raising or be offered as additional training for ULRs. And the new two-day Dealing With Paperwork course (aimed at national committee members) identifies how to organise complex information, examines different styles of writing and practises skimming, scanning and speed reading techniques. A one-day course for all activists will also be available. The course has gone down well with activists who took part in a pilot. A Health Service Group Executive member said they learned different ways to deal with their volume of paperwork; while a National Women’s Committee member said increasing her reading speed would be very relevant back at the branch. What’s crucial in all of this is that branches treat Skills for Life as they would any other equalities issue – members with Skills for Life needs can be excluded from learning opportunities and career development just as workers in other under-represented groups are. “It’s about raising awareness and encouraging people to think about Skills for Life in the same way they do about, say, gender or ethnicity – it’s all about inclusion and equality and empowering members at all levels to feel they can take part in UNISON activities,” says Davinder. n 12
Patrick takes skills prize Belfast mental health worker Patrick O’Neill was highly commended in the trade union learner category at this year’s Department for Employment and Learning’s (DEL’s) Essential Skills Learners Awards. Patrick, who is a mental health care assistant in Knockbracken, undertook Essential Skills Level 2 Literacy with the support of UNISON, his line manager Donna Matson and the Belfast Trust. Before he returned to learning, Patrick had struggled with alcohol addiction and stopped believing in himself, but despite a short relapse, he finished the course and is now keen to move on to maths and computers. “This is the second year in a row in which a UNISON member has secured an award
acknowledging the role which we play in supporting members to access new opportunities,” says Northern Ireland Education Officer (Lifelong Learning) Fidelma Carolan. n
BBC TV PRES ENTER SARA H TRAVERS CON GRATULATES PATRICK O'N EILL ON HIS ESSENTIAL SK ILLS AWARD
TOP TIPS
HOW TO MAKE YOUR DOCUMENTS SKILLS FOR LIFE-FRIENDLY • Set font size to 12pt or 14pt – anything smaller is hard to read. • Use a clear font: we recommend Arial; Century Schoolbook, Plantin, Helvetica, Tahoma or Comic Sans are also popular. • Bold is better for emphasis than UPPER CASE in copy. • Dark coloured backgrounds make text harder to read: blue and purple are particularly difficult. • Learners with dyslexia find pastel colours helpful: black text on white paper is the hardest to read. • White space around text makes it easier to read: set line spacing to 1.5. • Pictures and photographs can make text more engaging – but don’t place them in the middle of a paragraph. • Jargon-busters and full glossaries are useful.
CASE STUDIES
GENERAL SECRETARY DAVE PRENTIS TAKES A LESSON IN DJ-ING FROM PROJECT 29 FOUNDER ANWAR HAQ, WATCHED BY UNISON HEAD OF POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIZ SNAPE
Don’t
touch that dial! Backed by its local UNISON branch, a new community radio station in Bury is planning to broadcast the stories told by union members later this year When Bury Local Government Branch organised a training course to help more members become living books (people who talk about their life experiences in one-to-one sessions in libraries), the obvious choice of venue was local charity group Project 29. It was perfect fit: Project 29, which includes a conventional multi-faith library of its own, aims to promote learning and community cohesion, making it an ideal venue for training for the living library initiative, where individuals can “borrow” people to hear their stories of overcoming prejudice and disadvantage. Bury Branch Membership Officer Carl Jakeway says the course was a success, with more members trained to lend themselves out at living library events in the future (one has already been borrowed from an event in a Rochdale library). But there’s a bigger prize on the horizon for the branch’s living books: Project 29 has
t Find out more abou Project 29 at .org.uk www.project29
DAVE PRENTIS AND PROJECT 29 FOUNDER ANWAR HAQ
started its own community radio station, Project Radio, and plans to invite UNISON’s living books to broadcast when the station goes live again in the autumn. The branch has supported Project 29 from the beginning. “Since they’ve been running the project, we’ve been helping them out with doing the photocopying for their advertising to save them some money,” Carl says. And now the branch has increased its investment by buying and donating a transmitter to link the station to the outside world (when the station began broadcasting on temporary licences, it had to pay to hire a transmitter every time). It’s Project 29’s links to local young people (it does a lot of work with local colleges) that particularly interest the Bury Branch. “We believe that young people are very important because they’ll be tomorrow’s employees, and while they can be very knowledgeable about politics, they often don’t know a lot about the trade union movement,” Carl says. “So with the purpose of keeping the point of being in a trade union in the public’s mind, we thought young people were a good target we should reach out to, whether or not they go to work in a place where they can join a trade union.” UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis was very impressed when he visited Project 29 earlier this year. Not only was he shown round the radio studio, and promised an interview when it was back on the air, but he was even given his very first lesson in how to be a DJ. n 13
routine it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and it was really interesting to focus not only on patient care but on a variety of subjects within healthcare,” she says. Finding the time to keep up with the course work was a real commitment. “Because I work full-time – I do 12.5-hour shifts three times a week – I did find it very difficult to fit it in, but I tended to study on my days off because that was the only way to get anything done,” she says.
PHOTO: ROY PETERS
“If you persevere you’ll get there in the end – and you’ll get all the help you need” “Now that I’ve completed the course, I feel great – it was a challenge that I’ve come through, and I feel like I’ve accomplished something in my life.” Adinah’s ultimate goal is a nursing qualification, which is why she’s currently improving her English and will be brushing up her maths as well. “I left school with no qualifications, because I didn’t have the motivation at the time – if someone had given me a push in the right direction I think I would have succeeded more,” she explains. “So I’m starting from scratch and working my way back to the level I want to further my career and get where I want to.” Adinah’s been able to rely on support from her UNISON union learning rep Mary Locke throughout her learning journey. “It was Mary who told me about the K101 course, and I still talk to her a lot: I send her a text or go to see her if there’s anything I need to know,” she says. Adinah often finds herself having conversations with co-workers who are interested in trying the courses she’s done, and she always encourages them to follow in her footsteps. “If you really want something in life, you will go out and do it, you won’t let anything stop you: you might find it difficult at the
s r e k r o w h Healtcareers on track get their
UNISON healthworkers are progressing in their careers and taking on more union responsibilities with the support of the union’s learning programmes REHABILITATION ASSISTANT ADINAH WEBB (ABOVE) IS PROUD OF WHAT SHE’S ACCOMPLISHED BY COMPLETING HER OPEN UNIVERSITY HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE COURSE
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Midlands health service worker Adinah Webb is taking the steps she needs to prepare for a nursing qualification by learning through UNISON. Adinah, who works as a rehabilitation assistant at Moseley Hall Hospital in Birmingham, took The Open University Introduction to Health and Social Care course K101 last year after completing her NVQ Level 3 in 2008. “It was a bit of a struggle at the beginning but once I got into it and set myself a
CASE STUDIES JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
beginning but if you persevere you’ll get there in the end – and you’ll get all the help you need,” she says. Sue Beeston used to be a quiet hospital cleaner who kept herself to herself – until she started learning with UNISON. Her learning journey began ten years ago, when she noticed a poster at Ipswich Hospital (where she worked as a cleaner) offering places on a UNISON Return to Learn course. “I’d been doing my job as a cleaner for quite a few years and I wanted to go for a supervisor’s job but I hadn’t got the confidence to get on with people and communicate properly with them, so I thought ‘This would be good for me, this might take me somewhere’,” she recalls. Her mother died just as she started the course, but Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) tutor Diane Sawyer encouraged her not to give up her place. “Diane was a wonderful person – she said ‘I know it’s hard, but you need something to fill that time’: she was so inspiring, she pushed me all the way through that course and people were beginning to see a different me at the end of it,” Sue says. Once Sue got started there was no stopping her. She reached Return to Learn Level 3, and completed Women’s Lives and a creative writing course as well, becoming Norwich College’s Adult Learner of the Year in 2004. “It’s like you’ve got a buzz inside you and you just want to keep doing more and more: I’ve just signed up to do a bereavement counselling course myself – I’d have never dreamt of doing that, but that’s me: I’ve changed!” she laughs. Just as many other learners have found, Sue realised she wanted to become a union learning rep herself to help her co-workers realise their own potential. “I enjoy the ULR role: to see people bettering themselves is wonderful,” she says. “I’ve recently enrolled a cleaner on a Return to Learn course to help build her confidence. She’s really good at her job,
and she could be a supervisor herself, but she lacks confidence,” Sue says. “When I said I thought she could be a supervisor, she said ‘No I can’t’ but I told her ‘Never say you can’t until you try’ so she’s put her name down and she’s going on the course and I’m going to follow her through and see how she does because I think she’s got it in her.” As well as encouraging co-workers onto courses, Sue is also helping build UNISON at the hospital as part of a concerted effort by the branch to organise and grow.
IPSWICH HOSPITAL HOUSEKEEPER SUE BEESTON ENCOURAGES EVERYONE TO TAKE UP LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
“It’s like you’ve got a buzz inside you and you just want to keep doing more and more” “Our branch used to be a bit dormant but we’ve been building it up over the past two or three years: we have a branch secretary, a health and safety rep and two ULRs including me, and I’m doing my first Find out more about steward’s course as well,” she says. UNISON courses at/laos “I’ve recruited quite a few members, www.unison.org.uk and other people are recruiting as well and I think we’re doing quite well.” Thanks to workplace learning through UNISON, Sue is much more confident and outgoing these days. “I can’t thank UNISON enough – I want to shout from the rooftops that if I can do it, anyone can do it!” n 15
Add a dash of
numeracy A new cookery course has all the ingredients to spice up your informal learning programme
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WIARD PHOTOS: ANDREW
Reading Borough UNISON Branch has a novel way of developing people’s appetite for Skills for Life – it’s serving up cookery courses with the “secret ingredient” of numeracy tips. “We decided to run cookery classes when we surveyed our members asking what sort of courses they’d be interested in and cookery was the most popular,” explains Reading UNISON Assistant Branch Secretary Pat Kenny. The branch piloted UNISON’s new six-week Credit Crunch Cookery course earlier this year, with the aim of showing members how to cook healthy meals to a budget and encouraging them onto other UNISON courses, including Skills for Life. The tutor was chef Kevin Muhammed, who won national recognition when he appeared on Channel 4 cookery show Iron Chef UK (see “Kevin serves up winning dish” sidebar). The course embeds discussions on organic food, food packaging and recycling alongside numeracy issues such as converting between imperial and metric measurements, calculating cost per head and managing portion control. ULR Roy Leader says members needed just one class to develop a taste for the course. “They’ve now expressed a desire to sign up to other courses and already roped in other colleagues,” he said. “We were so impressed with the way Kevin
READING BRANCH ORGANISED COOKING DEMONSTRATIONS WITH CHEF KEVIN MUHAMMED FOR ADULT LEARNERS’ WEEK AFTER REQUESTS FROM MEMBERS FOR COOKERY COURSES
“When we asked our members what courses they were interested in, cooking was the most popular” led the Credit Crunch Cookery course and we got such good feedback from participants, that we asked him to come back to Reading to do a demonstration during Adult Learners’ Week,” Pat says. About 30 people attended Kevin’s lunchtime demonstrations and tasting sessions, featuring both Caribbean and classic Italian cuisine, plus another nine took part in a family cooking session one evening. The sessions went down a treat with participants. “Most people asked when we’re going to do new courses,” says Pat.
CASE STUDIES PHOTO: CHANNEL 4
“Adult Learners’ Week really raised our profile – we’re getting emails every day asking when we’re putting on new courses” more information,
For “We’re getting him back again this nder Sandhu. vi Da t ac nt co summer for a world cookery course ail: Tel: 020 7551 1206o.Em which will also incorporate maths – a lot d.sandhu@ unison.c uk of people have this idea that they can’t do maths and we can show them that by weighing and measuring things in cooking, they’re using maths in their everyday lives,” says Pat. The cookery event was part of the branch’s week-long Adult Learners’ Week programme (which also included digital photography, bike maintenance, yoga, tai chi, British Sign Language, French and Spanish) that the branch put together with teachers’ union NUT and the New Directions learning and employment service. “It’s really raised our profile – I’m receiving emails from people every day now asking when we’re going to be putting on new courses,” says Pat. “We’ve got to take it forward now – we want to get other unions in Reading involved, so we can organise learning across the unions.” n
KEVIN SERVES UP WINNING DISH ON DAYTIME TV Kevin Muhammed walked away with a dish of the day prize after appearing on the Channel 4 daytime hit Iron Chef UK. Iron Chef bills itself as the ultimate high-energy cook-off, the sort of format that might emerge if you forced Masterchef into a blender with a martial arts movie and then filmed it in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire studio. The idea is relatively simple: each week, four challengers take on a different “iron chef” every day in front of a panel of food experts, trying to come up with a dish that scores more points with the judges than the resident’s. Despite a series of mishaps including cutting a finger and even dropping his food on the floor, Kevin still managed to scoop the dish of the day prize on day three with his recipe for baked mackerel with okra. “I’ve learnt some fantastic new techniques and ideas from the Michelin-starred chefs that I can incorporate into the credit crunch cookery course,” says Kevin. 17
ALL PHOTOS: KEVIN HAYES
Lights, camera...
Learning! UNISON branches can promote the union’s education programme with a brand new specially commissioned show by Banner Theatre that blends members’ stories with music and song to spread the learning message Birmingham-based community theatre company Banner Theatre has produced a brand new 30-minute show celebrating UNISON’s pioneering learning programme that the performers want to share with branches up and down the country. Using video testimony from members and activists, as well as music and songs, With Eyes Wide Open dramatises the many ways in which members transform their lives through learning. The idea for the show first began to crystallise last year, after Banner performed a piece about migrant workers to the UNISON West Midlands international committee. 18
BANNER USES SONG, MUSIC AND VIDEO TO GET ITS MESSAGES ACROSS IN PERFORMANCE
“It was in discussions after that performance when we started to think about doing something on Return to Learn, with the twin objectives of raising activists’ awareness of education and recruiting more members onto courses,” explains Banner’s Artistic Director Dave Rogers. Banner begun by filming in-depth interviews with members about their learning experiences last autumn, working with long-term partners Ground Zero Productions, who came over from Edmonton, Canada, to look after the video component of the show.
INTERVIEW
“We went to Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle and Northumberland and did 15 or 20 interviews looking at people’s experiences on Return to Learn and their previous experiences of education,” Dave says. Using edited sections from the interviews, inter-cut with songs and music, the company then performed the first version of With Eyes Wide Open in front of a UNISON audience (including the original interviewees). Armed with the feedback from that gig, the Banner team then went away to further develop the show, premiering the final 30minute version across the West Midlands BANNER WANTS TO TAKE WITH EYES WIDE OPEN during Adult Learners’ Week. INTO WORKPLACES UP The first performances to audiences of AND DOWN THE COUNTRY UNISON activists in Birmingham, Coventry, Worcester and Wolverhampton went very well – the ultimate endorsement being the number of invitations the company received after the shows to bring the piece to activists’ workplaces. “We’re hoping to get out to the activists around the country and then in a second phase to take the show to workers in the workplace and the response so far has been very good,” Dave says. Branches shouldn’t think they need JESS HURD/REPORTDIG ITAL.CO.UK anything more than a room with a few electrical power-points to stage With Eyes Wide Open – Banner will bring all the projection, PA, and lighting equipment they need with them. “The technical requirements are not enormous – we can With Ey do what we do in pretty much any room really,” Dave points out. be book es Wide Open It can be produced in a number of branch ed by any UNI can . S different ways as well – as a stand-alone Vince P Please contac ON r t performance, with a question and 07946 yce on answer session afterwards, or as part or at th 157565 e of an awareness-raising session about 0845 Banner Offic 4 UNISON’s education programme. info@b 58 1909 or e e on annerth With Eyes Wide Open will be mail e a t r e . c available to branches for some time o.uk to come. “We’re going to keep it in our repertoire for as long as it’s got a life,” Dave says. n
GARY SPEAKS UP Yorkshire and Humberside ULR Gary Walker is one of the learning reps whose testimony features in the new Banner piece. Gary had what he calls an “absolutely awful time” as an undiagnosed dyslexic at school: he was left alone at the bottom of the class by the teachers and couldn’t bear the attention when they paraded him in front of his fellow-pupils when he did a good piece of work. Finally diagnosed as severely dyslexic in 2002, he got tuition which built up his self-confidence enough to say Yes when a UNISON activist suggested he become a steward, and then moved on to become a ULR. “I’ve been on several courses run by UNISON and the WEA and got help which was suited to my needs: people on the courses were very good – they never poked fun and were very supportive,” Gary says. “Both steward and learning rep positions are good opportunities to help others and make changes – doing this gives me a sense of well-being and my contribution may make a difference to someone else’s life.” 19
Opening the uni to
everyone
ALL PHOTOS: ROY PETERS
Workplace learning is one of the top priorities for the UNISON branch at De Montfort University in Leicester
The four-strong ULR team, led by Lifelong Learning Coordinator Carol Keddie, works closely with staff from the university’s HR Training and Development Unit, and is currently in the process of negotiating a learning agreement. “The partnership has been very constructive and meetings are scheduled on a regular basis to keep everyone updated on activities,” says Carol, who says her personal belief in the empowering nature of lifelong learning was the main reason she originally became a ULR. Fellow ULR Andrew Jennison, who works in the estates department, relishes all aspects of the ULR role – it’s the first time he’s become active in UNISON. “I’ve been very fortunate to have had a good education to degree standard, and I realised that I have the motivation, enthusiasm and belief that I can help people function better everyday in society,” he says. He’s provided a range of materials, including pens, pencils, paper and 36 Quick Reads books, for cleaning staff on a Skills for Life course organised by HR Training and Development and run by Leicester College. “It is very rewarding to see one of the group writing sentences out of a Quick Reads book using the materials I provided,” he says. He’s also encouraged part-time and fulltime cleaning staff onto basic computing courses. “The comment ‘I now have the confidence to go into an internet café with my grandson’ speaks for itself,” he says. Andrew continues to develop himself in
CASE STUDIES
A WEEK IS A LONG TIME IN LEARNING
the ULR role: alongside Carol, he will be taking UNISON’s two-day Skills for Life In The Workplace course this summer, to gain a better understanding of how to support and advise colleagues with Skills for Life issues. Andrew is determined to continue spreading the word about the benefits of joining UNISON. “I set myself a target of recruiting 10 people this year – and I’ve recruited seven already, with three more set to join, including two directly from our Adult Learners’ Week events,” he says. He also wants to persuade more line managers that money spent on training is an investment, not a cost. “Workers with skills still need the opportunity to continue their development, and constantly refresh these skills,” he argues. Over the past six months, the ULRs have built such a good working relationship with HR Training and Development that they jointly promoted events during this year’s Adult Learners’ Week (see “A week is a long time in learning” sidebar). “It pleases me to hear the comment that ULRs have a role in the university set-up,” Andrew says. “A little effort on my part has had a big effect on others, and I am always there as a contact, to give advice, encouragement and support.” n
UNISON MEMBERS AT DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY ACCESS LEARNING ONSITE (ABOVE) WHILE STAFF STOP AT THE CASTLE VIEW GATE ON A CAMPUS WALKING TOUR IN ADULT LEARNERS’ WEEK (BELOW)
With the support of HR Training and Development on campus, the branch organised a packed programme for Adult Learners’ Week 2010. The week kicked off with an event jointly promoted by the ULR team and the training and development department where staff could find out about learning opportunities from a wide range of departments and external organisations including Leicester College and the Workers’ Educational Association and take part in handwriting and taster sessions. There were two activities building on the success of two events run during the Festival of Learning in autumn 2009. The first was a historical walk around the university led by local historian Cynthia Brown from Vaughan College (Cynthia gave a lecture on the history of the site in the autumn), which attracted so much interest that the branch re-ran it four weeks later. The second was another lunchtime tour of the local Newarke House Museum (following on from the three organised last autumn) – with demand again so enormous that a second tour had to be organised to cater for the Pharmacology Group alone. The week wound up with the regular monthly meeting of the handwriting skills learning circle, when post and porterage staff meet to practise and improve their handwriting. “One day at break time I just commented that my handwriting was even worse than when I was at Junior School and from there, it was decided that a group of us would meet at lunchtime once a month and practice writing anything!” Andrew explains. “This learning circle is a new initiative to get groups of people participating in any topic or interest.” 21
JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
Power
NICOLA NJIE HAS DEVELOPED INTO A KEY PART OF UNISON’S WORKPLACE TEAM AT E.ON AFTER FIRST TRAINING AS A ULR
UNISON Power Branch recruited 500 new members in 2008
UNISON Power Branch has put a lot of energy into the learning agenda and seen its membership take off as a direct result
22
for the union people
If there’s anyone out there who still doubts that learning can help boost union organising, go look at the way UNISON Power branch has grown since it began promoting learning among potential members at energy company E.ON. Thanks in large part to the workplace learning opportunities created by the ULR team at the company, led by new Branch Secretary Maria Hollingworth and TUC ULR of the Year Nicola Njie, UNISON Power recruited 500 new members in 2008 alone. At the E.ON call centre in Dearne Valley alone, the branch lifted membership from a mere half a dozen to over 200 during that time, with education a major part of the union offer attracting staff. Working hand-in-hand with the regional
office, the branch then negotiated the very first learning agreement in the energy sector with E.ON, an agreement that gives facility time for reps as well as members to promote and take part in learning projects throughout the business. UNISON Power’s numbers have not only rocketed into the membership stratosphere – the branch has also boosted its activist base as well. Indeed, one of the key reasons behind Nicola securing the prestigious ULR of the Year Award at TUC Congress in 2009 was the way she’s consistently encouraged some of the keenest learners into taking on the ULR role themselves. Nicola’s story shows just how the learning agenda can not only help individual
CASE STUDIES
Maria Hollingworth UNISON POWER HAS SOME OF THE HARDEST-WORKING REPS IN THE COUNTRY, SAYS BRANCH SECRETARY MARIA HOLLINGWORTH
“UNISON Power’s numbers have not only rocketed into the membership stratosphere – the branch has also boosted its activist base as well” “I kept seeing items on the notice board about UNISON and eventually spotted an ad recruiting ULRs: I’d never previously been interested in being a steward, but I was interested in being a ULR because of my interest in training,” she says. Within months of joining she’d not only became a learning rep but took on the ULR co-ordinator’s role, recruiting new members and new ULRs across five sites as well as in the north west and into Yorkshire as well. Nicola helped the branch learning bandwagon pick up real momentum when she helped organise an Adult Learners’ Week event in Nottingham in 2008 which attracted 50 co-workers, eight of whom joined on the spot. Convinced the success of the event hinted at serious potential for growth, the branch education team drew up a draft learning agreement with the support of Regional Organiser Donna Merriman and presented it to management – who
CHRIS TAYLOR
members grow in confidence by acquiring new skills but can also help the union collective by growing a new generation of activists. She herself admits she wasn’t interested in becoming a steward until she became active as a ULR – and she’s now not only become a steward and branch vice-chair but also sits on the East Midlands regional council and on UNISON’s energy service group committee. In fact, before she started work at E.ON in customer services, Nicola had never even joined a union before, let alone become a key member of a branch’s workplace team, although she’d worked in factories and call centres since leaving school at 16.
responded positively and have remained supportive ever since. After winning the UNISON East Midlands Branch of the Year Award in 2009 for all the hard work it’s put in to transforming its fortunes and those of its members, UNISON Power hasn’t rested on its laurels – as proof of its consistency, it took the runner-up award this year. “We have some of the hardest working reps in the country in our branch and are fast becoming one of the most well known and successful branches in the UK as a result,” says Maria, recently elected as the new branch secretary. General secretary Dave Prentis, who presented the East Midlands awards, paid tribute to UNISON Power, not only for negotiating the first learning agreement in the energy sector and supporting the ULR of the Year, but also for moving energy issues to the forefront of a union often dominated by its health and local government branches. Nicola herself pays tribute to the union for helping her develop both as a person and an activist. “I would never have stood up in front of the company’s chief executive and done a presentation, or spoken in front of 3,000 people at my union conference without the help I’ve had from UNISON,” she says. n
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WORKPLACE LEARNING UNISON has revised its Branch Guide To Lifelong Learning, the 36page booklet which takes branches through how to get organised around learning issues in the workplace. The booklet sets out what you can do to help tackle inequality, build your members’ confidence and skills and grow your branch at the same time in five linked steps – raising awareness; getting organised; promoting learning through practical initiatives; talking to employers; and setting up systems and procedures. The guide includes a model workplace agreement, the ACAS code on union learning reps, specific information about service groups, useful contacts and resources and a sample learning and skills survey form. Download your copy from www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/18677.pdf
ROGER DONOVAN
We’re a couple of reps... Gwent health service workers are accessing a wide range of learning opportunities thanks to lifelong learning co-ordinators Julian Price and Jason Whitwell Julian Price and Jason Whitwell have been making a big difference ever since they became the joint lifelong learning co-ordinators for UNISON’s Gwent Healthcare Branch in January 2010. The branch, which represents workers at the Aneurin Bevan Health Board, covers a huge geographical area, so Julian looks after the north (he works in a group home for adults with autism in Blaina) and Jason the south (he’s a porter at Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport). 24
Take a look at the Aneu rin Bevan ULR Forum onlin e www.abhbulrgroup.web at s.com
Julian first became interested in the ULR role after taking the Open University’s Introduction to Health and Social Care (K101) course with UNISON funding to help him develop in his work as a nursing assistant in learning disabilities. “When I finished that, I moved on to do a degree in health and social care, which I’ve just finished three years later,” Julian explains. “If it wasn’t for UNISON, I wouldn’t have done that degree in the first place, and I wanted to give something back and show
PORTRAIT
“If it wasn’t for UNISON, I wouldn’t have done that degree in the first place, and I wanted to give something back” other people how to develop themselves at work,” he says. Since training in October 2009, Julian has been busy promoting learning opportunities to union members, the most popular being basic IT skills to help people with the online learning component of the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF). He’s also signed up ten people for the OU’s Openings course who will all be moving on to the K101 course in the autumn. Julian has also undertaken a lot of promotional work for the learning agenda, producing a monthly newsletter that’s sent to all the hospitals in the health board as well as designing a website that is attracting an increasing amount of traffic. Jason became interested in the ULR role after completing a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) and an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) course. “Doing those courses got me really interested because I hadn’t really done any learning since I’d left school and I got bitten by the bug, and then I saw an advert about becoming a learning rep – I’d been looking for a way to get involved in UNISON for a while so I thought I’d give it a try,” Jason says. He’s enjoyed spreading the lifelong learning message to his co-workers since he trained as a ULR in early 2009. “The course was very good – I found it really enlightening – and when I’d finished I started talking to my work colleagues about what I’d been doing, because a lot of them didn’t know there are these courses available through the union and that there are ULRs there to help them,” he says. Now word of mouth about the opportunities the union can provide is spreading far beyond Jason’s immediate coworkers. “I’ve had nursing staff come to me for advice on how they can progress in their
role – we’ve had a lot of interest in the Open University’s K101 course lately,” he says. The joint co-ordinators have set up the Aneurin Bevan ULR Forum which meets monthly to co-ordinate the work of the 12-strong team of learning reps at the Trust, and regularly attend branch meetings, where they’re able to show how the learning agenda has increased the branch’s profile, with many new members joining on the strength of the union’s learning offer. At one learning roadshow last year, Jason and Julian handed out 60 UNISON membership forms and signed up 33 people as a result – no wonder they’re planning more roadshows later this year, reaching every hospital at the Trust, with larger events at the brand new hospitals in Ebbw Vale (in September 2010) and Ysytrad Mynach, in April 2011. “We believe we’re making UNISON stand out in the learning field,” Jason says. n
HARPING ON ABOUT SKILLS The Gwent Healthcare Branch secured a grant from NIACE Dysgu Cymru to run what turned out to be a very successful Learning At Work Day event for workers at the Aneurin Bevan Health Board during Adult Learners’ Week 2010. A total of 15 colleges, universities and adult education centres brought stands to the event in the conference centre at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny to show what they could offer to new learners. The Open University ran taster sessions for its Introduction to Health and Social Care course (K101), the Financial Services Authority offered a session on money management and a Welsh harpist gave free lessons on the traditional instrument which proved very popular. “One person emailed me after the event to say they had thoroughly enjoyed the day and they had signed up for a course at college, even though they hadn’t planned to undertake any more courses until the event changed their mind,” says Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator Julian Price. 25
Come on in
it’s Open! The UNISON/OU learning partnership is helping union members improve their working lives and supporting branches with the development of their learning and organising agendas Thousands of UNISON members have developed themselves and improved their working lives by studying with The Open University since the union and the OU first launched their successful working partnership in 1997. What’s particularly brilliant about the partnership is that huge numbers of those members would never have imagined themselves studying with the OU before. It’s easy to see why people might be convinced higher education isn’t for the likes of them: bad experiences at school can leave people convinced they don’t belong in the classroom; existing commitments at work and home can seem more than enough without adding study time into the mix; and many people believe they’ve had their chance and missed it. Yet with the help of the UNISON/OU partnership at local and national level, union members up and down the country have discovered they can overcome all of these barriers. Hundreds of members have already discovered the OU’s Openings programme 26
of short introductory courses to subjects like Understanding Children, Understanding Health, Understanding Management and Starting with Psychology.
“What’s particularly brilliant about the partnership is that huge numbers of those members would never have imagined themselves studying with the OU before” Many of them have progressed with the help of the partnership’s unique workplace learning model, where members are helped to plan, research and write their assignments through face-to-face group tutorials in addition to the online support that’s always available. “I must admit when we had our first tutorial I did think I’d bitten off more than I could chew,” says Dorset Police Headquarters site liaison officer Dawn Stokes, who took the Understanding Children course through UNISON.
Dawn Stokes PAULCARTER-P
HOTOGRAPHER
.CO.UK
ROD LEON
SPOTLIGHT
Ellen Timah
ROD LEON
“But I found it got easier as it went along, and there was good support from the tutor – and I’m glad I did it – it just goes to show what you can do.” Like many OU learners, Dawn hasn’t stopped since she finished: she’s since trained as a ULR and is encouraging more members into learning. Essex health care assistant Ellen Timah, who works at the Princess Alexandra NHS Trust in Harlow, took the Understanding Health Openings course to help her deepen her understanding of what she was doing at work. Despite bringing up four children, and having to write all her assignments first in Dutch (she grew up in Holland) and then translate them into English, Ellen successfully completed the course. “Before I did the assignments, my tutor said she would tell me if there were any mistakes in them – but there were no mistakes!” she says. She too has gone on to train as a ULR as a direct result of the Openings course. “I was scared about my English not being good enough, but I know that if I want to do something then I will do it,” she says. The UNISON/OU partnership has also developed a work-based model to help support staff in health and local government advance their careers through Introduction to Health and Social Care (K101) courses delivered through a learning partnership with employers, covering paid time off for group learning and, where possible, extra time for revision, as well as other employer support. These one-year courses, done mainly through home study, enable you to earn as you learn and deliver a special certificate on successful completion; they can also lead on to degrees in nursing and social work or other appropriate subjects. And the partnership has also pioneered short course Continuing Professional Development (CPD), developed first in Northern Ireland, offering specialist knowledge and skills to help members in their working lives.
Pat Kohler
Branches that have promoted the OU offer have gained everything from prestige and profile to new recruits and improved organisation. “I think the branch has gained status and prestige by promoting the OU offer to Hertfordshire County Council staff,” says Hertfordshire County Branch Education Officer and Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator Pat Kohler. “We have gained a lot of new recruits through our lifelong learning work in general, including the OU element: the discounts on courses that we’re able to offer, including free Openings courses to members, are encouraging people to sign up, and we’ve also identified stewards and union learning reps from the people who’ve done Openings courses.” n
Find out more at www.open.ac.uk/ choose/unison/
FIND OUT MORE
THE ONE STOP SHOP ONLINE UNISON and The Open University have launched a new website to help union members explore how they can progress their learning and boost their career with the help of the union’s partnership with the OU. Designed in consultation with UNISON members and ULRs, OU students and union officers, the website details everything members need to know about the OU/UNISON partnership’s learning offer. The site allows members to get a feel for what it’s like to study with the OU through a sample of learning materials and video of OU learners talking about their experiences, and details the full range of what’s on offer, from introductory Openings courses to postgraduate study. It also gives branches all the information they need to put together a successful learning partnership in the workplace to promote OU learning. www.open.ac.uk/choose/unison/
UNISON SCOTTISH SECRETARY MATT SMITH (LEFT) CELEBRATES THE LIFELONG LEARNING AWARD WITH SPT ULR GERRY HASTINGS
ottish Keep up to date with Sc learning news at arning.com www.scottishunionle
Transport workers get
on board! By mainstreaming workplace learning into union business, the ULR team at Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has helped workers transform their lives through a range of courses onsite Workers at Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) have well and truly got onboard with workplace learning with the help of an ward-winning team of UNISON and Unite union learning reps at the Glasgow-based enterprise. Over the past year, staff at SPT, which runs the Glasgow subway and provides integrated support for trains, buses, ferries
“That some workers have gone on to take two or three courses demonstrates the potential for progression within the programme” 28
and other transport initiatives in the Strathclyde region, have clocked up an impressive 2,138 hours of learning – 1,528 in work time, and 610 in their own. The success of the programme is down to the hard work of the ULR team, which has arranged all the courses on-site at shiftfriendly times, including the night shift, with a range of social as well as vocational learning all delivered free of charge to the learners. That some workers have gone on to take two or three courses demonstrates the potential for progression within the programme. Most of the learning takes place at Broomloan Depot in Glasgow, which is where the subway trains are maintained,
CASE STUDIES
while some courses also run at Buchanan Bus Station and SPT headquarters in Consort House. But what’s really guaranteed the success of the initiative is the way the team has incorporated workplace learning into core trade union business and helped guarantee members time off for learning at work. In September 2008, the unions signed a learning agreement with SPT, which grants staff 50 per cent time off for learning and incorporates learning and training into all the collective bargaining structures. In recognition of their achievements, the seven ULRs, including UNISON’s Gerry Hastings, received this year’s STUC Helen Dowie Award for Lifelong Learning (sponsored by Skills Development Scotland) at the STUC Annual Congress in Dundee. UNISON Scottish Secretary Matt Smith says it has been good to see the positive role that UNISON and Unite are playing at SPT, with UNISON once again at the forefront of learning agenda. “The learning route has been very important in taking the union to thousands of workers in many workplaces and we’re proud of the work that has been done by UNISON’s Gerry Hastings and other ULRs in opening up opportunities for learning at work,” he says. STUC General Secretary Grahame Smith pointed out that investment in skills and training was the key to economic recovery. “The ULRs at Strathclyde Partnership for Transport have demonstrated a robust negotiating structure which has resulted in an exemplary partnership between the unions and the employer through a workplace learning agreement,” he said. “This illustrates how trade unions can help develop the full potential of individual workers.” SPT Chair Jonathan Findlay was delighted when the ULRs won the award. “SPT’s learning agreement, which was reached with trade unions in 2008, enables staff to access new opportunities for lifelong learning and training both within SPT and
UNISON’S GERRY HASTINGS (THIRD LEFT) WITH HIS FELLOW ULRS AT SPT
2,138
Number of learning hours clocked up by SPT staff
1,528
Learning hours in work time
610
Learning hours in own time
with outside training providers,” he said. “This excellent partnership working has so far resulted in more than 2,000 hours of union-funded learning for SPT staff, and demonstrates our commitment to nurturing a culture of learning within the workplace.” First Minister Alex Salmond, who presented the ULRs with their award, said the ULR team had worked well together to ensure that colleagues had important opportunities to develop themselves. “The Scottish Government recognises the importance of workplace learning and the key role that unions play in this, which is why we have committed record investment in the Scottish Union Learning Fund (SULF) and Scottish Union Learning,” he pointed out. n
STUC AWARD
PRESERVING HELEN’S LEARNING LEGACY The award is named after activist Helen Dowie, who was involved in the trade union movement in Fife for most of her adult life, working in Rosyth Dockyard and taking the union into the local community through the organisation of the Rosyth festival and music events to highlight important union campaigns. When Helen died at a young age, the annual award was established in 2006 to commemorate her achievements in lifelong learning and recognise other outstanding trade unionists who continue to lead the learning movement forward in Scotland.
LEARNING AND SKILLS COUNCIL
UNISON is convincing more public service employers to launch apprenticeship schemes to train the next generation
N O I T A R E IT’S GEN Find out more in : Learning Angle no 4/ www.unison.org.uk laos
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More and more UNISON branches are persuading their employers to revive apprenticeship schemes which fell victim to two decades of privatisation and competitive tendering in the pubic sector. Local UNISON branch involvement in the design and delivery of apprenticeship schemes is crucial: it’s often only union involvement that ensures apprentices receive the high-quality training, fair pay and good service conditions they deserve. And the more UNISON branches get involved in promoting, designing and delivering quality apprenticeships, the more they will be able to recruit and retain the young people involved – giving the apprentices the support of powerful workplace advocates and bringing new life into union structures at the same time. North Yorkshire County Council has provided hundreds of young people with
career opportunities since it launched its ground-breaking Real Start apprenticeship scheme in 2006. Real Start covers the full range of council services, and offers high-quality supervision and training, including taking and completing an NVQ Level 2, with the guarantee of a job with the council at the end. Real Start offers young workers £95 a week, increased to £115 a week at three months, £141 a week at six months and £205 a week at nine months; they move onto full pay when they reach the standard required for their job. Apprentices enjoy the same holiday entitlement and sickness benefits as other council employees and have full employment status even though they are trainees and are entitled to help with some travel costs. “The guarantee of a job at the end of the programme makes it very popular (there
SPOTLIGHT
TRAIN Across the Pennines, passenger transport operation Merseytravel continues to invest in the young generation through its apprenticeship programme, which allows young people to work in all the major sections of the organisation over an 18-month period to help identify where best they will fit in when they complete their apprenticeship (98 per cent of apprentices stay on). UNISON Branch Secretary Roger Irvine says the branch works closely on the development of all aspects of workplace learning and development, including the apprenticeship programme, with management at Merseytravel, and he himself attends ULR meetings to offer advice and support to the learning team. They must be doing something right on the Merseytravel apprenticeship programme, given the way they’re developing a cohort of confident young people able to speak up for apprentices at
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haven’t been many who have dropped out), as well as the fact that it’s not a three or four-year apprenticeship on low pay – someone can get through this in nine months and be on full pay for the job that they’re doing,” explains UNISON Branch Secretary Wendy Nichols. The accredited training associated with the programme has a completion rate of 97 per cent, with work currently underway to increase the proportion of apprentices progressing from NVQ Level 2 to Level 3 and Level 4. “The guarantee of a place for anyone leaving care was a real achievement and the members themselves are very proud of this scheme – it’s raised the profile of the branch for the right reasons and done us very well with our employers,” Wendy says.
major political events. It was a Merseytravel apprentice (and ULR), Joanna Wiczak, who posed an important question on apprentice pay to the then Prime Minister during last year’s TUC Congress (which was of course held in Liverpool). And another of the public enterprise’s apprentices, Leanne Talent, was invited to address a unionlearn apprenticeship event held in Downing Street last year, where she described the opportunities she’s gained to a room full of senior politicians, trade unionists and fellow apprentices from the whole country. “I can honestly say that this opportunity has changed my life,” she said. “Twelve months ago, if someone had said I would be stood in Downing Street making a speech, I would have thought they where having a laugh!” n
MERSEYTRAVEL APPRENTICE LEANNE TALENT TALKS ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE AT A UNIONLEARN RECEPTION IN DOWNING STREET
FIND OUT MORE
APPRENTICESHIPS • You can download the revised UNISON negotiating guide on apprenticeships from: tinyurl.com/y9a8j7x • The TUC has published Apprenticeships Are Union Business: A guide for union negotiators and reps. You can request a hard copy or download a digital version at: tinyurl.com/3ykcnl8
It’s about
time
The new right to request time to train at work means that even more UNISON members have the chance to improve their job prospects through workplace learning The new right to request time to train that came into effect in April 2010 gives UNISON branches new opportunities to build the union by creating another route through which union members can access workplace learning. The key to encouraging levels of participation and achievement will be ensuring the right to request encourages more employers to grant paid release to enable learners to study. Just look at UNISON’s programme to help low-paid health and social care workers in Northern Ireland access The Open University’s Introduction to Health and Social Care (K101), which develops professional competence by boosting knowledge and thinking/study skills. Negotiated paid release has been a cornerstone of the programme’s success, alongside the workplace study sessions which have helped build mutual support and motivation among learners. Paid time off to study removed a massive barrier that would have prevented many staff from participating and showed students that their 32
“The big hook for the employers was that there was no cost for them except the time off”
There i informa s more the tem tion (includin making plate letter f g the dire requests) on or ctgov w ebsite: www.di timetot rect.gov.uk/ rain
employer valued them enough to invest in their professional development. And with learners noticeably improving their work practices as a direct result of the course, employers have been able to see an immediate return on the investment in their staff. “The feedback we get from managers has been very positive in terms of the impact the course has had on the practice of our members who are healthcare professionals,” explains Regional Officer for Lifelong Learning Fidelma Carolan. “It’s about improving your staff and
SPOTLIGHT
HOW THE NEW RIGHT WORKS For the first year, the new right applies only to employees in organisations with 250 or more on the payroll, but it will be extended to employees in organisations of all sizes from April 2011. To exercise the right, employees must have at least 26 weeks’ service behind them. Agency workers are excluded. Members should always talk to their ULR or another workplace rep before trying to exercise the new right. UNISON reps can offer members the best advice on the most effective ways of approaching employers and can accompany members to meetings about the new right with their managers. Members should use the Government’s template letter for making requests. Download it from www.direct.gov.uk/timetotrain
FIND OUT MORE
THE NEW RIGHT TO REQUEST TIME TO TRAIN Unionlearn has launched a new project to promote the new right to request time to train. www.unionlearn.org.uk/righttorequesttraining The right to request time to train: a guide for trade union representatives is a new unionlearn booklet explaining all aspects of the new legislation to help ULRs and other workplace reps promote the new right to their members. tinyurl.com/34tmqt7
supporting them to do their job more effectively and promoting good quality public services and that’s a selling point for managers, particularly line managers. “While the new law doesn’t legally bind Unionlearn and the Campaign For Learning (CfL) have produced employers to agree every request for a range of new online resources promoting the new right. training, it does require them to give proper tinyurl.com/3636nzt consideration to requests for training in work time. Opening Doors is an independent evaluation of the Northern Ireland The new right will probably have a smaller K101 programme commissioned by Learning and Organising Services. effect on workplaces where branches have www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B5089.pdf learning agreements or collective bargaining on training; but backed by union action, it UNISON has produced a factsheet on recent changes to employment has the potential to make a big difference law, which includes coverage of the time to train element. in workplaces where employers offer no tinyurl.com/37wkvtu training, or where training fails to meet the real needs of staff. about role they play in supporting their members The new right also offers a new d out morerses at in F opportunity for branches to consolidate at work, and thereby boost recruitment u UNISON coon.org.uk/laos organising around the learning agenda: and retention. w.unis w w by actively helping their members It’s definitely worked that way in Northern Ireland. “It’s given us a really good profile in improve their job security and career the workplace and we’ve definitely recruited prospects through workplace training, on the back of it,” Fidelma says. n branches can further demonstrate the vital 33
EVERYTHING YOU NEED to get active around learning
10 things you need to know about UNISON and learning Recruitment leaflet around learning issues. Stock number 2373 or download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/17926.pdf ULR handbook Short guide to your rights as a ULR, how to get started and what’s available for members. Download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/17751.pdf
Spread the word How to become a ULR, help encourage co-workers back into learning and get involved in your local branch. Stock number 1893 or download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/14985.pdf
Branch guide to lifelong learning Check out how to tackle inequality, build your members’ confidence and skills, and build your branch in the process! Stock number 2098 or download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/18677.pdf Learning angles Briefings to help ULRs promote learning around current issues in the branch. Download from: www.unison.org.uk/laos/publications.asp
U-Train Plan your learning journey as a member or a rep with this useful map to guide you through the development opportunities available. Download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/17837.pdf
Return to Learn, Women’s Lives and English for You Award-winning courses designed to help members develop new learning skills and get back into education and training. Contact your Regional Education Officer for more details.
Organising for learning Materials to enable branches to plan recruitment and organising activity around the learning agenda. Download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/Org4learning.pdf
Realise your potential Quick guide to lifelong learning opportunities for UNISON members – Stock number 2576 or download from: www.unison.co.uk/acrobat/B5091.pdf
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RESOURCES
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Developing and supporting workplace representatives – a guide for branches A new guide for branches on buddying and mentoring workplace reps and ideas about encouraging reps to be active. Stock No. 2883 or download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/19013.pdf Opening doors UNISON’s experience of the Open University’s Introduction to Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. Research Report, April 2010. Download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B5089.pdf 2009 National survey of the UNISON-WEA lifelong learning programme Report on the findings of a survey of students who have taken part in UNISON’s Return to Learn and Women’s Lives courses. Download from: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B5090.pdf
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To find out more and how to join contact: UNISONdirect TELEPHONE 0845 355 0845 textphone users FREEPHONE 0800 0 967 968 Lines open 6am – midnight Monday to Friday; 9am – 4pm Saturday Or visit our website www.unison.org.uk
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