LEARN SUMMER 2018
In this issue‌ Reading for everyone Moving on with maths Delivering digital skills Supporting apprentices
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK EXCEPT 4 (IAN CALCUTT/DMU) AND 22 (PAUL BOX/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK)
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13 UNISON ULEARN MAGAZINE
Editor: Kathleen Jowitt & Davinder Sandhu Writer: Martin Moriarty Design: www.the-design-mill.co.uk Cover photo: Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk Published by: UNISON Learning and Organising Services
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To find out more about UNISON and how to join contact UNISONdirect on 0800 0 857 857 Textphone users FREEPHONE call 0800 0 967 968 Lines open from 6am – midnight Monday to Friday, 9am – 4pm Saturday Visit our website www.unison.org.uk Follow us on twitter @unisonlearning
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Welcome
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Welcome to this year’s edition of Ulearn, our annual celebration of the learning achievements of our members, who are moving on in their work and home lives thanks to the wide range of support they can access through UNISON. This is a special year for our union, marking as it does the 25th anniversary of its formation in 1993. Over all that time, we have helped thousands of members take their first steps back into learning with our pioneering courses, Return to Learn and Women’s Lives, and many other learning opportunities. And since the creation of the Union Learning Fund (ULF) in 1998, we
have been able to help thousands more members to improve their English, maths and IT skills, extend their continuous professional development and complete an ever-expanding range of apprenticeships. The key to all this is our network of union learning reps (ULRs) and Lifelong Learning Coordinators (LLCs), who use their knowledge, skills and understanding to encourage and support their co-workers as they return to learning. Most of the stories in this year’s edition of Ulearn wouldn’t have happened without the dedication of all our reps who promote workplace learning. I want to take this opportunity to
thank you all for everything you do for our members and wish you all well for the coming year. Margaret McKee, UNISON president and vice-chair of the Development and Organisation Committee of UNISON’s National Executive Council ✱
LOTS OF TOP TIPS FOR YOU
7 SkillCheck tool 10 Supporting ESOL 13 Apprentices e-note 25 ULR ideas 31 Organising Space 33 Financial help SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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IAN CALCUTT / DMU
DMU learning reps launch their own reading scheme Poet, actor and activist Benjamin Zephaniah inspires participants at packed launch event.
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UNISON learning reps at De Montfort University (DMU) are running a new nine-month programme of events to promote reading for pleasure, modelled on the Reading Ahead challenge they have run with great success in the past. But the big difference is that participants in #DMUreads can read and review as many titles as they like. Every member of staff who enrols on the programme receives a reading journal to record their thoughts about their choices and can take home a diary for children who are taking part, to emphasise the importance of
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reading with their families. “We hope we can get people into the habit of reading and hopefully cultivate and progress the passion at DMU for picking up a book and reading it,” ULR Andrew Jennison said at the launch event in the Campus Centre Atrium in February. “We want to promote the mental health benefits of reading and encourage you all to read with your family and read with your children or grandchildren. The most important thing about #DMUreads is enjoy what you’re reading.” To help remove barriers to taking part, ULRs have ensured staff can pick up
NEWCASTLE TAKES SILVER
Newcastle City Branch, in partnership with City Library and City Learning, has won the silver award from The Reading Agency for helping more than 130 readers complete the Reading Ahead challenge. “This is the second year running that we have achieved a silver award, this year with an increase of 28 per cent of participants completing,” says City Branch Lifelong Learning Coordinator Evan Peck.
Literacy
“We want to promote t he mental he alt benefits o h f reading” ULR Andre w Jennis on
free copies of Quick Reads titles at different sites around campus, use book swaps at various locations and borrow from the huge range of fiction at the Kimberlin library. ULRs have also organised a series of lunchtime learning events to help encourage participants to keep going with #DMUreads, including a session about women pioneers of IT and another to celebrate World Poetry Day. Inspiring dozens of staff to enrol on the new programme at the launch was guest speaker Benjamin Zephaniah, the renowned poet, musician, actor and activist, who is also dyslexic. “When I got expelled from school at the age of 13, the teacher said to me, ‘You’re going to end up dead or doing a life sentence’,” he told the packed audience. “I really believe that if I didn’t discover reading and writing, that probably would have happened to me.” Benjamin stayed on afterwards to talk to staff, who were thrilled to meet him. “Benjamin was superb,” says Andrew. “I sat down afterwards and I thought, ‘I couldn’t have had anyone better to do the launch’.” ✱
JO IS ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED
Blackpool Health Branch Steward Jo Southern is keen to continue her learning journey after successfully completing her Level 2 Functional Skills English course at the end of last year. Healthcare assistant Jo approached branch ULRs Jane Eyre and Bev Herring during last year’s Learning at Work Week looking for help to improve her English and maths. At their suggestion, she attended an assessment workshop in Manchester, where she signed up for her course. “I really enjoyed the course, although I was very nervous at first as I hadn’t done any learning for over 10 years,” Jo says. “Now I have achieved my Level 2 English, I will be able to apply for better jobs and undertake further study – I have got the bug for learning now!”
MERSEYTRAVEL WINS GOLD AWARD
Merseytravel won a gold award from The Reading Agency to celebrate its record-breaking levels of participation in last year’s Reading Ahead challenge. After a decade of work promoting the initiative, ULRs at Merseytravel helped more than 150 members of staff to complete the challenge last year. UNISON ULR Ya-Ching Darnell (above, left) has continued promoting the initiative this year, starting by enrolling a very highprofile participant – the Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram.
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ALL PHOTOS: JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
Using our unique access code for the Numeracy Challenge helps us count and track UNISON learners.
Everything you need to make maths add up
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Enrolling UNISON members and potential members on the Numeracy Challenge using our unique access code helps us count and track learners. It’s easy. Instead of the standard National Numeracy entry-point to access the Challenge, you simply use UNISON’s own URL www.nnchallenge.org.uk/unmemb Using our unique access code gives us all-important data that we can use to help support maths learners: when they gain the ‘Essentials of Numeracy’ through the Challenge, they can use this to demonstrate that they are working at Level 2. In addition, signposting learners to the UNISON 6
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USING OUR TOOLKIT TO BOOST MATHS SKILLS
Making Every Penny Count is a toolkit for ULRs with step-by-step instructions for running easy and enjoyable activities in the workplace to help learners improve their financial know-how, including a word search, crossword and quiz. To make it easy for ULRs to run the activities at work, the toolkit is accompanied by activity sheets for learners to use and a budgeting and money management workbook to complete, all downloadable from the Organising Space https://organisingspace.unison.org.uk You can use the activities in our the toolkit to run a ‘lunch and learn’ session on topics such as: understanding payslips; money quiz; payday loans and credit unions; debt and budgeting.
access code means we can use the anonymised data on numbers and progression as evidence of our effectiveness in supporting participation, for example in our reports
to the Union Learning Fund (ULF) and the Department for Education (DfE). However, when National Numeracy work directly with a UNISON branch on a
Numeracy
BLACKPOOL HEALTH STAFF TAKE MATHS WORKOUT
Blackpool Health Branch ULRs Jane Eyre and Bev Herring organised a numeracy day at Blackpool Victoria Hospital as part of unionlearn’s #mathsworkout week in the autumn. On the day around 50 newly qualified nurses took a Fun with Numbers workshop, testing their skills with a range of activities from a celebrity age quiz to a drug calculations workout. And National Numeracy staff guided the nurses through the online Numeracy Challenge as well as discussing cultural attitudes to maths with them. In addition, around 70 members of staff took a maths teaser quiz at a lunchtime stall staffed by some of the Numeracy Champions on-site.
HELP LEARNERS START RIGHT WITH SKILLCHECK
You can use unionlearn’s new tool SkillCheck to help your learners take an initial assessment of their maths skills (and their English and IT, too). Learners can access SkillCheck via a web browser on their computer or laptop or via the SkillCheck app, which is now available for both Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. Learners new to SkillCheck will need to register to use it. All that the short sign-up process requires is the learner’s name, email address, password, postcode, region and union (they can include their mobile number too, if they like). Once learners have registered, they can then access the tool. All they need to do then is choose which assessment they want (ICT, English and maths) and then answer the multiple choice questions. Once learners have completed an assessment, the tool provides them with their results, which are then stored in the system (they can see the results of the assessments they have completed by navigating down the left-hand menu on the SkillCheck main screen.) ULRs and other union reps promoting learning can access a special version of the app you can use offline, which then uploads the data to the SkillCheck database when the device next reconnects to the internet. Please contact LAOS to arrange access to the offline version. ✱ To access the web version, go to https://skillcheck.unionlearn.org.uk particular project (the way ✱ The Apple version is available at: they have, for instance, https://apple.co/2G84Edf at Blackpool Victoria ✱ The Android version is available Hospital), they will continue at: https://bit.ly/2ISwic0 to set up a specific access code for that project. ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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Delivering de-stress ideas direct to your desk We can harness the power of IT to help members better manage workplace stress and improve their digital skills.
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Members of the Four Seasons Huntercombe West Midlands Branch have found new ways to deal with workplace stress, thanks to a short webinar produced by Learning and Organising Services (LAOS). The branch is spread over 26 separate homes and hospitals that are part of The Huntercombe Group, the specialist services division of Four Seasons Healthcare. Branch activists Jean Brown, Mark Turner and Steve Tunstall (the branch secretary) had asked LAOS for help with stress management at a National Delegate Conference 8
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fringe meeting last year. “Two of us work in what was until recently a low security hospital with adults detained under the Mental Health Act and the third in a centre that holds teenagers with a range of mental health issues, so work can be a stressful environment, high pressure with long shifts,� Steve explains. With the branch spread over four different counties in the region and work schedules dominated by shiftwork, online delivery made more sense than a centrally-organised classroom-based session. So Education Officer Davinder Sandhu and
National Learning and Development Organiser Jon Tennison set about putting together a webinar that branch members could watch online. The 10-minute online presentation covers the physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms of stress; the key triggers, including major deadlines or lack of time; and proven techniques for combatting stress, such as time management, de-cluttering and deep breathing. Steve says members have appreciated the wealth of material when he signposts them to the webinar to help them face workloads,
IT skills
DIGITAL SKILLS PARTNERSHIP NETS WALES AWARD
For successfully working in partnership with UNISON’s DigiSkills Cymru Project to help council staff improve their digital skills, Ceredigion County Council was named Large Employer of the Year at last year’s Inspire! Awards. As part of a five-week Digital Skills for the Workforce programme last year, more than 100 council workers who don’t use computers in their day-today work were able to take paid release to develop their digital skills. The programme was set up to help everyone from care home staff to waste management workers to access their payslips, complete timesheets and book annual leave now that the authority has moved all those systems online. The programme was designed and delivered by UNISON’s DigiSkills Cymru Project in partnership with the council’s adult community learning provider Dysgu Bro Ceredigion. “The council invested in the skills of their staff in a way that not many of the employers I have worked with in the past on union learning projects have done – it was one of the best experiences with an employer that we had,” says Richard Speight, who set up and managed DigiSkills Cymru. The Inspire! Awards are co-ordinated every year by the Learning and Work Institute in partnership with the Welsh Government and other supporters. ✱ Go to: https://youtu.be/RjlBNGl3qK8 to watch a short video about the award.
WHAT IS THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?
change or disciplinaries. “The feedback has been incredibly positive: lots of people are grateful that we have been able to reach them in the first place and with something they can say with a degree of certainty has helped them because the presentation is packed with information,” Steve says. “It’s an incredibly useful tool. People often ask me for the link so they can watch it again and after a stressful day at work, I often re-watch it myself!” ✱ Go to: https://bit.ly/2vR6qLe ✱
The fourth industrial revolution is the term that covers: ✱ artificial intelligence (AI): machines that are capable of imitating intelligent human behaviour ✱ big data: the vast amounts of digitally-recorded data that organisations can analyse for business gain ✱ the internet of things: the networking of everyday objects via embedded computing in devices. ULRs can help their colleagues acquire and develop the skills they need to become the workers of tomorrow by: ✱ raising awareness and increasing understanding of digitalisation ✱ identifying digital skills needs of members using tools including unionlearn’s SkillCheck ✱ coaching and mentoring workers to help them develop new digital skills ✱ developing new digital skills provision by brokering a more holistic offer with providers. ✱ Go to https://bit.ly/2wxq253 to read the TUC’s discussion paper Shaping Our Digital Future SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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UNISON branches in Southampton and north London have helped cleaning staff improve their life chances by taking English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes.
Bringing ESOL courses to the members who need them
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Facilities staff at Solent University whose first language is not English have recently completed a 10-week course in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), thanks to UNISON. Southampton District Branch Education Coordinator Martin Merritt worked with UNISON learning rep Antero Aguir to promote the course to cleaners all over the campus. Ultimately, eight learners enrolled on the 10-week programme, which was organised to fit around their work and family commitments. Delivered by a local tutor from the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), the 10-week course 10
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was delivered on-site using a room that Branch chair Tamasa Bullen booked for the learners. “As the course was onsite this really helped with attendance and everyone who signed up stayed on
“Feedback wa hugely po s sitive, with learn ers saying they rated th course hig e hly”
for the full course with no drop-outs,” Martin says. The course covered workplace issues such as understanding health and safety signage as well as
Get online
FIND OUT MORE
✱ There are lots of suggestions about how to support ESOL learners in your workplace on learning.UNISON. Visit: https://bit.ly/2JwvdpS ✱ To gain the skills to plan, arrange and promote ESOL activities in the workplace, work your way through the TUC Education eNote, Language support for workers, which focuses on ESOL needs. To register or login, visit https://bit.ly/2GiUgzu ✱ To discuss how you could get involved in supporting ESOL learning in your workplace, talk to Learning and Workforce Development Officer Clair Hawkins. Tel: 020 7121 5275 Email: c.hawkins@unison.co.uk
ESOL
ESOL CLASSES BOOST ORGANISING DRIVE
topics helpful inside and outside work, including pronunciation of a range of useful words, numeracy in English, reading aloud, leaving messages and listening to voicemail and using the British Council’s ESOL website. Because Martin sat in on every session, he was able to see how learners improved their English skills and their confidence and could also identify problem areas that could be addressed through separate courses, such as IT and maths. Feedback was hugely positive, with learners saying they rated the course highly, found everyone was friendly and enjoyed improving their English knowledge and skills. “Following on from the ESOL course, I realised that there is a need to support members with IT and maths skills,” he says. “I have just started the maths 10week workshop with staff from Solent University and other branch members who wish to brush up on their maths skills.” ✱
Outsourced cleaners at Middlesex University have been developing their English skills with the help of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes organised for them by UNISON. Having recruited many cleaners on campus by successfully campaigning for the London Living Wage, Middlesex University Branch knew that many of their newer colleagues needed help to improve their English. “We had to start because nearly early every single cleaner speaks Spanish or Portuguese,” explains UNISON member Consulea Ospina, who works as a supervisor for contract cleaning firm ISS. While Branch Secretary Claire Mitham persuaded ISS to release the cleaners from their duties to attend the classes, and secured a room on-site for their delivery, Fighting Fund Local Organiser Maddie Taylor discussed the course content with The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL). Claire and Maddie then promoted the course by putting up posters on campus and having them translated into Spanish and Portuguese to ensure the message reached its target audience. Since many of the cleaners work at the weekends, the branch decided to run the course on a Saturday since that was most convenient with the learners. More than a dozen cleaners attended the course, which was delivered by CONEL tutor Alwyn Reid. Those who weren’t already members were recruited on the first day. “It was a very diverse group personality-wise but the good thing about it was they were very eager to learn – from day one, right up to the last day, the enthusiasm was the same,” says Alwyne. The cleaners, the contractor, and the branch have all benefited from the ESOL class, says Claire. “Our membership has increased because lots of people are joining the union to attend these courses; their confidence is growing – they’re able to speak to us about their issues; and they’re able to speak to their managers about the problems they have, so it’s definitely helped a lot,” she says.
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How Poole council apprentices run their own network Freya Kendall and Nick Hillman are helping apprentices at The Borough of Poole develop a wide range of skills through their self-organised network.
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Two apprentices at The Borough of Poole are running an Apprentice Learning Network (ALN) that is helping apprentices at the south-west local authority access the training and development they want. The ALN was set up by the Poole LG Branch in partnership with the HR department last year, at the instigation of Pete Stratford, who was at that time both Lifelong Learning Coordinator and a manager who had employed apprentices himself (he has since retired). Pete used a Kickstart grant from Learning and Organising Services (LAOS) to provide an attractive lunch at the ALN 12
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EMPLOYERS SIGN UP
Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust in the North West and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council in the North-East have both signed UNISON’s apprenticeship charter. UNISON’s new charter commits employers to paying their apprentices the right rate for the job, providing high-quality training and organising a safe and healthy working environment, with the aim of a meaningful job on completion. At the Southport signing ceremony, UNISON Assistant General Secretary Christina McAnea said she hoped many other employers would soon follow the lead of the Trust, which was the first organisation in the country to sign the charter. And in Redcar, Branch Secretary Andrew Tickle said that the charter would guarantee the apprentices high-quality training with the same terms and conditions as existing council employees. ✱ You can read the new UNISON apprenticeship charter in full at: https://bit.ly/2Bz4t3X
Apprentices
“WE HAD A BRILLIANT DAY”
be hard but I am passionate about learning and well-being and I’m really glad I took the opportunity,” she says. Since they took over, Freya and Nick have organised three more meetings that have included team-building exercises to help develop participants’ employability skills; a session on additional learning opportunities through UNISON; and mental health and well-being, the bestattended meeting to date. For Freya, the success
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launch event last year, when Freya Kendall and Nick Hillman volunteered to run the network (initially with a third apprentice who has since then moved on). Freya is a marketing apprentice for Skills & Learning Bournemouth, Dorset & Poole (Adult Learning) (SLBDP), the three-way partnership that delivers learning services for the three authorities. Nick is now on a Level 3 customer services apprenticeship in the taxation and billing department of the Stour Valley and Poole Partnership (SVPP), which provides revenues and benefits services to four neighbouring councils including The Borough of Poole (Nick completed his Level 2 in business administration last year). Freya admits she was a bit sceptical at first. “I had a lot on my plate and thought taking on another role would
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Chris Garlick talked about his Level 7 Legal Services apprenticeship at Exeter City Council, alongside his Branch Service Conditions Officer Godfrey Sutcliffe who helped set up the programme, at a popular session at our ‘Power of the ULR’ event in February. “We had a brilliant day, learned a lot, listened to some really great speakers and felt more than welcomed by you all: it couldn’t have been better!” they said afterwards. ✱ You can see some highlights of the event in a short video at: https://youtu.be/akMkOMxe-aQ
of the network is down to self-organisation. “It works because it’s run by apprentices – although we won’t be apprentices forever! We hope that current apprentices will take over and continue the success of the network as long as the apprenticeship scheme runs,” she says. As well as running the network, Freya and Nick have also taken on another jobshare as young members’ officer for the branch. “Our Branch Secretary Kevin Judd has been excellent – if I’ve ever got any questions I can go to him and my managers at SVPP have been excellent as well, they’ve been so supportive,” Nick says. ✱
Get online
APPRENTICESHIPS E-NOTE
We have launched a new online training module to introduce activists to the key issues around apprenticeships, including employers’ obligations, apprentice rights and opportunities for UNISON. ✱ You can find the e-note at: https://e-learning.unison.org.uk SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk
A group of women who first met on a Power to be You course in Lincoln still meet regularly to encourage each other to progress in their personal and professional lives.
Supporting each other to make the changes we want
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A group of women members who first met when they took part in UNISON’s Power to be You course in Lincoln have continued to help each other change their lives for the better. The cross-branch confidence-building course was organised by Karen Lee (who was also able to take part) when she was still a UNISON learning rep, before her election as MP for Lincoln in 2017. By chance, all 11 14
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participants happened to be women, who opened up to each other about some of the major life events that had dented their confidence. They spoke so candidly about workplace bullying, marriage breakdown, illness and bereavement that many learners (and WEA tutor Nicky Reed) were moved to tears at different points. “There was a really supportive environment on the course, so I suggested we all meet up afterwards and now a few of us continue
to meet every six weeks or so,” explains Helena Mair, who was working for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) at the time. “So I held a breakfast at my house and everybody came and since then a few of us have sat down for a kind of supportive coffee every six or eight weeks.” Karen is not the only person to have significantly changed her life since the course. The regular meetings since have helped Helena gain the confidence
Member learning
“Now I ha ve surrounde d myself with peop le who are re ally supportiv e” Helena M air
to take the risk of leaving her BHF job to become Karen’s office manager. “I was a bit stuck in my previous job because I’d been doing it for 16 years and I knew it inside-out, but at the same time I used to ask myself, ‘Who’s going to want me now I’m 53?’” she recalls. “But now I have surrounded myself with people who are really supportive and being in that environment has made me feel much more confident. So when this opportunity came up to work for Karen – although it’s a big risk to work for any MP – I’m really glad that I’ve made the leap.” Rachel Wakefield, who works as a clinical leader in the NHS in Cambridge, says the informal peer support has been valuable. “We have been able to apply what we learned on the course to our lives,” she says. As well as helping her achieve some personal
GAINING THE BELIEF TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE
As a direct result of taking our Power to be You course last November, UNISON member Rachel Kennedy handed in her notice and went to do the job she really wanted. “I was working as a research admin assistant at a West Yorkshire hospital when I saw about the course and I thought it might give me a little boost,” she recalls. “I was so nervous about going in but we all got so much out of it that it was almost like a counselling session – it was the best course I have ever done!” Regional Learning and Development Organiser Rose Bent, who delivered the course, showed participants lots of useful tools for building their confidence, which Rachel found very relevant. “About two weeks after doing the course I handed in my notice at work, which is a massive change – without that course, I think I would still be ploughing away at it now!” After finding some agency work as a health care support worker, Rachel is now going to work as a nursing assistant in a care home. “I’ve always worked in health care but I like the hands-on jobs in patient care – you feel like you’re really making a difference.”
goals, the ongoing support has encouraged Rachel to take on the role of women’s officer in her local Constituency Labour Party. “Building women’s confidence can be challenging because we operate in a gender-specific
framework of expectations about how women should behave but peer-support is a well-documented way to grow communities who face particular challenges: anything that encourages women to support each other is a good thing.” ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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SASA SEVIC
Helping our members re-start their learning journeys Our Return to Learn and Women’s Lives courses transform the lives of hundreds of participants every year.
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Ever since UNISON was created 25 years ago, members who have had few educational opportunities in the past have been able to return to learning with the help of our Women’s Lives and Return to Learn courses. Taught by tutors from the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), both courses help participants to build their confidence and develop their study skills in an atmosphere of mutual support. WEA tutor Shirley AllenJackson, who has been teaching both courses in Yorkshire & Humberside for the past 10 years, always
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ensures participants get the support they need, both from her and from each other. “I always make sure there’s a lot of discussion in my courses: where we have written work to do, we talk about it in pairs and small groups and I encourage people to support each other so they don’t feel they are on their own,” she says. “By the end of the course, you see people’s confidence has grown; they are more willing to share their views and thoughts; and their writing skills have developed,” she says. “They usually start off at Level 1 or Level 2 but by the end at least one of
their assignments will be at Level 3 because they will make a conscious effort to aim for that.” Yorkshire & Humberside member Ann McKelvey, who works at an academy school in Leeds, enrolled on Return to Learn in September 2016. “It was very daunting walking into a room full of people but listening to what the course entailed I decided to stay and over the weeks our group became closer and more of
Member learning
“By the en do course, yo f the us people’s c ee on has grown fidence ” Sh irley AllenJackson, W EA tutor
a little family,” she says. “The way we learned was by giving each other the time and respect to speak and be listened to: we helped each other as we all had different strengths.” Since completing the course, Ann has taken on the role of ULR and enrolled on the Learning and Teaching Foundation/BA degree at the University of Leeds. “The main thing I got from the course was courage – the courage to apply to university and become a ULR,” she says. Leeds Local Government Branch Lifelong Learning Coordinator Carol McGrath offered to mentor Ann once she completed her training. “Now Ann has done the ULR Stage 1 course, she comes to the ULR committee meetings on a regular basis and she’s loving it – she’s flying,” Carol says.“Ann organised for me to meet the deputy principal of the
BRADFORD COUNCIL SIGNS LEARNING AGREEMENT WITH UNISON
Staff at Bradford City Council will be granted paid release for learning at work now that Bradford Local Government Branch has signed a learning agreement with the local authority. “We have a dedicated area on the council’s learner management system, where they put all their training, and a dedicated area on a more general workforce development website they use for members in the private sector,” says Lifelong Learning Coordinator David Wright. “We will put any training we run on the Bradford Council system and if members are interested in going on that training and it’s relevant to their work or beneficial for their work, they will get paid release.” Since signing the learning agreement in January 2018, the branch has organised the UNISON/Open University mental health awareness course in May and the autism awareness course in June, both of which have attracted a lot of interest from members.
school where she works to speak about UNISON’s learning offer: there is so much work now we are going to be able to do in a very large school in Leeds that we wouldn’t have been able to do without Ann making all the progress that she has done.” Although Carol took a university course as a mature student and has a teaching qualification, she recently enrolled on Women’s Lives
herself because she believes it’s best to have first-hand experience of any course she is promoting to her members. “When I looked at what Women’s Lives involved, I wondered if I would get anything out of it,” she says. “But it was really inspiring, I met some amazing women and now I’m able to promote it with passion and enthusiasm because I know it’s a fantastic course.” ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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STEVE FORREST
Outgoing UNISON President Margaret McKee continues to lead the groundbreaking Women in Prison project, which takes UNISON learning to a group of women who need it the most.
Taking UNISON learning behind bars
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Royal Victoria Hospital Branch Chair Margaret McKee, who has been proudly carrying out the role of UNISON president for the past 12 months, is a passionate believer in the power of learning. She’s also a born organiser, who has been active in her branch for most of the 39 years since she joined, ever alert to what she can do to help people who have been undervalued, marginalised or pretty much forgotten about. Put those activist skills together with her commitment to education and it’s no
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surprise that she has given up many a weekend over the past few years to bring learning to a group that many people prefer not to think about – women in the prison system. It was a motion adopted at National Women’s Conference ten years ago that first spurred Margaret into action on the issue. The motion called on the government to implement all the recommendations of the Corston review, which set out the case for radical reform of the way the criminal justice system deals with female offenders. “I don’t have much patience
“I don’t ha ve patience fo much r hanging a bout and waiting fo r things” Margaret McKee
for hanging about and waiting for things and I hate the same thing being on the agenda every time you go somewhere,” Margaret recalls. “So this here, I thought, we’re bringing this back to our women’s committee, we’re going to get in touch with the prisons and see what we can do.” Even with her legendary persistence, it took Margaret nearly two years before she was able to walk in to Ash House to deliver the first course with Pamela Dooley,
Northern Ireland
“They ope n up when we sta talking to rt them” Marga ret McKee
who was at the time UNISON Northern Ireland’s head of organising. Since the closure of Mourne House at Maghaberry Prison in 2004, all women prisoners have been held at Ash House, on the site of the Hydebank male young offenders’ centre in Belfast. Margaret and Pamela amalgamated elements of two UNISON courses, Women’s health and history and Building confidence for women, to deliver to the prisoners. Running the customised one-day course at a weekend encouraged participation, since low staffing levels mean many of the women are locked in their cells for the majority of Saturdays and Sundays. The biscuits and chocolate Margaret and Pamela brought with them also helped.
“We know that women in Hydebank don’t have many education opportunities. We know some of them might only decide to come because it gets them out of their cell. And we know a lot of them come for the biscuits!” she says. “But they do all end up engaging with us: they open up when we start talking to them.” As part of the customised course, Margaret asks the women to think back to their grandmothers or their greatgrandmothers if they’re very young, and work forwards to tell the stories of their mother’s lives and their own, right up to the present day. “They start talking to you about how they have got where they are on that journey that they’ve made,” she says. “And what we have discovered since doing these courses is that the majority of these women have serious mental health problems and really bad addictions because of abuse they suffered as children and they shouldn’t really be in prison – and a lot of them are being held for crimes that men would be out on bail on.” Even with all the demands of her presidential
schedule, Margaret has continued to deliver the course three times a year. Some of the women get so much out of the course that they do it again when they get the chance and other former students look in when Margaret returns with Pamela or Belfast activist and National Women’s Committee Chair Roberta McGee, who recently helped deliver the course. “Even if they’re not going to do the course, they will call in to the room and it’ll be banter with them about whether they’re behaving themselves and they might tell you when they’re getting out or coming up for parole,” Margaret says. For those that do get to walk out of the gates, there is little support, so the Northern Ireland Women’s Committee has helped to furnish a halfway house in Bangor to try to help the women on the hard road they have ahead of them, trying to build a new life. “When you come out of Ash House, you worry about them, you don’t forget any of them, but either you let it get you down so much that you can’t go back or you just keep going,” Margaret says. Keeping going it is, then. ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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25 ULRs to mark 25 years of learning
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NORTH WEST Jane Eyre Dave Hardcastle Bev Herring Norman Hunter (pictured) Bernard Murphy
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EAST MIDLANDS Tina Carnachan (pictured) Jacqueline Olpin Jeanette Reay
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GREATER LONDON Jane Collier (pictured)
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At this year’s Power of the ULR event in February, to celebrate how union learning reps have driven the development of learning and organising, we honoured 25 ULRs, one for every year since UNISON was launched in 1993.
SOUTH WEST Peter Stratford Andy Taylor (pictured)
25th anniversary
SCOTLAND Linda Halford Dorothy MacLeod (pictured) SASA SEVIC
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NORTHERN Wendy Aitman Janice Featherstone Mary Titler (pictured) John Wears
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EASTERN Laura Wilkes (pictured)
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YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE Carol McGrath (pictured) Gillian Nixon
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SOUTH EAST Martin Merritt (pictured)
WEST MIDLANDS Donald McCombie John Routley (pictured)
WALES Debbie John (pictured) Denise Owen
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Developing skills to deal with every child Stoke-on-Trent Local Government Branch is organising a course to help schools staff across the city.
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UNISON members from schools across Stoke-on-Trent are learning the best ways of dealing with children’s challenging behaviour in the classroom on a one-day training course in June. Managing challenging behaviour is a workshop delivered by The Open University (OU) that helps schools staff gain the knowledge and skills they need to support all the pupils they work with. “We’re organising the workshop to help schools
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staff with one of the big issues they are facing today but also to show how UNISON as a trade union isn’t just about difficult issues like grievances – we’re here to help members progress in their workplaces,” explains Fighting Fund Area Organiser Jack Kay. “We want to get out to as many schools as possible and make sure we are visible and that way we will not only gain more members but also be in a better position to help more people in their working lives.” As well as promoting the course with posters
“We’re her e to help mem be progress in rs their workplace s” Jack Kay
and leaflets dropped off with workplace reps and workplace contacts in schools, Stoke-on-Trent Local Government Branch is also emailing details of the workshop to every school head in the city. “By linking in with the headteachers, you always get better buy-in because they see courses like this in a
Schools
“All the participan ts back with came rea positive fe lly e dback” Jack Kay
more positive light and start encouraging their staff to apply for places,” Jack says. The branch has organised the workshop on a school day with the aim of helping more staff to attend. “People shouldn’t have to give up their personal time to access courses like these that benefit their schools as well as the individuals,” Jack says. Jack knows how successful the workshop can be because when he organised it for City of Wolverhampton Local Government Branch last year, more than 60 people applied for the 30 places available. “All the participants came back with really positive feedback about what they learned on the day, how it was delivered and what a benefit it was to be offered the course for free as UNISON members,” Jack says. The branch followed up the behaviour course by running another one-day course three months later – this time, Managing medicines within schools, which is designed and delivered by UNISON. ✱
WE’RE ALL GOING ON A SUMMER LEARNING HOLIDAY!
A total of 150 school support staff enrolled on a wide range of workshops organised by the North West region during the first week of last year’s summer holidays. On day one, Manchester teaching assistants (TAs), lunchtime supervisors and finance and admin staff took part in the one-day Promoting Positive Behaviours workshop delivered by deputy head Jeremy Brigham; while Liverpool members honed their maths skills with Stephanie Lawrence from School Improvement Liverpool. On day two, school staff joined transport workers and community police officers at Merseylearn for a morning workshop on Polish language and culture delivered by Gosia McKane from Merseyside Polonia, which supports bridge-building between communities. In the afternoon, Open University tutor Joy Rowlands delivered a session on autism awareness. On day three, Preston hosted workshops on mental health awareness and dyslexia awareness delivered by Cath Roberts from Manchester College. On day four, 20 members in Manchester took part in UNISON’s popular Power to be You confidence-building course, which was delivered by the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA). And on day five, Manchester College hosted the two last workshops: the first on British Sign Language (BSL), which was delivered by Manchester Deaf Centre tutor Dipti Patel; the second on managing conflict. “We look forward to offering further learning and development opportunities for our members through our excellent partnerships with providers and access to the Union Learning Fund,” commented Regional Schools Lead Keith Bradley, who presented certificates to learners at the end of the Preston workshops on day three.
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Douglas Robertson
“We all need to keep learning in this changing world” Anna Magiera is a new ULR who works as a customer adviser at Glasgow Clyde College. She explains why she loves the role, how she uses limited time and offers some suggestions for new and established ULRs.
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I wanted to be a union learning rep (ULR) since the very first UNISON meeting I attended in London – that was a few years back as far as I remember! I hadn’t realised there were roles other than steward so when
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I was asked if I would like to become a ULR I said, ‘Why not?’ Since then it has been a journey! I can only spend one hour a week on my role. It isn’t a lot when I think about all the ideas I have in my head and how much I would like to do!
However, I try to use my time wisely as that’s all I have got. I have taken the chance to introduce myself to my colleagues at the college. I have sent general emails outlining the opportunities. I have told the learning and development team at the college that I am happy to work with them. And I have collected data about what courses people would like to see offered by UNISON. So the role is fab. It can be challenging but rewarding!
Supporting ULRs
“This pass ion learning m for ak my ULR ro es le easy and deligh tful”
I have always outlined the importance of the lifelong learning to everyone I have met. Knowledge is power and in the world that is continuously changing, we need to keep learning. Learning helps with uncertainty, with adapting to change, with progressing in a job and many more things! It even has the benefit of making new friends – and just having a wee break from the office environment can change a lot in someone’s life! I cannot actually remember when I had a break from learning. After finishing at university, I thought ‘never again’ but since then I have been studying in the evening and my choices vary from light leisure noncertificated classes to full accredited courses. This passion for learning makes my ULR role easy and delightful. I like to see people progress in their careers and
ANNA’S TOP TIPS
✱ Be open-minded: ask people what courses they would like to do, speak to your colleagues at different levels and different ages. Be prepared as much as you can – know your stuff. Share your experience and knowledge. Be approachable! ✱ Spread the word: some colleagues don’t have a constant access to email, so promote courses in different ways! Posters, word of mouth, leaflets in a pigeon-hole – anything that could expand your audience. ✱ Don’t give up: there will be times when you will get a lot of hassle, when things don’t work, when your employer makes things difficult, when there is no funding or people don’t turn up. You may think, “What is the point of all that?” But remember: this is a learning journey, so nothing will be perfect all the time but you will learn from it and will get better next time! ✱ Appreciate your role: I love the fact that I can support someone, that I can speak to various people, give them my modest advice. ✱ Keep yourself up-to-date: if you wish to promote lifelong learning, be an example! Show people you are doing courses so they don’t think your words are empty.
lives, enjoy their lives a little more, do something they had never had the chance to do due to various reasons such as money, childcare or time. Don’t get me wrong: there are people around me who would say to me that they don’t see any sense in me constantly studying something. But this is when I can discuss with them how I
see it and how many benefits they could get in terms of personal development. And I would encourage them to try – even a wee short course – and they can see for themselves. I try to put myself in their shoes and understand their position but people should always be persuaded to do something for themselves! ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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Helping Black members gain skills to move on up UNISON runs a range of courses to help our Black members gain the confidence and the leadership skills to progress at work and in the union.
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Confidence training through UNISON has helped Yorkshire & Humberside activist Lubna Lazrak take on the new role of vice-chair of the regional Black members self-organised group (SOG). Lubna, who is chair of the North Yorkshire Police Branch and a workplace rep, took the Confidence Skills for Activists course last year. “I don’t always feel confident about coming forward in group discussions and I wanted to gain some tips about public speaking, which 26
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I do when we go to UNISON conferences and speak on motions,” Lubna says. “The course helped with putting things together in a short space of time – such as the three minutes you have to move a motion at conference – by putting together a presentation about something you’re interested in,” she says. “Then the group would discuss how you’d performed and give you feedback: you think you’re not coming across well but it was good to hear people give both positive and negative feedback and
“I don’t alw ay feel confid s en about com t in forward in g group discussion s” Lubna La zrak
it was good to hear that I was confident, I was to the point and I came across quite well – so that was nice!” Lubna then signed up for the region’s one-day training course for the Black members self-organised group. “It was great to meet new people, get support from
Black members
“It was gre at meet new to pe get suppo ople, rt from each othe r” Lubna La zrak
It was a UNISON confidence course that gave Shipha Begum the courage to move a motion at this year’s National Black Members’ Conference (NBMC). Shipha took the young women’s confidence course shortly after joining Luton & Dunstable Hospital Branch (she is a biomedical support worker at the hospital). “This was to help me approach other people in my workplace and help with recruitment as I am the young members officer in my branch – never had I thought I’d be on stage in front of hundreds of people speaking at conference,” she says. But when it came to moving the motion at this year’s NBMC, Shipha was able to use all the skills she gained on her confidence course – practising her speech beforehand, speaking slowly and making sure she could be heard. The result was that not only was the motion passed but many delegates came to find Sipha afterwards to offer their congratulations. “Had I not gone on the confidence skills course, I wouldn’t have had the courage in the first place to even think about speaking in front of a crowd,” Shipha says.
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each other, learn from each other and pick ideas up from other people,” she says. It was taking part in the Black members’ training day that planted the seed in Lubna’s mind about putting herself forward for the role of vice-chair of the regional SOG. “It wasn’t something that had crossed my mind but the training encouraged me to develop myself a little bit,” Lubna says. ✱
CONFIDENCE COURSE PAYS OFF FOR SHIPHA
SOUTH WEST BLACK MEMBERS PUT LEARNING INTO ACTION
Twenty-two Black members in the South West are implementing action plans in their branches across the region after a successful brand new leadership course in Bristol at the end of last year. The course was designed to engage Black members across the region, both from cities with significant Black populations such as Bristol, Swindon and Gloucester and from rural communities, where there is greater isolation. “Overall the weekend was worthwhile,” commented Wiltshire Police Black Members’ Rep Mamata Rai. “It was a great experience – a great way of networking, sharing ideas and knowledge and meeting new people.” Regional Black members’ group chair Georgia Ramsay was equally positive. “The course gave a lot of people confidence and knowledge and they seemed to love it,” she said.
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Secondment is key to engagement A pilot project funding two days paid release for Lee Goddard has enabled him to encourage hundreds of ambulance staff to improve their skills through online learning.
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An ambulance service union learning rep (ULR) has recruited or signposted more than 1,000 learners with the help of two days a week paid release financed by UNISON’s Inclusive Learning project. In just six months, Lee Goddard enrolled 1,061 people onto a massive range of free distance learning courses with The Open University (OU), Leicester College, the Department of Health and other providers. At the time, Lee was lifelong learning coordinator of the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) Branch but
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has recently won election as branch secretary. While Lee works for EMAS, the hundreds he recruited represented more than half of UNISON’s target for learners right across the union’s entire East Midlands region. The most popular courses have been the OU’s Level 1 Forensic Psychology (240 learners) and Level 1 Child Psychology (168 learners) courses plus suicide prevention training (144 learners) delivered by the Zero Suicide Alliance. In addition, Lee has enrolled 39 learners on distance learning courses
“Learning has alway s been a pa ssion of mine and it always will be” Le e Goddard
through Leicester College, covering subjects such as dementia care, diabetes management, mental health and end of life care. Lee used his paid release days to visit the 60-plus workplaces across the Trust using email and social media to alert staff about when he would be on-site to talk to them about all the learning opportunities he had identified. “We’ve opened up the opportunities to every member of staff to demonstrate the value of what learning can be to EMAS – and there have even been some senior managers taking
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“We’ve op ene the oppor d up tun to every m ities ember of staff” Lee
TACKLING DOMESTIC ABUSE
Northamptonshire Police Branch organised a workshop on domestic abuse that proved so popular with members from branches throughout the county that ULR Jenny Brown organised a second one in quick succession. “We were discussing what courses we could run at the county ULR forum and when someone suggested domestic abuse, ULRs from every branch said this affects both our members and the people we deal with so it would be a useful one to do,” Jenny explains. “We have some brilliant staff who do some great work in the Sunflower Centre, which is our domestic abuse unit at police headquarters, and the two supervisors had a half-day awareness session about how to spot the signs, what they could do to help and where they could refer people to.” The duo first ran the session for the regional UNISON Welfare team, and then delivered it twice for members in Northamptonshire, for 19 people in November and then 12 more in February. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and participants have told Jenny that they have been able to pass on what they learned to other colleagues who were unable to attend.
Goddard
up these courses.” In addition, he also recruited five more ULRs over the same period and encouraged one of them to follow in his footsteps as Lifelong Learning Coordinator and use the momentum to encourage even more people to take up lifelong learning. “Even though I’m moving on to branch secretary, learning has always been a passion of mine and it always will be, so although I have had to give up the learning coordinator role, this is not something I am going to drop now!” he says. ✱
UNISON POWER BRANCH BURNS BRIGHTLY
UNISON Power, which organises at energy provider EON, was named regional learning branch of the year at the East Midlands annual awards in January. “We have seven individual offices throughout the East Midlands and slightly further afield but we managed to get the number of ULRs up from three to seven so we had people in nearly every site to actively promote learning opportunities through UNISON,” explains Graham Thompson, who job-shares the Lifelong Learning Coordinator role with Natasha Mitto. “If you get the right people as ULRs who are enthusiastic, then everything else drops into place. We have regular meetings, but a lot of the time the ULRs scattered across the company are dealing with people they work with, developing a rapport with them and we do get more members starting to join the branch as a result of the learning opportunities that we are promoting.”
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Build your branch with the Organising Space
“The Orga nising Space is a really great tool to networ k with othe r reps from up and do wn the country”
Khaled Kis
wani
You can network with other ULRs and find a wide variety of useful resources on our Organising Space.
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West London Mental Health Branch ULR Khaled Kiswani has been using the networking opportunities and wealth of resources on our Organising Space to build a stronger branch through learning. Khaled, who recently completed TUC Education’s online ULR training course, is also secretary of the branch, which is spread over 25 sites, including high-security locations such as Broadmoor.
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“I think that learning is a major interest for a lot of our members but it’s also a great way for the union to organise in the workplace,” he says. Developing activists is all about finding what motivates them, Khaled says, whether that is becoming a learning rep or another role, even a workplace contact. “When you ask people if they’d like to be more involved with the union, some say doing case work doesn’t motivate them,” he says.
“I have one ULR in Broadmoor, for example, who would not have been involved as a steward but he is training with National Numeracy and is very excited about taking forward a project with National Numeracy and LAOS.” The Organising Space brings together a wide range of campaigning resources, which means ULRs and other activists don’t have to keep on reinventing the wheel.
Networking
START USING THE ORGANISING SPACE
“We’re the biggest union in the public sector, which means that somebody somewhere has probably already done a poster on a campaign you’re running or organised a recruitment event like one you want to do, so you don’t have to start from scratch – you can see what’s out there, see what’s worked and build on it,” he says. “For someone like me, when I was the only trained and active ULR in my Trust, it would have felt like a mountain to climb if I didn’t have those resources to get me started – a lot of the guides you can’t find anywhere else.” Khaled finds it invaluable to be able to network with other reps outside the branch via the Organising Space. “The Organising Space is a really great tool to network with other reps from up and down the country to find out about what has worked elsewhere and all the different projects that are going on,” he says. The first seven new ULRs completed their training on site in April (pictured in the sidebar), and more are scheduled to follow suit later this summer. Once they all complete their course, the branch will
The Organising Space enables UNISON activists to: ✱ share ideas, documents and useful information; ✱ keep in touch with each other on what’s happening in their workplaces/local areas; ✱ meet colleagues working on similar elements of the workplace learning agenda; ✱ keep up to date with national policies and initiatives that impact on union learning. The Organising Space has two sections: ✱ Communities, where you can ask questions, keep updated and network with other ULRs from across the country. There is a chat called ‘Organising through Learning’ that’s dedicated to discussing issues specific to trade union learning. ✱ Resources, where you can find useful websites, newsletters, surveys, posters and learning activities arranged under several headings. There’s a tile called ‘Learning and Development’ where you can find useful resources for ULRs. To access the Organising Space, you will need an account at my.UNISON (visit www. unison.org.uk/my-unison/ to register). Once you have set up your account, you can log on at https://organisingspace.unison.org.uk
have a ULR on every major site around the Trust. While Trust management is very supportive of learning and development, the branch has a unique and important role to play, Khaled says. “The employer is very
pro-learning but unions can reach out to staff that might be missed at times, that might have barriers to learning, that need a confidential space to speak about their developmental needs,” he says. ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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Helping members through higher level learning When you’re taking your first degree, UNISON may be able to help you by covering some of the cost of your course fees – as we did with West Midlands member James Vanstone.
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Financial support from UNISON and the backing of his family have helped Tamworth Branch Welfare Officer James Vanstone gain a 2:1 in Psychology from The Open University (OU) after six years of part-time study. James has been fascinated by what makes people tick his whole life. Before starting at the council 12 years ago, he had worked in a community counselling agency, using skills he had gained on a counselling diploma he completed 32
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in the early 2000s. But when he trained as a UNISON workplace rep at Tamworth, James found that his psychological insights helped him with the cut and thrust of representing members who were having problems with their managers. “Going into disciplinaries and grievances, I got really interested in the psychology of it all and particularly the power relations between managers and the workforce on the frontline,” he recalls. It was his activism that
led him to enrol on a psychology degree with the OU in 2011, where he was able to pay some of his course fees with the help of learning grants from UNISON. “When I realised I could get help from UNISON for each module, that was very helpful,” he says. For James, the highlight of his course was the qualitative study of the psychology of language and discourse. “I really enjoyed the study of power relations, which is very relevant to my union work because power
Supporting members
“When I r eali could get sed I help from UNISON fo r module, th each at was very helpf ul” James Van stone
relations are everywhere: it’s been very useful to be able to analyse the invisible power relations that are going on in the workplace all the time,” he says. “For example, recently I was sitting in on a meeting between a member and their manager, who was trying to make them feel guilty for bringing in a union rep,” he recalls. “But when I said that the manager’s language suggested they were more interested in winning an argument rather than getting to the root of the problem, that put the manager on the back foot and gave my member the advantage.” Now that he’s completed his degree, James is launching a regular journal on mental health inside and outside the workplace, featuring tips and tricks, interviews with members and links to online resources. “I would recommend the OU to anybody: online tutorials are very effective and there is support from your peers in the forums if you get stuck with anything,” James says. And UNISON helped with more than just his course fees, he points out. “I’ve
talked to people on other UNISON courses that have done degrees who gave me their tips and ideas: that’s
the thing with UNISON, it’s like being part of a big family – the help is always there if you want it.” ✱
Get online
WE CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR STUDY COSTS
If you are a UNISON member studying at your own expense, you may be eligible for a grant from UNISON to support you. For members on Further Education (FE) courses or their first degree level course, we offer learning support grants of £200. For learners on Open University degree courses, we offer OU grants of £300 for 60 point-courses at first degree level or £200 for 30-point courses. Funding becomes available at 1 January and 1 September and grants are offered on a first come, first served basis until funding is spent. Each member can receive one UNISON learning grant only in each calendar year, up to a maximum of four grants. They can be used for study on any general development course or any career-related course relevant to working in public services, including public services delivered by private contractors. As well as the application form (link below), we will need a copy of your course registration and proof that you are meeting the full cost of fees yourself will be required before a grant can be paid. ✱ Go to https://learning.unison.org.uk/financial-support/ to download your application form.
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Applying counselling skills as a UNISON rep Every year, around a dozen members and reps gain skills that help them become better reps on a popular counselling course in the West Midlands.
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Another dozen UNISON members and reps in the West Midlands are gaining important skills to use in their work and their union roles on the region’s popular counselling course this year. Run every year for the past four years, the informal course takes two-and-a-half hours every week for nine weeks and is delivered by a qualified counsellor who runs their own practice. Free to UNISON members, The Process of Helping: Using Counselling Skills covers active and attentive listening skills; understanding 34
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empathy; self-awareness; communicating nonjudgmental acceptance; goal setting; and managing endings. “We developed this course in response to requests from members and reps who wanted to develop some of the key skills found in counselling that are very useful in a number of settings,” explains Regional Learning and Development Organiser Gurdeep Singh. “The reps in particular were saying that since they were in the business of helping people – as counsellors are – they would benefit from
“It has rea lly filled a gap for pe op are intere le who sted in what coun selling involves” Gurde ep Singh
gaining counselling skills without the time and expense of undertaking a formal qualification.” Walsall Local Government Branch member Lorraine Johnson completed the course last year. “I was attracted to the course because I had recently become a steward and felt I needed to enhance my listening skills when supporting members – listening, reflecting and summarising were the most useful things I learned on the course,” Lorraine says. “Offering this free course to members is beneficial as
Supporting activists
RENEWING OUR TIES WITH LONG-TERM PARTNERS
Thousands of members every year undertake courses with The Open University (OU) and the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), through the successful partnerships UNISON sustains with both the OU and the WEA. At a special event in UNISON Centre last year, speakers from all three organisations plus shadow education secretary (and former UNISON activist) Angela Rayner set out how both partnerships have helped people achieve far beyond what they previously imagined. Angela described how the UNISON-OU partnership had helped Stockport Council home care workers like her progress their careers through learning. “We created opportunities for women like me to become “Our respo nsibility assistant practitioners by getting Foundation degrees, is to make the which transformed that group of workers and gave them le a r n in g a sense of purpose and a sense of wellbeing,” she said. jour accessible ney WEA Chief Executive Ruth Spellman warned ” Ruth Spel lman that many employers were walking away from their commitments to education and there wasn’t enough funding for adult education to fill the gap. “Our responsibility is to make the learning journey accessible, this is a taster course that which is not the same as easy,” she said. gives you the foundational OU Pro Vice-Chancellor Hazel skills you need if you want Rymer credited Learning and Organising to pursue something Services and UNISON’s network of ULRs with within this field.” spreading the lifelong learning message. Gurdeep says the course Newcastle UNISON member Sultana Rajia was one of is one of the most successful many learners who had taken one of the OU’s six free in the programme. “Learners badged online courses for people looking to develop their are committed to it, they career or considering a change of direction, Hazel said. tend to stay the distance “Our partnership has empowered Sultana and together and they get a lot out of it. we’re empowering learners though the partnership And on top of that, they go with UNISON to take the small steps that may one day on to tell their colleagues lead to them wearing a graduation gown,” Hazel said. and friends about what a At the end of the event, UNISON Assistant General good course it is,” he says. Secretary Roger McKenzie signed renewed Memoranda “It has really filled a gap for of Understanding with the OU and the WEA. people who are interested “This is a really important partnership that changes in what counselling involves people’s lives: we’re up to working even harder with the and can dip their toe in the OU and the WEA because history teaches us that when water without having to we work together we can move mountains,” Roger said. pay hundreds of pounds or set aside six months for a formal qualification.” ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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SHARON WINS SKILLS FOR LIFE AWARD
UNISON ULRS RECOGNISED BY UNIONLEARN
Blackpool Health Branch ULRs Jane Eyre and Bev Herring won the unionlearn 2017 award for supporting learners with numeracy skills. Thanks to their hard work, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust signed on to the National Numeracy Challenge in 2016 and has now incorporated the Challenge into the care certificate for Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) and first-year nurses’ training (preceptorships). ✱ UNISON learning rep Carol McGrath won the 2017 unionlearn award for supporting learners with literacy skills. Carol, who works in adult social care for Leeds City Council, set up a bookswap bookcase with the help of Kickstart funding from UNISON, launched a reading group for her colleagues and has actively promoted the Reading Ahead challenge at the authority.
EMMA IS TOP STUDENT
Rochdale UNISON member Emma Laycock was named one of four Workers’ Educational Association students of the year at the organisation’s North West AGM last year. Emma was recognised for her work on Return to Learn and Women’s Lives, courses that are delivered for the union by the WEA.
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Northumbria Healthcare Branch member Sharon Proud was named joint winner of the Olive Cordell skills for life student award by the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) last year. Nursing assistant Sharon had been studying for a Level 2 maths course with the WEA through the UNISON Bridges to Learning project, when she collapsed preparing for a charity walk in the Northumberland National Park. After she was resuscitated more than once by mountain rescue, Sharon made some important decisions in the light of her experience, including that she would complete her maths qualification as soon as she recovered – which she went on to do. “It was a life-changing moment and I wanted to live for each day after that,” Sharon says.
Awards
PRISCILLA IS NAMED SCOTTISH UNION LEARNER OF THE YEAR
FRASER BAND
Stirling Council Branch member Priscilla Maramba has won the 2017 union learner of the year award from Scottish Union Learning (SUL), unionlearn’s counterpart at the Scottish TUC. As soon as she arrived in the country from Zimbabwe 17 years ago, Priscilla involved herself in a variety of volunteering activities and took all the opportunities to learn that she came across. Priscilla joined UNISON when she started as a care worker for Falkirk Council and continued her membership when she secured her current role as a support worker for Stirling Council. After completing an HNC in Business Studies in 2004 and gaining her Masters in Law in 2007, Priscilla has now started a Chartered Management Institute Certificate in First Line Management and last year completed UNISON’s Black Workers into Management Course. Being a UNISON member has helped Priscilla not only continue her learning journey but also pursue her lifelong passion for social justice, she says. “In the union, I did not have to change who I am,” Priscilla says. “There was so much support, understanding, encouragement, inspiration, friendliness and a strong and serious voice relentlessly asking for situations to change to make life better for the working people and other members of society – particularly those who are most vulnerable.”
… AND WE WON ONE, TOO!
UNISON won the WEA 2017 Strategic Partner Award for enabling the organisation to increase its profile, influence the sector and raise educational aspirations. “I was delighted to accept this award on behalf of all the staff and activists in UNISON who put in so much time and effort to enrich our members’ lives through promoting learning,” commented Head of Learning and Organising Services Teresa Donegan.
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Meet the new members of the team We say hello to Emily King and Suzanne Tipping and goodbye to Tom Jenkins.
ALL PHOTOS: JESS HURD/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
Emily King Education Officer 1 What is your new role? I have been a National Education Officer since last June. 2 Where were you working before? I was working for The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) managing their Union Learning Fund (ULF) project. I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in 2016 and I was looking for the opportunity to use my specialist education knowledge in a trade union education setting – so when the UNISON role came up it was perfect progression for me! 3 What do you most enjoy about your current role? The people I work with: colleagues, activists and members. 4 What is the biggest challenge in your work? At the moment, it is finding 38
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ways to deliver effective education and development to private sector workers who are dispersed and difficult to reach.
“I was loo king for the oppor tunity to use my sp ecialist education knowledg e” Emily Kin g
5 What course or subject would you most like to learn yourself? Another language, probably Spanish. Suzanne Tipping Area Organiser 1 What is your new role? I am an Area Organiser working on the Participation Team in the South East Region. This is a new team that, in addition to my post, comprises the Regional Education Officer, the Regional Women’s Officer and the Regional Education Administrator. Half of my time is dedicated to working on member learning, and the other half on equality. I started the role in November 2017. 2 Where were you working before? Previously, I was an AO working with a number of
committees in the region and on equalities, campaigning and communication. When we had a restructure in 2017, I applied for this role as I had had some experience with tutoring and member learning but wanted to extend my own knowledge as well as sharing information with other organisers, learning reps and – ultimately – our members. 3 What do you most enjoy about your current role? Before I took on this role, this region hadn’t had a member of staff dedicated to promoting member learning for eight years. That means that in the region, we have no established programme to promote to branches or ULRs.
UNISON people
AU REVOIR, TOM
“The joy a bou learning is t to be able to sh that know are le dge” Suzanne Ti pping
I want to make information on member learning as available and accessible as possible for our members. The joy about learning is to be able to share that knowledge with others and to see them grow in confidence. 4 What is the biggest challenge in your work? The biggest challenge is probably lack of time. Member learning in this region really does deserve a full-time position dedicated to it – but we are about to appoint a project worker for 12 months working with branches and learning reps, which will give us the additional resource we really need.
Tom Jenkins has left Learning and Organising Services after nearly three years dedicated work as the North West Learning Organiser. “Tom’s enthusiasm and insight into creating strategic links with branches helped to significantly increase the number of member learning courses that ran in the North West over the past two-and-a-half years,” says Education Officer Davinder Sandhu. A qualified maths teacher, Tom used his knowledge and skills to help develop a ‘fun with numbers’ workshop in the region that has since been rolled out nationally and he also set up apprenticeship networking across the North West. Always approachable, Tom was able to establish a good rapport with both members and activists, while his commitment to learning extended to running sessions in evenings and on weekends to help members who wouldn’t have been able to attend courses during regular office hours. Blackpool Health Branch ULR Jane Eyre often collaborated with Tom while he was working in the regional team. “We will miss his sense of humour, his approachability and his maths skills!” Jane says. Davinder says that she hopes Tom’s departure is not the end of his work with LAOS. “We wish him all the best for the future and hope he will come back and tutor for us,” she says.
5 What course or subject would you most like to learn yourself? I’d really like to learn practical skills such as plastering or bricklaying. I once built
a raised pond and it took an entire weekend for me to lay 16 bricks! ✱ SUMMER 2018 U LEARN
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