update - Southern and Eastern Region magazine (Autumn 2010) by unionlearn

Southern and Eastern Region

AUTUMN 2010

update

Aiming higher John Fitzpatrick develops his activist skills

Helping everyone get connected It’s hard to imagine how union learning reps could do their job without access to a computer and a mobile phone and more and more ULRs now use laptops, smartphones and social networking sites to help spread the word about the benefits of lifelong learning. Email, blogging and social networking have fast become part of the landscape for union reps of all types, who use their internet access and skills to do everything from researching learning opportunities to applying for jobs, as well as taking advantage of cheaper online prices for everything from the weekly shop to the family holiday. But while 30 million people across the country use the internet every day, there are still around 10 million adults in the UK who are excluded from all of this because they’ve never got online. The persistent digital divide will see those people more and more isolated from opportunities in a world where 90 per cent of new jobs already require internet skills and 7 million jobs were advertised online last year. That’s why unionlearn is joining forces with UK online centres to help people who haven’t yet overcome the obstacles to getting online. Many union learners have taken their first steps into the digital world through Online basics, the suite of short courses developed by UK online centres, and then have progressed onto www.myguide.gov.uk, the learning website UK online centres have designed to help people to open their first email account and get to grips with further internet opportunities. You can find out more, including how it works at our Olympic Park community learning centre, on page six of this issue, which also includes coverage of our accessing higher education in the workplace project and other news from around the region. Barry Francis, Regional Manager

Getting six-book scheme on the rails RMT learning reps Nick Smith and Lynda Aitken are taking the Six Book Challenge out to Transport for London coworkers who haven’t used the organisation’s Learning Zone, where the reading initiative is already working well. Determined to reach out to as many of their colleagues as possible, they have been leaving the books in the drivers’ rest centre at Wembley Park and other places where staff will come across them in the course of their daily routine. This has raised the profile of the Six Book Challenge among staff who didn’t feel they had an immediate literacy need but wanted to get back into reading or just liked the idea of being part of a wider workplace initiative. In the TfL Learning Zone, where literacy tutor Christine Brathwaite links the challenge into her regular classes, manager Joanna Ward has noticed more people asking for books to read for pleasure, not just for learning, and has often heard people talk about starting to read again for the first time in many years. Performance improvement assessor Bob Cann, who’s taken the Six Book Challenge twice, now regularly enjoys at least two books a month and, after finishing an e-learning grammar course as well, says he has more confidence in report-writing and expressing himself better. Materials for the Six Book Challenge 2011, which starts in January, are now available from The Reading Agency. For more details, visit www.readingagency.org.uk/shop and www.sixbookchallenge.org.uk or email mail@davidkendall.co.uk or phone 07814 060572.

From Enfield with love With the help of unionlearn SERTUC, the College of North East London (CONEL) presented a fully-equipped learning bus to a ULR team from UNISON Wales this summer. “CONEL Principal Paul Head approached me to see if any unions wanted the bus, and after asking our affiliates we’re very happy that the bus has gone to UNISON’s ULR team in Gwent, South Wales,” explains unionlearn Regional Manager Barry Francis.

UNISON Aneurin Bevan Health Board joint lifelong learning coordinators Julian Price and Jason Whitwell are thrilled with their new acquisition. “The bus will be a big bonus to all our members: It has full satellite broadband and has 10 complete computer stations with top of the range extras like colour laser printer and projector, so it will be all systems go from now,” Julian says. The ULR team is using the bus to help union members attend courses outside their workplaces – which are scattered over the enormous geographical area covered by the Aneurin Bevin Health Board.

Many hands make light learning Staff at the Chelmsford branch of supermarket giant Tesco are better equipped to help deaf customers after a British Sign Language taster session in September organised by USDAW mobile ULR Helen King and store ULR Jackie Perry. Taught by Sister Marika Rebicsek, who was accompanied to the store by her hearing dog Amos, the session introduced learners to the BSL alphabet, and how to spell their names, where they lived and their job roles. “Although quiet at times, with concentration levels running high, laughter could still be heard around

CONEL Principal Paul Head (far left) hands the learning bus keys to UNISON Aneurin Bevan Health Board Branch Education Co-ordinator Martin Horton (centre) and Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator Julian Price (second right), watched by (from left) CONEL’s Susan Neal and Phil Gowan with unionlearn’s Barry Francis.

the offices when Marika introduced the learners to new, varied and useful signs,” Helen says. “They were pleasantly surprised by how interesting and informative the session was, and most are now wanting to take up a further five-week course with Marika with the intention of following through with a BSL Level 1 qualification.” Helen says staff throughout the store have been inspired by Marika’s teaching. “She has an amazing background

Sign language tutor Marika Rebicsek with her hearing dog Amos (middle row) encourages Chelmsford Tesco staff to let their hands do the talking.

and many achievements, and along with her own disability still manages to inspire and encourage staff and students at colleges to go on to provide a service within their own workplaces and the communities that they come from – truly an inspiration to us all.” 3

Photo © Rod Leon

Higher education John Fitzpatrick (left) addresses the national unionlearn conference this summer, alongside unionlearn apprentice Alex Rodgers (centre), prison learning centre manager Don Head, and broadcaster Robin Ross (right).

Reaching for higher ground Whether you’re looking to move up the career ladder, considering branching out into a new field or want to learn while you earn – HE could be the path to achieving your long term goals. One hundred and fifty union members have embarked on Foundation degrees and other higher-level learning thanks to the successful year-long project Accessing Higher Education (HE) in the Workplace run by unionlearn SERTUC and Foundation Degree Froward (fdf). The project ran briefings for over 400 union learning reps, liaised with 15 trade unions and over 40 employers in more than 60 workplaces and raised awareness among universities, further education colleges and Sector Skills Councils. After working with organisations as diverse as Royal Mail, BT, Royal Sun Alliance and Air France, the project has helped encourage a wide range of union members into HE, including firefighters, customs staff, health workers, postal workers, teachers and teaching assistants.

The scheme was particularly successful at recruiting learners from non-traditional and diverse backgrounds; almost a quarter are from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds and a fifth are aged 50-plus. “This project has proved that unioninfluenced higher learning can be more representative, inclusive and relevant,” says unionlearn Regional Manager Barry Francis. “Union involvement in learning helps improve industrial relations and also plays a role in upgrading the skills of the workforce, so we can compete in a tough international labour market,” he points out. A case in point is the Highdown Union Learning Centre in Surrey, where the HE courses now on offer to local prison service staff have provided a range of benefits to the employer as well as the employees, according to centre manager Lynne Willmer.

“The benefits are enormous in terms of building staff confidence and strengthening the service we offer,” she says. Originally opened in 2006 as a partnership between the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) and the Prison Service, the centre has also been dubbed a “fantastic bonus” by Governor Peter Dawson. “The centre plays a key part in giving me happier and more motivated colleagues to work with, as well as individuals who are better equipped for the vital public service they deliver,” he says. Robin Willis, originally a part-time cleaner at the prison, has used the learning centre to progress from Sills for Life qualifications to a Certificate in Teaching Support (Level 2) and the City and Guilds Level 4 course Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Sector.

“The biggest challenge was getting started as I had no qualifications beforehand and doing it on my own was hard, but the college and the union movement have given me the information, advice and guidance to support me through the process.” “Staff members who have up-skilled are more effective when dealing with incidents in the workplace because they have the knowledge to question bad behaviour, and can use better communication to defuse and de-escalate situations,” says Lynne. “Matching theory to practice and encouraging training up staff members with skills that are relevant to their jobs has strengthened the service we offer,” she adds. The higher level learning staff have undertaken at the centre (located outside HMP High Down in Sutton and open to 700plus staff at surrounding prisons) has also encouraged people to undertake workrelated training that they would have avoided before. Barry Francis argues that greater union involvement in higher-level learning not only offers benefits to individuals and the organisations they work for but for the wider trade union movement as well, through the development of a more skilled and confident activist base. His point is proved by the example of Unite member John Fitzpatrick, a TU Education Tutor at Southampton City College.

With the help of his union and unionlearn, John has taken literacy and numeracy qualifications, union reps’ training and an employment law diploma, and is currently undertaking a City & Guilds Diploma in teaching in the lifelong sector (Level 5). “The biggest challenge was getting started as I had no qualifications beforehand and doing it on my own was hard, but the college and the union movement have given me the information, advice and guidance to support me through the process,” he says. John’s progression has paid off for the college, which part-funded his training because it believes investing in its staff is an effective way to enhance its standing in the local community. And it’s also paid off for Unite as well, because he’s been able to use the skills developed through his higher level learning to influence his union nationally since being elected as one of the Black and Asian reps on the ruling Executive Council. “At the age of 56, I consider myself to be a role model to the younger activists, pointing out that if I can make the achievements that I have, so can they,” John says.

Download the full report at www.unionlearn.org.uk/advice/learn-3655-f0.cfm

HE courses build staff confidence and improve the service on offer, says Highdown Union Learning Centre Manager Lynne Willmer.

How HE could you work for Higher education (HE) means any study that leads to a qualification at Level 4 and above. Learners can study fulltime, part-time, by distance education, online or at work. HE courses are offered in universities, but also in Further Education colleges, specialist colleges (eg, for agriculture, management, medicine), The Open University, work-based learning and training providers, learndirect and others. You can get onto a course without any formal qualifications, so there is no need to worry if you left the classroom years ago. Find out more: Foundation Degree Forward www.fdf.ac.uk Unionlearn HE resources: www.unionlearn.org.uk/ advice/index.cfm?mins=162

Throwing people a digital lifeline Unionlearn SERTUC took part in Get online week in October, which aimed to help 80,000 people across the country get to grips with IT skills for the first time – making it the single biggest digital inclusion campaign the UK’s ever seen.

The digital blitz was the brainchild of UK online centres, the Governmentfunded organisation that co-ordinates a network of thousands of local centres across England (and is also a formal partner of unionlearn). Get online week included thousands of events run throughout October, with many learning centres in the region trying to reach out to the millions of people for whom the internet is a closed book. “The internet has something for anyone and everyone, and Get online week aimed to show people how it could work for them, and how they could use it to save time, hassle and even money in everyday life,” said Senior UK Online Direct Delivery Manager Sarah Bridges. According to the latest research, 10 million adults in the UK do not use the internet and four million of them are some of the most disadvantaged: 39 per cent of them are over 65; 38 per cent are unemployed; and 19 per cent are families with children. But with many services going online, most jobs now requiring IT skills and internet sites offering deals and savings, those who aren’t online are increasingly missing out.

The Community and Trade Union Learning Centre in East London recently registered to become a UK online centre, and centre manager Phil Spry has already signed up several learners onto www.myguide.gov.uk, the user-friendly website which provides a free email account and access to a range of free easy computer courses. “Myguide has got help with online shopping, using eBay, family history – lots of really relevant stuff to learners who may need to brush up their literacy or numeracy but in a way that they don’t even notice that they’re doing it,” Phil explains. Feedback to date has been uniformly positive, he says. “The learners themselves are delighted with myguide because they can get on and start figuring their way around the computer with quite simple stuff – they’re really enjoying it.” Phil points out that myguide allows tutors to keep an eye on how learners are progressing without having to be standing over them all the time, which is especially useful in a centre where many users undertake remote learning. “We’re finding it really useful in that respect, especially since a lot of our learners don’t necessarily come into the centre on a regular basis,” he says.

Myguide: www.myguide.gov.uk 6

Get online week: www.ukonlinecentres.com

Olympic Park Community & Trade Union Learning Centre learners celebrate completing their English and IT courses with unionlearn SERTUC Manager Barry Francis (back row, centre), Quick Reads author Lola Jaye (next to him) and centre chair (and former TGWU Assistant General Secretary) Barry Camfield (back row, right).

Contact unionlearn SERTUC Learndirect Support Worker: Sarah-Louise Lacey slacey@tuc.org.uk

Gilda O’Neill 1951–2010

Gilda O’Neill, the prolific author of popular histories, historical novels and family sagas, including the 2008 Quick Read East End Tales, has died at the age of 59, a short time after contracting a virus that attacked her liver and kidneys. Born in Bethnal Green in 1951, Gilda was raised in a family with roots in the light and dark of East End life: her grandmother owned a pie and mash shop, her grandfather was a Thames tug skipper and her great-uncle was a minder for a Limehouse gangster. Growing up in a house without books, she had an unhappy experience of formal education after the family moved out to Dagenham, Essex, where gender stereotyping prevented her from taking technical drawing and a careers adviser pronounced: “a little girl like you will never become a writer”. But her natural love of learning re-surfaced shortly after the birth of her second child, when she first enrolled with The Open University. “Because of my bad experience at school, I’d forgotten how much I’d loved learning: but it was as though I’d been given my life back in an odd sort of way,” she said later. The chance to write came after a public spat with one of the keynote speakers at an Oxford history conference when Gilda (with characteristic feistiness) took exception to his arguments about the link between class and crime.

“He was saying the working class become criminals because they’re poor – but from my background I do know some dodgy people and for most of them, it’s because they don’t want to graft: it’s a career choice – although it’s a very bad one in my opinion!” she recalled. The resulting argument led to approaches from not one but two different publishers who were interested in what else she might have to say. Which was quite a lot, as it turned out. As well as studies of hop-picking in Kent (still an essential ingredient of East End life when she was growing up), poverty and crime in Victorian London and memories of the East End during the Second World War, her output also included the East End trilogy kicked off by Sins Of Their Fathers, the family saga Rough Justice and her most recent novel, Secrets of the Heart. Gilda was a frequent speaker at unionlearn events throughout the region, enthusiastically making herself available to help promote World Book Day and other initiatives to encourage more people to read more and different books, and a keen supporter of union learning. “The fabulous thing about the learning reps (is that) they’re addressing people in ways that give them opportunities and show them they’re entitled,” she said. Gilda is survived by her husband John and two children.

Contacts

WorldSkills UK open for entry

Unionlearn Southern and Eastern Region Congress House Great Russell Street London WC1B 3LS

020 7467 1251

Regional education office

020 7467 1284

Outreach offices Haywards Heath Harlow London Community and Trade Union Learning Centre

014444 59733 01279 408188 020 7467 1342 020 3288 5520

Regional manager Barry Francis

bfrancis@tuc.org.uk

WorldSkills UK competitions are now open to entrants eager to battle it out to be crowned the UK’s best. WorldSkills UK competitions, run in over 50 skill areas across five sectors, test knowledge and practical application against current industry benchmarks. By inspiring learners to be their best through skills competitions, UK Skills is unlocking the potential of the UK’s current and future workforce. The competitions are open to anyone studying or with a maximum of five years relevant employment history, and aim to put competitors’ knowledge and practical skills to the ultimate test. Last year, over 5,500 people entered to take part from over 270 colleges and 900 organisations and WorldSkills UK is hoping to beat that number this year. To see a full list of the available skills competitions and to enter, visit www.worldskillsuk.org.

Regional union development coordinator Jon Tennison

jtennison@tuc.org.uk

Take your next step

Community and Trade Union Learning Centre Manager Phil Spry

pspry@tuc.org.uk

Regional development workers Mick Hadgraft Adrian Ryan Trish Raftery

mhadgraft@tuc.org.uk aryan@tuc.org.uk praftery@tuc.org.uk

Recession and Recovery Development Workers Katie Curtis Fred Grindrod Colin Lloyd

kcurtis@tuc.org.uk fgrindrod@tuc.org.uk clloyd@tuc.org.uk

Field workers Stuart Barber Rickey Denton Kelly Hillock Jane Warwick

sbarber@tuc.org.uk rdenton@tuc.org.uk khillock@tuc.org.uk jwarwick@tuc.org.uk

U-Net support worker Sarah-Louise Lacey

We are the record-breakers rhancock@tuc.org.uk tdaly@tuc.org.uk

Administration Sonia Dawson Johanna Garcia Jaspal Ghtoray Tanya Nelson Natasha Owusu

Available to all adults aged 19 or over (regardless of skills, qualifications or employment status), Next Step provides access to the best information, advice and resources to help people make more effective choices about skills, careers, work and life. Next Step can help you get on in work and life by: T developing your CV and improving your job search skills for getting back to work T assessing your skills and interests T searching for courses T finding out if you are eligible for Government funding T accessing information on childcare. The Next Step service is easy to access: you can speak to a Next Step adviser on the phone or make a face-to-face appointment in your local area, by calling 0800 100 900 8am – 10pm, seven days a week. Call 0800 100 900 or visit: http://nextstep.direct.gov.uk/Pages /Home.aspx

slacey@tuc.org.uk

Regional education officers Rob Hancock Theresa Daly

You can now get free faceto-face, telephone and online careers advice from Next Step, the free adult careers service which was re-branded and re-launched across England this summer.

sdawson@tuc.org.uk jgarcia@tuc.org.uk jghtoray@tuc.org.uk tnelson@tuc.org.uk nowusu@tuc.org.uk

TUC Education trained more workplace reps in the southern and eastern region last year than it has ever done, according to the latest figures in the annual report. Student numbers in the region were up from 16,002 in 2008 to 16,486 in 2009, while the number of courses provided also rose from 977 in 2008 to 1,393 in 2009. The figures are part of a continued expansion of TUC Education across the country, with participation increasing by 1 per cent to over 58,000 enrolments – another national record. Download the full annual report from: www.unionlearn.org.uk/education/learn-3647-f0.cfm

Cover photo of Southampton Unite member John Fitzpatrick by Rod Leon