www.unionlearn.org.uk
Reaching communities
A guide to partnership work between trade unions and community champions
www.unionlearn.org.uk
Foreword Unionlearn, although still a relatively new and certainly very exciting organisation, in many ways brings trade unionism right back to its roots. Unions have always been passionate about education and its ability to transform lives. We also have always understood that access to learning is not automatically fair. Disadvantages are often built in from early years which persist through adulthood and this defines life chances. From the setting up of Mechanics Institutes in the 19th century, unions have been influential in breaking the cycle of educational disadvantage, both for workers and those around them. This area of union work has been given a great impetus since the 1990s, initially through Bargaining for Skills and then through the setting up of the Union Learning Fund in 1998 which heralded the new union learning representative (ULR) role.
TUC surveys show that union representatives were eight times more likely than others to become active in their communities. Trade unionism is an all-embracing movement built on fairness and justice for all, so we will continue to do more to support learners in communities. We are working with NIACE to develop and support ‘community learning champions’ and even more recently those organisations that are developing ‘learning champions’ and advocates in non-unionised workplaces. This toolkit is designed to help ULRs and other learning champions to work practically with one another to reach even more learners. I hope you find it useful.
Tom Wilson Director, unionlearn
ULRs have been a huge success story with over 28,000 trained to date. They were awarded statutory rights in 2003 and are able to bring learning to 230,000 people each year. Their strength is reaching those who would not otherwise participate in learning because they are more like their friends at work, understanding colleagues’ fears and anxieties. Unionlearn’s mission is to “transform workers’ life chances through lifelong learning”. Through doing this, we also enable unions to reach out into their communities. Over 100 of the 400 union learning centres are open to friends, families and communities. Unions such as the NUM, FBU and Unity all have a strong “brand” in communities who respect and trust the union to help them return to learn. 1
Contents 1. Reaching communities 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The role of trade unions in learning 1.3 Role of community learning champions and other champion roles 1.4 Benefits of collaboration and working in partnership
5. Sustainability 4 4 4 5
2. Mapping your patch 2.1 Identifying your community 2.2 Finding each other and making contact 2.3 Understanding each other’s roles 2.4 Identifying common ground – ideas for working together 2.5 Starting from scratch
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5.1 Setting goals and objectives 5.2 Evaluating and reviewing 5.3 Funding 5.4 Building your role
6. Useful information and links 6.1 Potential local partners and partnerships 6.2 Useful initiatives 6.3 Useful organisations 6.4 Where to go 6.5 Online resources 6.6 Progression
3. Working together 3.1 What is available in your community? 3.2 Building networks and partnerships 3.3 Making your partnership work 3.4 Making plans
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4. Focus on the learner 4.1 Working together to engage disadvantaged learners 4.2 Working with special groups 4.3 Progression pathways
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This icon within the text indicates that an item is included in the Resources section of the Reaching Communities folder.
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Reaching communities
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The role of trade unions in learning
This toolkit has been specifically developed for union learning representatives (ULRs), community learning champions (CLCs) and other learning advocates but can be used by any trade union and community representatives working to promote and support learning.
Trade unions are highly active in supporting education and learning among their members at local, regional and national level.
It has been developed in recognition of the wide range of benefits that can arise from trade unions and community learning champions working together, including reaching disadvantaged groups in the workplace and the local community, enhancing learning opportunities, sharing resources and approaches and learning from each other. In the toolkit you will find information to support collaboration and the development of successful partnerships. It includes practical steps, ideas, inspiring case studies and resources.
Unionlearn aims to transform workers’ life chances through lifelong learning. It helps trade unions spread the lifelong learning message to its members. Union learning representatives (ULRs) have a specific role and expertise in offering advice about training, education and development to their colleagues in the workplace and brokering learning opportunities for them. They are trade union members elected or appointed by their union to open up learning opportunities for all. ULRs receive training and paid time off from their employers to engage with colleagues, and they operate across all sectors from education to entertainment. The Union Learning Fund (2011–2012) prospectus commits trade unions to supporting learners in both workplaces and local communities, building on good existing activity through: ❚❚ developing and strengthening training and support
for ULRs to enable them to reach out and support disadvantaged learners, particularly those with literacy, numeracy and language needs, in both the workplace and the local community. ❚❚ helping to tackle the digital divide and its impact on the most disadvantaged groups in workplaces and local communities, including through the promotion of Online Basics – the Digital Life Skills offer. ❚❚ exploring models to support a ‘learning champion’ role in non-unionised workplaces. 4
1.3 Role of community learning champions and other champion roles There are many types of champion who can and do support learning within the community including health champions and learning mentors. Champions are often from a similar background to the people they are working with and have a good local knowledge. This means they are powerful advocates and role models for learning. Some local champions may be engaged with the community learning champions (CLCs) project, initially funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. CLCs are linked to organisations that provide community-based learning opportunities for adults and have signed up to be part of the community learning champions national support programme (www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk). The kinds of organisations that recruit and support CLCs are local authority adult learning services, libraries and voluntary and community organisations. CLCs are part of a national network of people who have themselves experienced the difference that learning can make in their lives, and want to communicate that passion and enthusiasm to others in their community. Like ULRs, they have a specific remit to encourage and support their peers to take up learning. They often work in a voluntary capacity to promote the value of learning, identifying needs, giving advice, providing support and/or creating networks. There are projects running across England that provide training and support for CLCs.
1.4 Benefits of collaboration and working in partnership It is clear that trade unions and community champions, especially ULRs and CLCs, have similar roles and aims in championing learning and providing support, advice and guidance to inspire others to learn. They also have distinct areas of expertise, and access to resources, which can provide a range of benefits if they are brought together and drawn on through working in partnership. These include:
❚❚ Reaching new audiences ULRs and CLCs and other advocates may have access to different groups and resources that would benefit from each other’s expertise and support. For example, some groups in the workplace may be hard to reach for ULRs because they are from a particular ethnic group, are in a non-unionised workplace, or are in one where people may have pre-conceived ideas about unions. CLCs may have access to these groups and can work with ULRs to reach them and offer learning support through the workplace. Alternatively, ULRs may have links with people in the workplace who could benefit from the support of Sharing resources and opening your doors to the community can often mean that learning opportunities are more feasible. If you’ve got the numbers, you can negotiate better fees and courses are easier to run. Paul Dovey, CWU Union Learning Project Manager (England).
Some people… get the wrong end of the stick about what we do: but if you go in and organise a course and they can bring their mum or their sister too, they think the union’s marvellous – it’s a major tool for changing people’s attitudes towards unions. Phil Gander, Usdaw Eastern Division Project Worker.
CLCs to access learning in the community. These could include people whose work patterns and contractual arrangements prevent them from taking full advantage of support for learning through the workplace. CLCs can also support family and friends.
❚❚ Changing perceptions Some people may have negative perceptions of trade unions or certain community groups. Working together can help address and solve those issues.
❚❚ Sharing resources and expanding learning opportunities
❚❚ Sharing understanding and developing new approaches ULRs and CLCs may benefit from sharing their knowledge and understanding of working with different groups, as well as the approaches they use to engage people in learning. This may lead to new ways of engaging with disadvantaged groups as well as joint projects and activities.
❚❚ Supporting progression in learning CLCs and ULRs may have different expertise in supporting progression in learning and this can be drawn on for the benefit of the groups they each work with. For example, CLCs may be able to provide workers with information or access to alternative learning opportunities and progression outside the workplace. ULRs have expertise in workplace learning, and skills and opportunities for progression that may benefit people who are outside the workplace and want to take steps back into employment.
CLCs and ULRs may have strong links or access to resources that could be shared to benefit the wider community. For example, ULRs may be able to provide community access to union-led learning centres. These centres offer flexible and good quality learning in an informal setting, which is especially positive for people who may be intimidated by traditional learning venues such as colleges. CLCs may also have strong links or access to community resources, such as libraries and community centres, that could be used to expand learning opportunities for union learners.
Reaching communities
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Mapping your patch
This section is about identifying and making contact with other community champions and exploring how you might work together.
2.1 Identifying your community A useful first step is to think about what you mean by community as it can mean different things. For example, community may mean1: ❚❚ a geographic area or locality where people work or live ❚❚ people linked by a common identity, e.g. ethnicity
or faith ❚❚ people with a common interest.
Understanding what you mean by community will help you to think about where you will find other community learning champions and other potential partners that you could work with.
2.2 Finding each other and making contact Finding union learning representatives and union representatives There will be workplaces in your community where ULRs and workplace champions are active. As ULRs are located in different companies and organisations and work for different unions, the best way of finding out where they are based and who may be the best person to talk to is to contact the unionlearn/union regional representatives. They will be able to pass on their contact details to you. To contact a representative for your area you can visit www.unionlearn.org.uk or see section 6.2 in this guide, ‘Useful initiatives and organisations’.
Finding community learning champions There are a number of ways of finding community champions in your area, including CLCs. Community champions usually work with local projects that are run by community organisations, local authorities, colleges or other bodies. They often work in a range of contexts and have different roles, e.g. school governors working in schools, resident champions working with housing associations and digital champions helping people to use computers and the web. There may also be learning champions that are working in nonunionised workplaces.
Unionlearn regional co-ordinator in the Yorkshire and Humber region, Sharon Burke has worked with The New Testament Church of God for the past three years. This partnership began when local church member and GMB activist Charlie James contacted Sharon about promoting learning. Sharon believes that it is worth finding out where union learning reps are volunteering as there may be avenues to promote learning with those groups or organisations. To find community champions who are working with people in your area speak to local groups, schools, PCT trusts or community and voluntary organisations. You can locate them either by contacting the local council, searching online, looking through local papers or contacting local business networks. They may also be interested in reaching the workplace and looking to work with ULRs themselves. There are also regional networks for Community Learning Champions, which include details about local schemes. Visit www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk to find your regional network.
©Third Avenue
Amanda Tattersall, Power in Coalition: strategies for strong unions and social change, 2010, Cornell University Press: Ithica; Jane Wills and Melanie Simms, “Building Reciprocal Community Unionism in the UK”, Capital and Class 2004, 82, 59–84
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Mapping your patch
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2.3 Understanding each other’s roles Once you have located and made contact with other learning champions, the next step is to explore more about the work that you each do to promote and support learning. Understanding each other’s roles and aims will help you to decide whether there is an opportunity to collaborate on the types of activities and projects you could deliver together in the community. The ‘initial conversation’ grid on the next page, includes areas that you may wish to cover in your discussions as well as points to consider. As well as discussing what you are currently doing to promote and support learning, you may also wish to exchange ideas for future work, including opportunities that you have identified, and other activities and projects that you are interested in setting up. There are also informal ways of getting to know each other and the work that you each do. Merseylearn, a partnership project that supports people working in the transport sector in Merseyside, organised a coach trip around Liverpool for CLCs and ULRs to get know each other and the local area. Merseylearn’s Tony Norbury said:
© Third Avenue
“…this was an excellent day that was both enjoyable and informative and provided the basis for future work, bringing CLCs and ULRs together…”
2.4 Identifying common ground – ideas for working together When you are exploring further how you might work together, it is important to note that you might not immediately find suitable opportunities for collaboration. However, by exploring possibilities you will start to build a relationship and make connections between your areas of work that you can build on at a later stage. Before you start working together find out what is already available in the community. You may be able to add value to activities that already exist. A useful approach for identifying things that you can do together is to use a matrix tool. This can help you to map out your existing activities and community audiences as well as how you might develop these in partnership. An ‘ideas matrix’ is included in the Resources section of this toolkit. You will need to fill in the matrix from your different perspectives to explore fully how you could work together. You don’t need to work on all these ideas, but it’s a good starting point to build joint goals and activities. It’s important to be aware that if you are considering transferring activities or existing learning opportunities to a different community setting, you may need to adapt them to a new audience. For example, the content in an IT course that you offer in your workplace may not be appropriate for older learners at the local library.
Your ideas may vary from small-scale activities to more ambitious programmes. For example: ❚❚ Woolwich Trade Union Study Centre displayed a
banner stand in their local library to advertise their courses and interact with the local community. ❚❚ Usdaw learning rep and Tesco community champion, Mandy Lloyd, made a British Sign Language course viable by offering places to staff from a nearby school. ❚❚ CWU Wolverhampton Amal branch and the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple pooled resources to open up a learning centre for English, maths, computers and foreign languages that could be accessed by workers and the wider community, which has now expanded to a range of courses, including wrestling taught by a former Olympic gold medallist. Once you have identified possible areas of joint work, the next step is to think about how you might take this forward. You may wish to start with small-scale activities before moving onto bigger projects. Whatever the size of activity that you decide on, you will need to start with a vision of what you want to achieve and a realistic idea of how to manage the initiative to avoid some of the difficulties that may arise when working in partnership.
Mapping your patch
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Initial conversation grid Area to be explored
Points to cover
Things to consider CURRENT WORK
Roles, responsibilities and expertise
❚❚ ❚❚ ❚❚ ❚❚ ❚❚ ❚❚
Your main responsibilities Main activities that you do How you promote and support learning? Who you are trying to support or help – your learning audience Identified needs and what are you trying to achieve Any special skills or expertise you have
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People and organisations that support your role
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People who support your work on a day-to-day basis Training or resources that support your role People who help you to achieve your goals Organisations you regularly work with
❚❚ Opportunities to access each other’s learning opportunities ❚❚ Opportunities to work with partner organisations
Specific projects and activities
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Target audience for your projects and location Project timescales, targets and funding Other partners that are involved Any additional support you may need
❚❚ Opportunities to get involved including promotion, offering resources or expertise ❚❚ Opportunities to take part for your learners/potential learners ❚❚ Joint events like Go On activity and the Celebration of Learning sponsored by unionlearn
People and resources that help you to deliver your work
❚❚ Trainers or tutors ❚❚ Volunteers ❚❚ Resources you have or can use, e.g. union learning centres, libraries, mobile buses, community centres and computers ❚❚ How you are funded
Similar aims Different areas of expertise Groups of people you aim to support Geographical areas of work Any opportunities to learn from each other, e.g. mentoring or coaching?
❚❚ Sharing or pooling resources ❚❚ Offering resources ❚❚ Sharing experiences and local intelligence of good providers and partners
MOVING FORWARD Future work
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❚❚ Other opportunities to work together ❚❚ Ideas for other joint activities and projects
❚❚ Opportunities for joint work ❚❚ Developing new activities to support common aims ❚❚ Existing learning opportunities in the community
2.5 Starting from scratch If the community champions in your area don’t have the capacity to work in partnership or there are no community champions active in your area, you may need to engage directly with the community yourself. Before you begin you will need to consider the learners or potential learners that you want to work with and how both of you will benefit from working together.
❚❚ tread carefully – your learning community may have
experienced a ‘do-good’ mentality and organisations here today but gone tomorrow. They may be suspicious of your learning if it is offered without consultation or you suggest changes early on in the relationship. By engaging with your audience you can offer learning that interests them. They may need to be reassured that this is not a flash in the pan but building lasting and mutually supportive relationships.
When engaging with your learning community you will need to find out: ❚❚ what defines the group that you want to work with,
such as their interests, behaviours or needs, e.g. what hours can they access learning or where will they meet ❚❚ who influences your potential learners – is it religious leaders, teachers or peers ❚❚ their views on trade unions as this could influence how they engage with you. When building partnerships with groups in the community it is important that you: © Mark Thompson
❚❚ listen to each other ❚❚ involve them at each stage from planning
to promotion ❚❚ be honest and trust that the group will know their community best
Mapping your patch
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3
Working together
This section is about how you can create successful partnerships, work with other organisations in your community, and plan joint activities.
3.1 What is available in your community? There will be a range of organisations, services, projects, initiatives and special activities that: ❚❚ promote learning or offer places where information
about learning activities might be displayed or made available ❚❚ provide learning opportunities or environments where learning could take place, including informal learning and accredited courses ❚❚ provide community resources or places where your target audience may socialise or work. You may already have knowledge of some of these through your work. Mapping the other organisations and activities is a useful exercise as this may reveal other community champions and partners that you could work with and resources that you could use to support your joint work. Mapping your community will also help you identify any gaps in learning opportunities or activity that you might think is important for engaging disadvantaged potential learners.
To ‘map’ your community you could use a visual tool such as a ‘mind map’. You can find an example ‘mind map’ in the resources section of this toolkit. It includes: ❚❚ community services including children centres, leisure
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centres, information, advice and guidance services and health services organisations and venues that provide learning opportunities including libraries, colleges, adult community centres and trade union centres organisations that work with the community including voluntary and community organisations and faith organisations self-organised groups or clubs main places that people go to work.
You may also want to include existing community networks and partnerships that involve a range of organisations. A checklist of potential local partners and partnerships is included in this guide – see Section 6.1. Once you have created your community map, you can create further maps focusing on particular themes such as ‘where can people go to access IT?’ or special learning initiatives and projects to gain even greater details about an aspect of learning in your community. You can also identify the types of people that are using particular services or accessing these opportunities to see who may be missing out.
3.2 Building networks and partnerships Networks and alliances can bring together individuals, groups and organisations that: ❚❚ work with different clients, service users and
interest groups ❚❚ offer different perspectives, expertise and skills ❚❚ provide a variety of resources and services. Creating or joining a wider network of people who are involved in community engagement offers a range of benefits for learning champions who are looking to work together. These include: ❚❚ gaining knowledge and sharing information about
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participants’ current activities and goals and finding out useful information that can support your own and other’s roles pooling resources to maximise their impact involving learners and potential learners to help understand local learning needs and possible barriers to engagement meeting potential partners including other workplace and community learning champions and finding out about opportunities to collaborate keeping up to date about changes that may be taking place in the community such as new resources that are available or initiatives that are being launched hearing about changes in local and central government policy and how that might affect your work
Working together
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3.3 Making your partnership work Whatever the size of your partnership you build, there are things that you can do to make it work effectively and make sure your shared goals are achieved. The essential tasks for a successful partnership include: ❚❚ establishing common aims and objectives early on in ❚❚
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❚❚ shaping the direction and strategy of community plans
Newcastle UNISON worked with Newcastle City Council to develop CLCs that promoted learning to black and minority ethnic communities (BME) in the city. Initially, council workers from BME communities were approached to identify potential CLCs. This was then expanded to include organisations. The self-help approach has led to two of the first trainees promoting learning opportunities to 40 members of the Sudanese community.
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and responding to community – based initiatives ❚❚ finding out about funding opportunities that can support learning activities and projects, and creating partnerships to apply for funding.
Funders may require people and organisations to work in partnership to ensure local collaboration, consultation and feedback. Networking with other organisations is therefore important so that you build relationships and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
the partnership naming your partnership to give it an identity, e.g. a coalition of eight organisations in Hackney are called ‘Hackney Unites’ identifying the particular skills and attributes that each partner can bring assigning tasks and roles addressing the questions ‘what’s in it for us’ and ‘what am I doing here’ to clearly identify the benefits of working together deciding how you will communicate and keep in touch.
The Employers’ Organisation for local government (EO) partnership website www.lgpartnerships.com identifies four key attributes that are important for making partnerships work. These are:
Leadership Leadership ensures that the partnership does not become a weak structure, where nothing gets done. However, it is also important that one ‘lead’ partner does not dominate. Starting with a ‘lead’ partner or facilitator and then moving to a position where all partners share the role will encourage everyone to work together to achieve shared goals.
Learning
Leadership
Trust
Learning helps a partnership deal with unexpected circumstances and to make the best use of partners’ talents and resources. Partners can learn from each other and from outside experience. Learning from similar projects, providing regular feedback on how the partnership is working, mentoring and informally learning from each other can enhance individual skills and the overall understanding of joint projects.
3.4 Making plans To make your partnership successful, you need a shared vision or goal, as well as practical objectives, targets and ‘milestones’ for the activities you decide to do together. It is essential that that any planning you do is done together so that partners feel ownership over the project and are fully committed to achieving the project objectives. A tool that you can use together is the planning cycle. The planning cycle takes you through the essential steps of:
Managing for performance
Learning
Managing for performance
Managing for performance helps a partnership to achieve its shared vision and any objectives and targets it has set out as part of its joint work. It includes partners developing the strategic plan together and agreeing to their part in the delivery, with roles and responsibilities assigned to each partner. A checklist with eight ‘tests’ for healthy partnerships has been developed by the EO. Partners that are able to demonstrate these attributes are likely to be successful. In a healthy partnership, partners will:
Trust
❚❚ demonstrate real results through collaboration
Trust is important so that all partners feel able to share their ideas and make a valued contribution. Partners should have an equal say when making decisions and all partners should be accountable for decisions that are made. Everyone should understand that other partners may have commitments that may affect how easy or difficult it is to contribute to the work at different times. By being open, this can help partners to address promptly any issues that arise and to reassert the benefits of working together.
❚❚ show that common interests take the place of
partners’ own interest
❚❚ use ‘we’ when talking about partner matters ❚❚ be jointly accountable for tasks and outcomes ❚❚ share responsibilities and rewards ❚❚ strive to develop and maintain trust ❚❚ be willing to change what they do and how they do it ❚❚ seek to improve how the partnership performs.
❚❚ researching and identifying community needs and ❚❚ ❚❚ ❚❚ ❚❚ ❚❚
opportunities developing goals and objectives devising a strategy deciding on your tactics making an action plan evaluating your joint activity.
It is called a planning cycle because the evaluation that you do can also be used as research and evidence for further activities, so starting the cycle again. As you go through the planning cycle and focus on the different aspects such as resources that you need, you may find that you need to go back and change or refine your original aims and objectives and strategy. The resources part of the toolkit includes a sheet on how to use the planning cycle and a blank planning cycle that you can photocopy and use when you are planning activities together. Working together
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Focus on the learner
This section looks at how you can work together to engage potential learners in the community. It includes understanding your audiences, promotion and sustaining learning.
Individuals who could benefit from learning may come from all walks of life. They may not necessarily see themselves as a learner, but as someone who wants to help their children with their homework, make contact with friends online or get a promotion at work.
4.1 Working together to engage disadvantaged learners The disadvantaged potential learner may have many reasons they cannot access learning. This can include the hours that they work, the level of skills they have their ethnicity or social background and previous negative experiences of learning.
Barriers to learning To engage with potential learners it is important that you understand the barriers that may stop them learning. These can include: 1. Social and cultural barriers ❚❚ peer pressure ❚❚ family background. 2. Practical and personal barriers ❚❚ transport ❚❚ time ❚❚ disability ❚❚ childcare ❚❚ finance ❚❚ cost ❚❚ shift working and isolation. These are often seen as acceptable excuses by potential learners but may hide deeper emotional barriers.
3. Emotional barriers ❚❚ lack of self esteem or confidence due to low skills levels ❚❚ negative personal experience of learning ❚❚ previously unaddressed/undetected learning disabilities ❚❚ social problems such as unemployment, abuse or bullying.
How can people find out what the barriers people may have? Your ULR or CLC partner may already have a good understanding of the learning barriers faced by different community groups. You may also need to do some additional research. Once you understand what the barriers are, you can work together to try and address them using each other’s knowledge and resources.
Targeting your audience In Section 3, we looked at how to ‘map’ your local community to find the range of places and services that people use, and where they work. This is useful for ‘targeting’ your audience, where you focus on people with something in common, e.g. people who work the same shift pattern or have a similar background or attend a community centre. When you ‘target’ an audience, you need to consider who they are, where they go and what motivates them. They may not know exactly what they want to learn but you can help by finding out: ❚❚ what their current skills levels are
Union member Balraj Singh Atwal was unable to take time off to access the onsite learning centre at Wolverhampton Mail Centre. Following a conversation with ULR Steve Hackford, they identified his local Sikh temple as a place he frequently visited and potentially somewhere he could learn. This led to further discussions with the temple and Wolverhampton college and a partnership was formed to set up a room at the temple for IT, English and maths courses to be delivered.
Once you know what interests your audience, you need to let them know what you are offering. By deciding who you are targeting the process of attracting them to your offer is made much easier. Speak to your target audience and ask them where they would pick up information. You will need to look at: ❚❚ where your audience go – e.g. local chip shop, GP,
library or workplace ❚❚ what they read – e.g. newspapers, newsletters, or websites ❚❚ what they listen to – e.g. radio, children’s teachers or friends. ULRs and CLCs will understand the power of word of mouth communication and its cost effectiveness. Personal recommendation – especially from an existing learner and someone people can relate to – can be a real motivator for others to join in.
❚❚ what they are interested in ❚❚ what they would like to go on to do. Focus on the learner
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Castleford Community Learning Centre worked in partnership with several unions and community groups in Yorkshire to provide courses for people in the area. The centre asked local people what they wanted to learn and drew up a list of 48 topics from cake decorating to computer courses.2
The resources part of this toolkit includes a communications planning grid, which can help you plan how to promote your learning offer to your target audience.
4.2 Working with special groups
in partnership with people from the Kalayaan and Filipino community to run various courses. The project encouraged the existing small social gatherings to have graduation ceremonies, which recognised learner achievements. At these ‘celebration days’ learners were encouraged to bring friends, some of whom enrolled on courses and sessions that were on offer. Music and food, all provided by a migrant project worker made the days fun and interesting.
As part of your partnership you may have decided that you want to target a particular group of people with a set of particular needs. Here are some tips for the groups of people that you may be working with.
Tips for working with families and children Family learning offers the opportunity for parents/carers to get involved in learning in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. It can engage family members who may not normally get involved in learning and offer a chance for them to explore their interests. It can often be a stepping stone to more formal learning.
Other themes can be based on topics that may be interesting to your learners including family learning, health and wellbeing and the environment. The resources section of this toolkit has more details about existing campaigns that you may want to hook your event into.
1. Choose activities that will appeal to both parents and their children.
Get hooked in Another way to drum up interest in learning is to create a special event, where you provide short tasters of what you can offer. This allows people to get a feel for what the full activity or course might involve before they enrol. The event can be wider than your learning offer and promote local services and celebrate community skills too.
© Third Avenue
The event can be organised on your own theme or you can hook it into an existing campaign. Themes can help to create an ‘identity’ for your learning and make the learning offer more attractive to your target audience. If you link your theme to an existing campaign, it can also help to raise the profile of your event. Some themes can be led by your learners. For example, the Migrant Workers Project3 organised by Unite worked
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Swords of Justice and Civic Pillars: The Case for Greater Community Engagement by British Trades Unions Chris Wright, TUC
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ibid
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Hackney Unites event Celebrate Hackney4 is a coalition of eight organisations. As part of their joint work they planned an event to promote social inclusion. It included an art exhibition, children’s performances, local food stalls and workshops on migration, education and policing. The event made local people more aware of the Workers Advice Project, which is promoted by Hackney Unites. It provides people with legal advice and support in return for which they participate in training or take part in discussions about the workplace and their role within it.
2. Helping their children is a powerful motivator for parents to get involved in learning activities. 3. Remember to use promotional channels that reach children, such as schools; ‘pester power’ can be very effective! The National Family Learning Network has lots of resources and activity ideas that you can download for free www.familylearningnetwork.com
Tips for working with people with Skills for Life needs Skills for Life are functional English and maths up to Level 2. These are two basic skills that we all use on a daily basis. They can also affect our success in learning new skills. You may not be aware that people have Skills for Life needs, as most of us develop coping strategies. 1. Avoid promoting training sessions using words such as literacy and numeracy, which may put people off. Base learning around real life situations and tasks. For many people learning is more attractive when they can see the relevance of it. 2. Don’t rely on promoting English sessions using written information in emails or on posters. People may not be confident readers. More information on Skills for Life can be found at www.unionlearn.org.uk/skills
Tips for working with learners on ESOL courses (English for Speakers of Other Languages) ESOL courses are for those whose first language is not English. ESOL learners may come from a variety of backgrounds and have different learning needs. Some may be enthusiastic learners in their own language and
feel confident to learn a new language, whilst others may not have had good learning opportunities and may have barriers to learning. Some ESOL learners may be in the UK for very positive reasons but others may have experienced trauma. 1. Translate materials into other languages. 2. Finding someone from within the language group to be a ULR or act as a learning champion is very effective in encouraging learners and ensuring the opportunities fit their needs and interests. 3. Word of mouth from a peer within the community is an ideal way to tell people about learning.
4.3 Progression pathways Once your learners have taken their first steps in learning it is important to try and sustain that momentum. Here are a few tips for signposting future learning: ❚❚ Have a range of information about further learning
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activities that may be on offer after they’ve attended a taster event or a course. Signpost families to other places they may be able to take part in informal learning such as libraries, museums or parks. Invite local training providers or your local nextstep to provide information on what learners can do next. If learners have given you contact details, invite them to another that might be of interest. Tell them about the national helplines and websites that can be found in Section 6 of this toolkit. Use feedback from courses or events to create new learning opportunities for people.
For the Migrant Workers Project, Unite worked with the community networks of existing union activists and used its longstanding relationships with Kalayaan and Filipion community groups to reach migrant workers in the London cleaning industry and offer them the opportunity to improve their English language skills. The community networks helped the project to reach people with a lack of basic language skills in non-unionised workplaces and a hard-to-reach industry that is often individualised by nature of employment. By working with Syracuse University and the College of North East London, Unite was also able to offer courses at different times and on different days. This helped domestic workers to access the courses and removed barriers to learning. To recognise the learners achievements, ‘celebration’ days that combined social gatherings with graduation ceremonies were organised. Learners were encouraged to bring traditional food and members of community groups provided entertainment including theatrical performances, music and dancing. The celebration days also included information and guidance sessions on employment support and access to further learning. Learners were also encouraged to bring friends to the celebration days and many enrolled themselves in training courses, so extending the project to workers in other industries including hospitals, catering and security. The project not only provided ESOL learning but led to an increased awareness and confidence amongst workers , as well as the development of links with other community networks.
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5
Sustainability
This section covers how you can sustain the partnerships that you have built through setting goals, evaluation and review.
5.1 Setting goals and objectives
5.2 Evaluating and reviewing
❚❚ provide you with information that may help you
In Section 3 we covered establishing joint goals and setting objectives. When setting goals they need to be SMART.
Evaluation is the process of monitoring your work against the goals that you set. As part of your evaluation process it is important that you review your targets and partnership as you go along, rather than at the end of a project, campaign or event. This can highlight any areas that may become problems, so they can be addressed. It also provides an opportunity to communicate openly with each other.
The type of information that you collect from your learners will depend on your original goals.
Specific: Goals need to define the details of what needs to be done. Measurable: You will need to be clear about how you will know when you have reached your goal and what the outcome will be. Achievable: You set goals that can be reached with the money, time and resources you currently have. Relevant: The joint goals need to fit with the plans of all partners.
Evaluation can: ❚❚ help you to make strong relationships with
your learners ❚❚ ensure you know where improvements to your service or activities can be made ❚❚ provide evidence about the effectiveness of your work for current funders and future funding applications
Timely: The goals need to have a time limit. Here is an example of a joint SMART goal that you may have: To map out by next January all informal adult learning opportunities available in Solihull. Objectives are the things you can achieve to help you reach your goals. For example, an objective for the goal above would be to find all the colleges providing informal adult learning opportunities in Solihull. It is important to set objectives as it enables you to measure if you are reaching your goals.
promote your offer or service ❚❚ let you know if you have reached your goals ❚❚ help you develop new partnerships.
There are many different ways you can collect information from people. Remember that some people may have difficulty reading or writing, so for any method you use have an alternative way for people to respond and feedback. Make sure you abide by data protection laws when collecting any information.
Positives
The resources post of this toolkit has an evaluation checklist that you can use to assess your partnership.
Negatives
Informal chats
Allows people to open up
Sometimes hard to capture information
Questionnaires
Easy way to collect lots of information
People may not complete it, especially if there are lots of questions
Comments cards
Quick and easy to organise
May only get a low level of response
Interviews
Can reveal really honest feedback
Can be very time consuming
Discussion groups
Can give you insight, especially before starting a project
One person may dominate and lead the group
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5.3 Funding Before applying for funding as a partnership it is useful to: ❚❚ Decide what you aim to deliver as a partnership.
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This will help you to identify the most appropriate funding streams. Think about your core objectives and only consider applying for funding directly linked to these, otherwise you will struggle to achieve and it will divert you from core work. Speak to your own organisation before applying for grants as partners. Some grants will only let you make one application, so if you put in a grant for partnership work this may mean your own organisation can’t apply for the same grant. Be realistic about what you can achieve. If you don’t reach the targets you have put in your successful bid, your funding may be reduced or claimed back. Have clear roles for each partner at each stage of fundraising including research, writing and delivering the bid. Make sure that income from any fundraising is distributed appropriately taking into account time spent at the research and writing stage as well as the delivery stage.
5.4 Building your role – becoming a union learning representative or community learning champion A recent survey 5 found that trade union representatives are eight times more likely than other members of the public to be active members of their community. If you are already involved in your workplace or community you may want to expand your skills even further by becoming a union learning representative or community champion. Becoming involved with your workplace or community can: ❚❚ make a real difference to individual lives ❚❚ give you an opportunity to learn new skills ❚❚ lead to you make new friends and colleagues.
How to become a union learning representative To become a ULR you will first need to become a member of a trade union. Once you are a member you will need to discuss becoming a ULR with the union branch or shop steward committee or full-time officer. Visit www.unionlearn.org.uk for more information.
How to become a workplace learning champion If you or your workplace isn’t unionised you may want to consider joining or taking part in a workplace learning champions project or initiative. Section 6 has a list of initiatives, useful organisations and links.
Gregor Gall. Unions in the Community; a survey of union reps, 2009, TUC: London, 5
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How to become a community champion including a community learning champion There are many roles that you could play in your community including: ❚❚ a resident association supporter for a
housing association ❚❚ a governor at your local primary school ❚❚ a coach for the community football team ❚❚ a digital champion helping people get online. Before you take up a community role you need to decide how much time you have to give, what you are interested in and the skills you can offer. You can then look for an organisation or opportunity that offers you the chance to get involved. You can do this by: ❚❚ visiting your local volunteer centre ❚❚ searching online at www.do-it.org ❚❚ speaking to your local council about
community projects ❚❚ contacting organisations that you are interested in working with directly. You don’t need any qualifications to become a community learning champion but you do need to have an enthusiasm for learning and want to pass that on to others. There are lots of schemes round the country that can help develop and support you to become a CLC. To find out more visit: www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk
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6
Useful information and links
6.1 Potential local partners and partnerships Early years ❚❚ pre-school groups ❚❚ nurseries ❚❚ children centres.
Education establishments
Employers and local businesses Leisure ❚❚ shopping centres ❚❚ sports clubs ❚❚ learning and reading clubs ❚❚ bookshops ❚❚ museums ❚❚ galleries
6.2 Useful initiatives Awareness days or campaigns are ideal to spark an interest in learning. You can use them to promote a learning opportunity you offer or use the day as a platform to talk about learning in general.
Adult Learners’ Week A national celebration held every May, which promotes the benefits of all kinds of learning, whether it is for fun or leading to a qualification. www.alw.org.uk
❚❚ schools
❚❚ parks
❚❚ colleges
❚❚ restaurants
❚❚ universities
❚❚ post offices.
The Big Lunch
Organisations working in the community
The annual Big Lunch is all about people coming together and making friends with others in your community. www.thebiglunch.com
❚❚ adult learners’ centres.
Community services and organisations ❚❚ libraries ❚❚ careers services ❚❚ Citizen’s Advice Bureaux ❚❚ Adult and Community Learning Service ❚❚ surgeries and hospitals ❚❚ old people’s homes ❚❚ homeless shelters ❚❚ churches, mosques and temples ❚❚ prison and young offenders Institution ❚❚ post offices ❚❚ leisure centres ❚❚ refugee and asylum seekers groups.
❚❚ local charities and campaigning groups.
Typical partnerships ❚❚ lifelong learning partnerships ❚❚ rural partnerships ❚❚ environment and sustainability partnerships ❚❚ public health partnerships ❚❚ regeneration partnerships ❚❚ community safety partnerships.
Family Learning Festival The biggest annual celebration of family learning in the UK. Activities that support families learning together take place in venues around the country from shopping centres to schools. www.familylearningfestival.com
International Women’s Day Every year on March 8 International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated around the world. Hundreds of events take place to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. www.internationalwomensday.com
Useful information and links
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Learning at Work Day An annual awareness campaign held in May to promote and support workplace learning events across England www.learningatworkday.com
Volunteers’ Week Volunteers’ Week is an annual event celebrating the contribution of millions of volunteers across the UK and inspiring others to get involved too. www.volunteersweek.org.uk
World Book Day The biggest annual celebration of books and reading. www.worldbookday.com
6.3 Useful organisations Campaign for Learning The Campaign for Learning is campaigning to create an inclusive society in which learning is valued, understood, wanted and widely available to every individual. www.campaignforlearning.org.uk
Learning advocates Learning advocates offers opportunities to train as a learning advocate or learning supporter in the North West or North East regions. www.learningadvocates.co.uk
National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) NIACE aims to encourage all adults to engage in learning of all kinds. www.niace.org.uk
Unionlearn Unionlearn aims to transform workers’ life chances through lifelong learning www.unionlearn.org.uk
Workbase Workbase offers opportunities to train as an employee learning advocate. www.workbase.org.uk
The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) The WEA is the UK’s largest voluntary provider of adult education. www.wea.org.uk
6.4 Where to go As well as colleges and training providers there are lots of places that organise learning or may have information about learning in your community. Your local council is one of the best sources of information about what’s going on in your area. You can visit the civic centre or town hall, look on the council’s public notice boards, or have a look at their website on the internet. Libraries are great places to find out new things. They have more than just books. Many offer internet access, films, homework clubs, family activities and much more. Many run holiday programmes for children and young people too. Visit your local library to find out more. Museums and galleries are not a maze of ‘do not touch’ signs any more. Many offer hands-on activities, talks and special family learning events – and lots have free entry. Visit www. show.me.uk or your local library to find a museum or gallery near you.
Get learners outside and take part in the many learning opportunities happening in the great outdoors – from fungi foraging to growing greens. Find out more by visiting your local park or go to your local tourist information office to find out about green spaces in your community. Keep your community fighting fit and find out what is going in your local sports club, leisure centre or gym. Many run classes or have groups that your learners may be interested in. Get learners online by finding your nearest UK online centre. Their friendly staff are experts at helping people get online, even complete beginners. To find the centre nearest to the people in your community ring 0800 77 1234 or search online at www.ukonlinecentres.com Learning circles and clubs are a good informal starting point for people to learn. People can learn anything from knitting to rapping with other like-minded people. You can find out more by visiting www.meetup.com or searching online for your interest. To set up your own group visit www.selforganisedlearning.com
6.5 Online resources ALISON has online courses that are free to the individual learner. www.alison.com The BBC has a wide range of resources available for learners. www.bbc.co.uk/learning Becoming a better learner is a guide from the Campaign for Learning that has been developed to support learning in the workplace but can also be used to help people learn better with their family, in their community or in a classroom www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/cfl/assets/ documents/OtherDocuments/Becoming%20a%20 better%20learner.pdf The OpenLearn website gives free access to The Open University course materials. Learners can find hundreds of free study units, each with a discussion forum. www.openlearn.open.ac.uk Daddodle is a ‘moodle’ site designed for dads. It has a range of activities, e-learning course and links that can help dads engage with their child’s learning. www.dadoodle.net Daily Lit is a website that emails subscribers a section of a book to read a day. www.dailylit.com
© Pixel Photography
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Go ON is a website designed to help people take their first steps with computers and the internet. www.go-on.co.uk ‘How to’ learning videos has ‘How to’ videos, from ‘How to talk to people: Better communication skills’ to ‘How to change a tyre’. www.videojug.com Learn touchtyping with this simple online tool http://doorwayonline.org.uk/talkingtexttype.html Move On has a number of short tests to check literacy and numeracy skills. www.move-on.org.uk Podcast Alley has a directory of podcasts covering a range of subjects. www.podcastalley.com Shared Talk is a website where people can learn a language online. www.sharedtalk.com Ted has videos of talks from inspirational speakers available for free. www.ted.com
6.6 Progression Back to work website Help for people wanting to return to work with information and advice on CV and interview tips, different ways of searching for work and how to gain new skills. backtowork.direct.gov.uk
Nextstep Next Step is a publicly funded service, helping adults get the advice they need for future skills, careers, work and life choices. nextstep.direct.gov.uk
University of the third age Self-help organisation for people no longer in full-time employment providing educational, creative and leisure opportunities in a friendly environment. www.u3a.org.uk
Volunteering England A charity and membership organisation helping people find volunteering opportunities. www.volunteering.org.uk/iwanttovolunteer
YouTube has videos uploaded by users on everything from learning to skateboard to styling hair. www.youtube.com
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