unionlearn annual report 2013-14

VALUE MY SKILLS

Unionlearn Annual Report

2014

3

Contents

5 Foreword

7 Summary

Key figures

8 Service

Introduction

Supporting Learners

The union learning Climbing Frame

Mid-Life Career Review

Higher learning

Quality improvement

Quality Awards

Communications

Finance

15 Strategy

Introduction

UKCES – the main national skills body

Work with sectors

Employer Ownership Pilot and industrial partnerships

Bargaining for Skills and Learning Agreements

Supporting the technician workforce

Green skills

Apprenticeships

Support for traineeships, youth skills and work experience

English and maths

4

English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)

28 Trade union education

Introduction

Funding the programme

Union learning rep training

TUC Education online

New developments

33 Delivery

The Union Learning Fund

ULF performance report 2013–14

ULF performance against profiled targets (Apr 2013 – March 2014)

Key ULF outcome measures (April 2013 to March 2014)

Unionlearn regions

Summary of Regional Outputs April 2013–March 2014

North West

Yorkshire and the Humber

Midlands

SERTUC (Southern and Eastern Region)

South West

41 Appendix 1 List of publications

43 Appendix 2 Contacts

44 Appendix 3 Glossary

Unionlearn Annual Report 2014 5

Section one

1 Foreword

This has been a challenging year. BIS funding was cut by 19 per cent in early 2014 and unionlearn staffing substantially reduced in March and April 2014. This Report covers both 2013 as well as the early part of 2014 when funding cuts and staffing changes were being made.

Despite all these changes and in a very difficult climate of economic austerity I am proud to say that unionlearn delivered a very strong result. To take only two headline figures; the total number of learners was 220,000 and the number of trained union learning reps over 3,000. That is a real achievement. I would like to pay tribute to the hard work of all the staff both in unionlearn and in the unions who are helping working people and their communities to learn.

Learning matters more than ever. The October 2013 OECD report on international comparisons of adult learning caused shockwaves in the UK. Government and employers are finally waking up to the reality of the task facing the UK if we wish to remain an advanced economy. The OECD showed how far behind the UK has slipped, particularly for young people, disadvantaged workers, and older workers and in mid-level skills.

This report shows how unionlearn is helping develop learning for working people in all those areas. Independent research from Leeds University in 2010, updated in 2013, demonstrated that union learning has a major impact. It helps disadvantaged learners more than any other intervention; particularly because it can work in combination with multiple approaches: Learning Centres, Learning Agreements and ULRs. This report provides chapter and verse on how and why union learning is so successful.

Early in 2014 another seminal publication hit the media: Thomas Picketty’s Capitalism in the 21st Century. It has rightly gained enormous attention due to the rigour of his analysis spanning 300 years of economic data and the inescapable conclusion that inequality is rising to dangerous levels. One answer must be to equalise chances to learn. Picketty demonstrates that, in the long run, education and skills are the route to sustainable civil society and economic

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prosperity. The single most important issue facing society is ensuring that everyone has a genuinely equal opportunity to grow their skills.

As this report shows, that is what unionlearn does.

Mary Bousted

Chair, unionlearn Board


Section two

2 Summary

Key figures

Overall, unionlearn supported a total of 219,091 learners via the union route in the year to March 2014. ULF projects account for 72 per cent of this total, TUC Education 21 per cent and regions 7 per cent.

There has been an increase in the number of union learning reps (ULRs). The new generic ULR course is reversing the previous decline in ULR training. The number of ULRs trained through TUC Education was 3,636 by end March 2014, including 1,053 trained through the new generic course.

ULF projects performed well ahead of expectations with 158,483 total learners recorded. Projects performed ahead of target in relation to information and communication technology (ICT), English and maths, Level 2, Level 3, continuing professional development (CPD), informal adult and community learning (IACL), further education (FE) and Apprenticeships.

Project numbers were less good on higher education (reflecting the increase in fees), Learning Agreements and Learning Centres (reflecting the tough economic climate).

Of the total ULF learners, 29 per cent were undertaking continuing professional development, 25 per cent were taking ICT courses and 14 per cent were learners on English and maths programmes.

Regional outputs totalled 14,588 learners in the year to March 2014; this was in addition to regional support for ULF projects.


Section three

3 Service

Introduction

The new service team includes core unionlearn support work such as financial management, collecting information on learning activity, supporting learners, communications including the unionlearn website and support for higher education. This section briefly outlines the main work of the team.

Supporting Learners

This work covers careers advice or Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG); we prefer the term “Supporting Learners” which is wider and reflects the need for everyone (young people and adults, in work or not) to have continuing support. A new strategy for supporting learners has been developed to support the delivery of impartial learning and careers advice sessions to union learners. It is an underpinning strategy for all unionlearn’s information, advice and signposting activity with the primary aim of making all learning and progression opportunities available to all working people, particularly those who are disadvantaged in the workplace. The work of union learning representatives (ULRs) is vital to the success of this strategy. Ofsted has referred to the ULR movement as an ‘outstanding model of peer learning support’.

Unions have developed successful models of information, advice and guidance (IAG) delivery which lead to engagement with learning across every sector and every level of learning from functional skills through to higher education. The ULRs are ideally placed to play a key role in supporting learners because they speak the same language as their members and have their trust. This in turn results in learners feeling fully supported in accessing the right courses for them or thinking about a new career.

ULF project figures for the period from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 show that the profile figure for IAG interventions (i.e. sessions where ULRs advised and helped their members) was 81,729 and the number of members helped was 220,091. For the period from January to March 2014 there were 45,493 learner support referrals recorded – more than


double the expected number. Eighty per cent of these referrals were individuals who ULRs helped with structured information and advice while the remaining 20 per cent per cent involved learner support referrals to other organisations.

The union learning Climbing Frame

The union learning Climbing Frame is a free website for ULRs to help them in their role of supporting learners in the workplace – find out more at: https://climbingframe.unionlearn.org.uk/Home.

Users register on the Climbing Frame and their number provides a measure of the most active ULRs. In 2014 registrations have topped 5,000 and are climbing steadily towards the 2015 target of 6,000. Unionlearn has developed 20 learning themes with information on topics including personal development and career planning; supporting learners; health, work and well-being; and ICT. The learning themes provide up-to-date information, downloadable resources and links to a variety or external learning websites.

ULRs also help learners to record learner details, actions, goals and achievements within the learner management section of the site. The Climbing Frame website includes a discussion forum, links to videos, case studies, useful links and a place for ULRs to upload and store their own notes. A new free Climbing Frame app has been launched which has helped make the site even more accessible via mobile devices and tablets. The Climbing Frame content is regularly updated, based on feedback and requests.

Mid-Life Career Review

Unionlearn helps all learners, not just young people. There are few other organisations which support working people at all stages of their lives. So unionlearn was glad to partner the NIACE Mid-Life Career Review Project (BIS-funded) which aimed to develop and test different models of working with people to review their plans for life and career. The reviews give individuals the opportunity to take stock, review their options and plan their future. Unionlearn played a pivotal role in the Mid-Life Career Review Project by engaging 15 unions, with more than 100 ULRs and 770 workers in mid-life review activities. These were double the expected numbers. Unions worked with more people than the other pilot projects and were able to demonstrate the impact and reach of ULRs in the workplace, and how their involvement can meet the needs of older working people.

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Unionlearn’s evaluation report found that the mid-life career reviews worked best when building on a strong workplace learning and skills infrastructure: learning agreements, learning committees, learning centres, trained ULRs, agreed facility time for reps and employer support and engagement. It was also helpful to find the right issues to get employer buy-in and support for mid-life reviews: for example, redundancy situations and restructuring. Another successful aspect of this project was the creation of a range of high-quality resources for ULRs to use to support their role and activities in the workplace: for example, the Value my Skills cards game, the Supporting Mid-Life Development learning theme and toolkit, and the e-Note (a short video outlining the issues in a lively format).

The union mid-life career review model has now been written up and adapted as a ‘how to do it’ guide for ULRs and other reps. A range of new case studies and examples were collected and included in resources, reports and on the website, some of these on video.

Higher learning

Unionlearn has a strategy for developing pathways to higher learning (higher education, whether at university or elsewhere and whether or not leading to a degree) for union learners, and has strategic agreements with the Open University, Birkbeck College (part of London University) and others to take this forward. Some of these strategic agreements include discount offers on fees to union members.

For the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, ULF Projects reported that the total number of higher education (HE) learners via the union route had fallen to 1,364 which was 43 per cent per cent of the annual ULF target (3,199). This is in line with the HE sector which has seen a 40 per cent overall downturn in students enrolling for part-time undergraduate courses. In England, the biggest issue in recent years is the 2012¬–13 change to the HE funding system and the associated increase in fees.

Unionlearn has been working with an alliance of universities, employers and unions on campaigning to reverse this decline by highlighting some of the often unknown benefits of part-time study to the economy, society and the individual. Last year unionlearn, as part of its submission to the Universities UK review of undergraduate part-time and mature higher education, called on the government to signal to the HE sector that increasing the number of mature students in part-time HE was a priority and for a relaxation of the equivalent or


lower qualification policy which prohibits loans to those who already have a degree. Unionlearn has been calling for government to reform training tax relief to better incentivise employers to invest in courses leading to accredited qualifications and continuing professional development.

Quality improvement

Unionlearn has designed and developed a Quality Improvement Framework (QIF) that provides a systematic process to gather evidence of partner organisations' quality procedures and levels of service (organisations such as colleges or awarding bodies). The model builds on existing good practice in unions and unionlearn regions and the QIF handbook provides a tool to drive up and maintain standards within a culture of continuous quality improvement. The QIF ensures a holistic and fully integrated approach to quality improvement based on self assessment.

Within unionlearn, teams have completed their fourth annual self-assessment review (SAR). The results have been analysed and a consolidated unionlearn SAR report and Quality Improvement Plan has been published and the findings shared with all staff. The four main areas for improvement in 2014 are:

1. communication

2. contingency planning

3. management information

4. systematic approach to reviewing plans.

SAR results have shown a steady improvement over the four years, despite considerable restructuring and cuts in funding. All unions also have a SAR process and report that they too find it very helpful as an open way of discussing how things can be improved.

Quality Awards

The unionlearn Quality Award is given to partner organisations (e.g. colleges) which meet standards of support for union learning such as delivery in workplaces and being responsive to learners’ needs. Three versions of the Quality Award have been developed, these cover:

1. courses

2. careers information and advice services

3. Apprenticeship programmes.

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Over 100 providers have achieved the Quality Award, which is awarded for three years, and there is an annual review.

During the year the Quality Award was updated to refresh the good practice criteria and simplify the assessment process. The assessor handbooks and assessment processes have been revised and streamlined. To help providers (colleges) and assessors a Quality Award e-portfolio has been developed. This project builds on the work piloted in the NW region where providers could upload their evidence to an e-portfolio.

Communications

Getting out a strong message about union work on learning and skills is a core task for unionlearn. All unionlearn teams are encouraged to look for stories about union success in the workplace on behalf of members so these can be shared and disseminated to our key audiences via the web and other channels. A communication strategy for 2014–15 was developed which identifies the messages and channels that would help engage with learners, unions, employers and enablers, encourage two-way dialogue and understanding, build profile, and build continued support for the union learning agenda.

The unionlearn website www.unionlearn.org.uk is our most accessible public face and is at the centre of our communication strategy. The website is an important channel for introducing people to unionlearn’s work, persuading them to get involved, promoting specific activities and publicising the value and impact of unionlearn’s work.

There have been a number of improvements to the website and further improvements are ongoing. These include navigation, an updated homepage, speed, security, more videos, better menus and search functions. Monthly website hits are running at 10,000 and steadily rising. The next phase of work has begun on the redesign and rebranding of the website which will make a significant difference to the look and layout of the site – and increase traffic and users.

Engaging with social media is invaluable for promoting and improving unionlearn’s work and events to a new wider audience. Unionlearn has a growing presence on social media, with a new Facebook page (www.facebook.com/tucunionlearn) and a Twitter account @unionlearn.

The Learning Rep magazine goes to almost 20,000 subscribers and is now produced as an e-magazine published three times a year. Moving to the online format allows us to use more of the latest technology


(e.g. embedded links) to improve communication with ULRs. The e-magazine consists of inspirational stories, features on specific unions, events, partner information for ULRs and discussion on adult skills.

Through our email alerts service, we create and send email alerts that highlight and promote the work that unionlearn and our partners are conducting. This service has over 8,500 registered subscribers. Users register through the unionlearn website, selecting individual subject areas of interest.

The unionlearn annual conference took place on 28 October with over 400 delegates registered, though due to massive transport disruption many could not attend. The theme of the 2013 conference was “skills for growth”, focusing on skills development through the learning of individuals and communities, meeting the needs of a modern workforce. Speakers included:

Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary

Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

Charlie Mayfield, Chairman UK Commission on Employment & Skills and Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership

Ged Grebby, Show Racism the Red Card

Veronica Henry, Quick Reads author.

A short video of the conference is available to watch at www.unionlearn.org.uk/about/unionlearn-conference

Finance

Total funding to unionlearn in 2013–14 was £21m consisting of £1m from TUC; £18.9m (of which £196K was not drawn down) from the Dept for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and £1.1m from other sources including the European Social Fund, NIACE, the NHS, the Gatsby Foundation and the EU. Funding from BIS is the largest component and is detailed below:

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Unionlearn BIS Financial Summary for 13–14

(At 13/01/14) (At 23/04/14)

Budget Outturn 2013–14 to 31/03/14

£'000 £'000 ULF contracts with unions 13,114.0

13,009.0

Evaluation and support 50.0 50.0 Support for union learning 4,527.0 4,425.0 Running costs 697.7 708.7 Delivery and development 357.0 357.0 Promoting union learning 122.0 122.0 Audit fees – other (in kind) 32.3 32.3

Total 18,900.0 18,704.0


Section four

4 Strategy

Introduction

The Strategy Team covers research and policy, support to union representatives on national skills bodies, and key areas where policy is rapidly developing including traineeships, work experience and Apprenticeships.

UKCES – the main national skills body

The UK Commission on Employment and Skills is the key national skills body. It is funded by BIS and includes commissioners from employers, unions and the third sector. It works by drawing together social partners (employers, unions and government) to discuss skills policy and practice. There are four trade union commissioners: Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the TUC; Grahame Smith, General Secretary of the STUC; Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary of Unite; and Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON. Unionlearn supports the trade union commissioners and works closely with UKCES on a range of learning and skills initiatives. Over the past year this has particularly involved work on reforming apprenticeships and establishing new industrial partnerships.

Work with sectors

Unionlearn and affiliated unions continue to be involved in joint projects with a range of sector bodies. Unions play a key role in the work of the 23 Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and other sector bodies, including through union representation on their boards and engagement at other levels. Unionlearn provides a range of support services for union representatives, including advice, briefings and regular network meetings, and coordinates the nomination of officials from affiliated unions to sit on the SSC Boards. One union official often speaks for several unions. Over the past year unionlearn has worked closely with affiliated and non-affiliated unions in the health and finance sectors to help unions support workforce skills across these two sectors.

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Unionlearn has facilitated and supported the NHS Learning for Life campaign. This campaign was developed by the NHS Social Partnership Forum (SPF). The health sector trade unions are members of the SPF along with NHS Employers, the Department of Health and others. The campaign aims to grow a learning culture across the NHS in England, engaging especially the lower pay bands (1 to 4) of staff to take up learning and encourage unions and employers to develop learning agreements. Unionlearn has been working actively with the health sector unions, Health Education England, and NHS Employers to take forward the campaign. This includes, for example, the recommendations of the Francis and Cavendish reviews of Mid Staffs Hospital on better training for health staff.

Employer Ownership Pilot and industrial partnerships

The government is currently piloting major changes to the skills system in England through the Employer Ownership Pilot and also the Apprenticeship Trailblazers (see below for more on unionlearn’s work on Apprenticeships). Over the past year unionlearn and the trade unions have supported key principles of round 2 of the Employer Ownership pilot, in particular the ultimate aim of driving up employer investment in workforce skills, while highlighting the need for safeguards to ensure a proper voice for unions and to prevent deadweight (employers using taxpayers' money to fund what they would have funded themselves) in employer spend on training and any potential destabilisation of FE colleges.

Round 2 of the Employer Ownership Pilot has also involved bids from partners to establish industrial partnerships. According to the UKCES these will be “industrial partnerships to take wider responsibility for skills development in a place or sector” and it is anticipated that the majority of them will be linked with the priority sectors indentified by the government in its national industrial strategy. To date only one industrial partnership has been launched – the Energy and Efficiency Industrial Partnership in autumn 2013 – but it is anticipated that a significant number of IPs (at least a further six) will be announced in summer 2014.

In autumn 2013 unionlearn worked closely with UKCES to organise a high-level, round-table discussion involving senior employers and trade union officials that was jointly hosted by the UKCES Chair, the TUC General Secretary and the CBI Director General. Discussions have also been ongoing with the Energy & Efficiency IP and other prospective IPs about the union role on governance structures and


also the mechanisms to enable the union role on learning and skills to be fully acknowledged in the strategies of the IPs. Unionlearn has produced a new e-note (a short and lively video briefing) about the industrial partnerships and the Employer Ownership Pilot and this will be launched to coinicide with the forthcoming launch of the IPs in summer 2014. Unionlearn has also continued to brief the four trade union UKCES commissioners about ongoing developments with EOP and IPs, including highlighting the key challenges and priorities going forward from the union perspective.

The TUC has been conditionally supportive of the introduction of Apprenticeship Trailblazers. Trailblazers will be employer-driven and solely responsible for developing Apprenticeship occupational frameworks. The reforms have created opportunities to develop the social partnership model in relation to Apprenticeships. In unionised sectors trade unions are actively involved (e.g. Unite in the aerospace sector) with employers, helping to design Apprenticeship frameworks which are high-quality, focused on the needs of the wider industrial sector and contributing to a high-quality learning experience for young people. Unionlearn will continue to work with affiliated unions to ensure trade unions are represented on the Trailblazers.

Bargaining for Skills and Learning Agreements

Negotiating with employers on learning and skills is at the heart of what unions do. Often employers and unions work together to agree a new training strategy, bringing learning into the workplace, with new approaches and sometimes new providers, and in particular involving employees who may never have had opportunities to learn before. This process is often greatly facilitated through the development of collective agreements (e.g. sections covering Apprenticeships) and the use of innovative Learning Agreements covering all aspects of union learning, including specifying time off for union learning reps and employees engaged in learning via this route.

Unionlearn has been supporting joint working with unions by facilitating sector specific working groups in the health and finance sectors. The finance sector group was set up this year. The groups coordinate joint work and share best practice. The health sector unions have negotiated a number of joint learning agreements with organisations such as NHS Property Services and Public Health England. The agreements cover a significant number of NHS staff in England and address issues such as apprenticeships and achievements in English and maths. Unionlearn responded to Health

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Education England’s Talent for Care consultation on developing staff in NHS bands 1–4 highlighting the need for paid time off for learning and working in partnership with the NHS trade unions.

Many unions use their ULF projects to develop new negotiating mechanisms through such agreements. Over the last year the projects have signed 106 new Learning Agreements and 20 enhanced agreements with employers. One union that has enjoyed considerable success in achieving learning agreements is the transport union RMT, which has signed off a number of new agreements with rail sector employers in the past year or so. Like most unions, the RMT has its own model learning agreement, developed with the benefit of several years’ experience, but recognises that negotiated agreements represent the best compromise of all parties’ needs. This is particularly the case in the rail sector, where multi-union agreements are the norm, so there can be four or more signatories to a learning agreement. This pragmatic approach is nevertheless built on some essential elements that the RMT maintains are central to all agreements.

Supporting the technician workforce

Unionlearn is currently leading a Technician Pathways project, funded by the Gatsby foundation, which is supporting progression for the technician workforce. The main aim of the project is to promote the trade union role in delivering professional registration for technicians working in science, engineering and technology (SET), covering key sectors such as energy, education, healthcare and manufacturing.

Unionlearn is working to promote the professional standing of technicians, recognising the valuable contribution they make both to the economy and to our lives more broadly. The primary aim of the project is to develop positive and sustainable relationships between professional bodies, trade unions, employers and others with a view to encouraging and supporting more workers to take up technician registration. That registration provides benefits in the form of access to CPD, opportunities for progression, further training and recognition. A number of projects with employers and professional bodies are being run to test how professional registration for technicians can best be supported by unions.

Over the past year the project has delivered a technician registration toolkit to help union negotiators and reps to raise awareness and promote technician registration to union members and employers with technicians in their workforce. The project has engaged with a wide


range of unions and employers and identified a number of best practice case studies of unions working in partnership with employers on this agenda. In addition the project has been promoted at the sector level through sector union networks (e.g. healthcare) facilitated by unionlearn.

Green skills

Over the year unionlearn’s Green Skills Partnership has continued to develop collaborations between training providers, employers, trade unions, the voluntary sector and communities to deliver sustainability training and employment opportunities in the green skills agenda. In 2014 the Green Skills Partnership has been recognised by the European Commission as a significant example of best practice in a report entitled Skills Needs in Greening Economies. In this report the Green Skills Partnership is praised for its effectiveness in:

providing workers or the unemployed with portable skills that enhance their employability

disseminating information on the green skills agenda through its partnerships and networks

facilitating access to information on the green skills agenda among workers and companies

mobilising private funding from employers.

Apprenticeships

Over the year 5,971 Apprenticeships were supported by ULF-funded projects, a substantial increase on the 4,796 reported in the previous year. This work has ranged across a number of employers, including many large employers such as the NHS, BAE Systems and Rolls Royce. ULF projects continue to do very well in this area, adding value to Apprenticeship programmes already in progress through strong union support for apprentices and promoting or campaigning for the recruitment of more (and higher quality) Apprenticeships with employers. Some examples of innovative ULF-funded projects are highlighted below:

Usdaw: by the end of the final quarter of year two, over 670 Apprenticeships had been recruited in the eight companies where Usdaw has negotiated a joint Apprenticeship Scheme. Particular successes have been at Tesco stores in Yorkshire and Humberside and in the North East where Usdaw was also instrumental in

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developing a programme of support for those staff who would like to do an Apprenticeship but don’t have the level of English and maths skills required. At the McVities site in Stockport, lead ULR Jonathan Waterhouse has co-ordinated the pilot of the new Food Manufacturing Excellence Apprenticeship. It’s a 12-month learning programme at Level 2 and the ULRs at McVities have helped to customise the programme to link in with the production process at the site.

UNISON is continuing to work in partnership with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (CUH) to develop and promote an Apprenticeship programme that offers a wide range of health sector career opportunities for local young people. This has enabled over 200 young people to undertake Apprenticeships in business and administration, customer service, healthcare support services, management and IT and maintenance. The partnership is based on an Apprenticeship agreement between management and unions at the trust.

The FBU’s ULF project, in partnership with employers and Skills for Justice, is currently supporting over 300 employees who are undertaking apprenticeships across the Fire and Rescue Service. The project is also working with Skills for Justice to develop a new ‘community fire safety’ apprenticeship that will be used across the fire industry (expected to be submitted for endorsement later in 2014).

PCS’s ULF project and Cambridge Regional College organised a special event in December 2013 to present certificates to 27 apprentices from HMRC offices in Eastern England to celebrate their achievements. More than 90 staff at HMRC offices in Southend, Ipswich, Harwich, Peterborough, Norwich, Cambridge and Luton have enrolled on the programme since PCS ULRs in the area began promoting work-based Apprenticeships in 2012. The PCS ULF Project has also produced detailed guidance on Apprenticeships in the civil service with particular reference to the new Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme and distributed this throughout the union’s networks in November 2013. This will help the project boost the number of Apprenticeship outcomes during 2014 when recruitment to the new Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme is rolled out nationally following the pilot which has been running in the North West.

The Unite ULF project is continuing to work with employers to promote, develop and support apprenticeships in a variety of sectors. Overall the project has supported more than 4,000 Apprenticeships over the last two years against a profile of 3,200. The project has an


excellent case study around female apprentices which was published in the winter edition of The Learning Rep magazine. It features a young female worker, Sally Rose, who has recently completed her advanced electrical apprenticeship at Heathrow Airport and is now trying to encourage more young women to follow in her footsteps. At Babcock Marine in Davenport, Unite and GMB’s Southern Region ULF Project have continued to work in partnership with the employer in order to promote, develop and support Apprenticeships. A further 14 new apprentices have recently started their course as a result of this work.

URTU’s ULF project has been working with Clipper Logistics in the North East to develop and support Apprenticeships in logistics and warehousing and as an additional outcome to this they are now starting to work with the employer and Jobcentre Plus to support access to high quality traineeships that provide work placements, skills training and access to interviews. URTU have also been working with Intraining on developing follow-on ULR training within an apprenticeship framework. This follows either an L2 or L3 customer service Apprenticeship, but the modules are IAG specific.

RMT is continuing to work in partnership with Network Rail to promote, develop and support Apprenticeships and 185 are currently being supported as a result of project activity in this area. This success is underpinned by the mentoring scheme that has been developed by the RMT project worker within Network Rail with ULRs providing a support structure for all apprentices in the company.

Unite, UNISON, the GMB and UCATT are continuing to develop their learning partnership with Wolverhampton City Council which will see the council create over 100 new construction Apprenticeships over the next three years. The council currently has 30 apprentices aged 16 to 18. Most of them have started on an intermediate level apprenticeship though a number are on advanced apprenticeships in trades such as electrical building services, building surveying, heating and ventilation.

The Staff Union for West Bromwich Building Society’s ULF project has made good progress on Apprenticeships. Since the project started in January last year it has helped over 50 people to start an Apprenticeship in a range of vocational subjects, at Levels 2 and 3, including business administration and customer service.

Unionlearn‘s Apprenticeships are Union Business project continues to play a key role in supporting union involvement in Apprenticeships. The aims of the project are to help unions negotiate with employers to

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recruit more high quality apprentices, give training and resources to union reps about Apprenticeships, and help unions to recruit and support apprentices in the workplace. Over the past year unionlearn has delivered a number of significant outcomes on Apprenticeships through the work of the project:

commissioned and launched a major new research study from IES designed to supply information about under-representation by gender and among ethnic minority groups in the Apprenticeship programme overall. A conference was held in April 2014 to discuss the findings and recommendations of this report, including the important role of unions in combating discrimination

developed a guide to Apprenticeships for union reps in schools and colleges which enables individual education unions to tailor this to their particular membership

supported union engagement in the Apprenticeship Trailblazers that are currently testing out major reforms of the Apprenticeship programme

launched a joint publication with ACAS and CIPD about promoting best practice in the management of young people, including maximising access to high quality Apprenticeships

held an annual event that brings unionised apprentices together to enable them to articulate their collective voice on key issues

commissioned research into the importance of mentoring in high quality Apprenticeships and the important role that ULRs and other reps might play in improving the completion rates of Apprenticeships.

The project has also continued to promote the unionlearn campaign – I’m an Apprentice, Value Me – which highlights the continuing exploitation of young people who are being paid below the national minimum wage rate for Apprenticeships. This campaign is aimed at ensuring that apprentices know what they are entitled to, that employers are aware of what they should be paying, and that the government is properly enforcing the apprentice minimum wage. The last apprentice pay survey undertaken by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in 2012 (published autumn 2013) showed that nearly 3 in 10 (29 per cent) were being paid below the legal minimum.

Unionlearn has also been involved in leading an EU-funded project, on behalf of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), to map


union involvement with Apprenticeships across the EU. The final report of the project – Towards a European Quality Framework for Apprenticeships and Work-Based Learning: Best practices and trade union contributions – was published in 2014.

Unionlearn’s Apprenticeships Charter was also updated in late 2013. It sets out the principles governing what a good apprenticeship should look like.

Support for traineeships, youth skills and work experience

Unionlearn is helping unions deliver the skills and support young people need to gain – and keep – a job, including where access to an Apprenticeship is either not readily available or not appropriate to the individual’s immediate circumstances. The government launched traineeships in 2012 to help young people requiring further support before progressing to an apprenticeship or other outcome. The programme is being supported by unions as a way of encouraging employers to aim high by providing: high quality work placements with good work experience (paid if they involve real work of value to the employer); good quality English and maths; and, a genuine interview with a good chance of leading to a job or further training.

A unionlearn traineeships charter has been developed to spell out these aims and help unions engage with employers and providers. Unionlearn is also working in partnership with Fair Train to develop and promote high-quality work experience frameworks which ensure young people receive structured learning opportunities, leading to genuine skills development.

Over the last year unionlearn has facilitated forums bringing employers, unions and providers together to support high-quality traineeships, including the following:

a public sector compact meeting at Derby College attended by a large number of public sector employers. Discussions were held about the need for traineeships in the public sector, the benefits for employers and how to ensure traineeships are of a high quality. A number of pilot activities were proposed as a result of the forum.

a forum for employers in East Midlands with Stevenson College to promote the traineeships programme. The event provided employers with an outline of the traineeships programme, discussed potential obstacles to participation and provided solutions and business case reasons to overcome these hurdles. Participants were able to discuss the components that should be

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included in a high-quality traineeship programme to ensure that both the individual and the employer will benefit from the programme.

A key strength of ULF projects is the unique way in which they can engage with cohorts of society where other approaches have failed. Reaching out to young people has been a priority area of ULF for many years and below we highlight some recent examples of innovative projects.

GMB’s ULF project covering Yorkshire, Humberside and North Derbyshire has continued to make good progress in engaging with young people not in education, employment or training and in developing pathways into vocational education, including Apprenticeships and sustainable employment. This builds on earlier work undertaken by the project with Castleford Tigers RLFC in helping over 20 young players to undertake an Apprenticeship. These young players are now engaging with local schools to promote both Apprenticeships and union learning. They are engaging in Physical Education classes and acting as role models to other young people. They are working very closely with those pupils who are being identified as being possible NEET adults in the future. The initiative of working closer with young people is now being expanded into other local clubs including Featherstone Rovers, Leeds and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

UCATT has worked in partnership with Kier Construction in North Tyneside in arranging for some of the company’s apprentices to act as ambassadors for learning and to visit local schools in the area to raise the profile of Apprenticeships and promote careers in construction. The union has also been working with employers to provide training opportunities for NEETs in areas where there are construction contracts going ahead. In Scarborough, Wilmot Dixon have worked in partnership with UCATT to provide training courses in the learning centre which have been designed to help local young people into construction jobs.

The PFA’s Union Learning Fund (ULF) project, Achievement through Sport, is continuing to work in partnership with community trusts at a number of Football League clubs across the country to help promote and develop learning and skills both in the workplace and in local communities. A particular focus of the work is around reaching out to disadvantaged young people and using football as the medium to engage them in learning. Working with the Sheffield United


Community Trust, the project organised an education and dissemination event at Bramall Lane in December 2013. This was based around a football tournament for clubs from deprived areas of the city. Over 100 young people (many of them NEETs) attended. A number of these have now been recruited onto educational programmes run through the Trust

Usdaw’s ULRs and McVities are continuing to work closely with local schools in disadvantaged areas of Manchester and in Stockport where the factory is based. They visit schools jointly and the union provides practical mentoring as many young local people do not realise that they will need good English and maths to pass the company’s entrance qualification.

English and maths

In early 2014 unionlearn submitted evidence to the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee inquiry on adult literacy and numeracy and gave oral evidence to the Select Committee. The unionlearn evidence highlighted that recent research findings – especially the October 2013 OECD Adult Skills Survey – supported a focus on developing innovative workplace approaches as a means of helping more adults to develop their literacy and numeracy skills. The submission also evidenced the major contribution that union learning has delivered in supporting an innovative approach to empowering adult employees to access learning and skills in the workplace, including English and maths.

Over the past year unionlearn has continued to support the National Numeracy campaign, Maths Champions initiative and has been closely involved in the development of the Maths4us website.

Unionlearn continued to support unions to deal with the government’s replacement of Skills for Life provision with functional skills through the Functional Skills Network Group. This group also identified new areas of development including how unions can best support achievement of the required standards in English and maths by apprentices.

Through their ULF projects trade unions have continued to deliver the government’s functional skills agenda by supporting learners working towards qualifications at entry level 1, 2, and 3, and achieving level 1 and 2 in English and maths. Over the past year ULF projects supported 22,793 English and maths learners, which represented a rise of around a fifth (18 per cent per cent) on the 19,308 reported in the previous

Strategy


year. Below are a range of innovative approaches supported by ULF projects.

The Unison Northern project, Bridges to Learning, has made very good progress in working with providers and employers to organise functional skills courses (in both English and maths) within workplaces. A particularly good model has been developed with the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) where a non-accredited 20-hour course is being provided before the 45-hour qualification course. This non-accredited course is for students new to learning English or maths who need to build up their confidence before undertaking the qualification course. Although a number of employers were initially sceptical about this because of the longer hours, the project’s ULRs have managed to convince them of the benefits, particularly in terms of retention and achievement. Very high pass rates are being achieved by the WEA delivery partnership with Newcastle Hospitals.

An evaluation/audit in July 2013 of ULF activity by UNISON Northern’s Bridges to Learning project, in partnership with the Tees, Esk, and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, revealed that between April 2011 and June 2013, the project enabled 557 employees to undertake adult literacy or maths programmes, at entry level, and at levels 1 and 2. It also revealed that 196 employees had been helped to access NVQ level 3 courses and 26 had been supported into higher education.

The rail unions RMT and ASLEF have continued to use their ULF projects to develop partnership work with East Coast Trains to promote learning and development at Newcastle’s central station (now nicknamed the Education Station). A range of English, maths and IT courses have been arranged to meet the needs of East Coast Trains workers. This builds on the earlier success of the partnership when more than 40 staff were presented with certificates for their achievements in literacy, numeracy and IT.

Usdaw's ULF project is continuing to perform well in the area of functional skills provision. It exceeded its two-year target for English and maths by over seven per cent per cent (helping over 4,800 learners to improve their basic skills). It has achieved this through initiatives and partnerships with employers such as DHL/Argos in Castleford where the lead ULR, Monica Paczkowska, has co-ordinated the work of the site's nine-strong learning team to great effect. Their hard work has enabled more than half of the 300 staff on site to improve their skills by helping them to access over 1,300 learning opportunities, many of them in English and maths. Monica's


dedication was rewarded in August 2013 when she was named Learning Champion of the Year at the fifth Leading the Learner Voice Awards (organised by LSIS), which celebrate the significant contributions that learners and their mentors make to further education and skills development.

GMB’s Southern Region ULF project has been working in partnership with Sodexho at Stonehouse Barracks in Plymouth to promote access to functional skills training for civilian support staff. So far this has led to eight people starting courses in maths. The project is also working with Brighton Hospital to help staff there to access ESOL courses and a new learning agreement has been negotiated with Continental Landscapes which has resulted in 18 enrolments onto English, maths and ICT courses.

English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)

Cuts in workplace ESOL funding have brought great challenges. However unions have continued to find creative ways to help people (often low-paid migrant workers) at work and in communities who need support. Unionlearn has supported this by co-ordinating a multi-union ESOL stakeholder group. Individual unions have also continued to prioritise ESOL.

For example, Unite has launched an online ESOL course and Unite Migrant Workers Education Project has helped hundreds of migrant and domestic workers and their families to learn new skills and improve their lives. To date the project has helped over 2,000 migrant workers to improve their skills through courses in ESOL, maths and IT. Another example is ASLEF’s development of a new ESOL course for railway staff. Greater Anglia is one of the few companies to pilot an ESOL course, in an initiative organised by Trevor Southgate, ASLEF union learning rep. ASLEF, along with RMT, TSSA and Unite, are a partner in the learning agreement with Greater Anglia. All the partners agreed to address the need for ESOL learning among the Greater Anglia workforce with a pilot course which proved to be a great success from the perspective of both the employer and those in the workforce with ESOL needs.


Section five

5 Trade union education

Introduction

Since the 1970s, it has been widely recognised by successive governments that it is in the interests of the economy, employers, workers and their unions that union representatives are properly trained to enable them to carry out their increasingly complex and sophisticated role in UK workplaces. TUC Education occupies a unique position within adult skills provision in that its core purpose concerns good industrial relations, equipping reps to represent workers and negotiate agreements that help ensure UK workplaces are safer, more stable and fair which in turn contributes to business success in reduced staff turnover and sickness and improved workplace performance. It has an unrivalled reach into Britain’s workplaces to provide education and training in partnership with around 50 further education providers across the UK. And it makes an important contribution to building and maintaining strong unions.

Unions representing major public and private sector employers from across the economy send reps for training locally through the partnership, including from 2,800 private sector organisations which, taken together, represent a huge segment of the UK economy. Almost all unions participate in the programme and it is recognised for integrity, quality and innovation (the last fourteen consecutive Ofsted inspections of TUC Education departments in colleges across the UK were awarded Grade 1, ‘outstanding’, unmatched in any other curriculum area in adult education).

Each year, thousands of union reps receive training from TUC Education. 2013 saw a dip in numbers to 43,756, down 8,442 on the 2012 figure of 52,198. This remains a considerable programme of training, especially when account is taken of the extreme pressure unions and their members are under in many sectors, and is a real tribute to the hard work of union education officers and tutors.

The training of union officers has also been managed through TUC Education since the closure of the NEC in 2005, and numbers of officers trained each year since then average out at around 550, a considerable segment of the total complement.


Funding the programme

There is a long history of successive governments supporting the TUC delivery of training for workplace reps. Since 2001, fees have been remitted direct to colleges, providing for a cost effective formula which enables course fees to be met without the administrative burden of a grant. It is managed centrally and administered directly between the Skills Funding Agency and partner providers. This has been a real success, ensuring that tens of thousands of workplace reps could access quality training close to their workplaces without additional costs to unions or employers outside of the costs of paid release. During the period 2001–12 when fee remission was applied, a total of 569,337 union reps completed courses through partner colleges, an outstanding contribution to UK employment relations and to building stronger unions.

Employers already support the programme through paid release arrangements, which was estimated in 2010 (using the average daily wage for that year) as a contribution of £18,596,909. Unions and the TUC make a significant contribution to TUC Education – the TUC, for example, spends approximately £1,000,000 each year in managing the programme, designing and developing the curriculum, maintaining the accreditation arrangements, developing and supporting the college networks and the tutor teams. Unions invest heavily in their own education services and drive up demand, helping to maintain the contemporary nature of the programme and the issues and skills addressed within it. Strategic partnerships such as that with Macmillan Cancer Support and the Institute of Leadership and Management add further value to the workplace relationship.

Funding pressures on further education have increased exponentially since the economic downturn and the impact of austerity policies. A 20 per cent per cent cut in the adult skills budget for 2014–15 already means that colleges are finding it difficult to fund trade union education, even with full fee remission. This has been further exacerbated by the political climate of increased hostility towards unions and in particular towards public funding support for the work of unions, exemplified by the increasingly difficult negotiations on the unionlearn settlement year on year. In April this year, the TUC was informed that fee remission arrangements would cease in the academic year 2015–16, with academic year 2014–15 being a transitional year when elements of exemption (from level 3 loans, for example) would cease to apply. It is estimated that the impact of such a sharp transition would be devastating to the programme and

Trade union education


ultimately, to the partnership, as TUC Education in colleges would cease to be viable in all but the largest units.

The TUC pressed hard for a rethink. Detailed discussion took place with BIS officials to shape the transition and the general secretary lobbied the Secretary of State and obtained agreement to defer the implementation of this decision for a further year, with the transition year in 2015–16 and the ending of fee remission arrangements in 2016–17. This gives a further full year of delivering the full programme and retains funding well beyond the 2015 election and business planning cycle.

Work is taking place with all political parties to embed the arguments for public funding support for the training of workplace reps and to secure an agreement on fee remission with a future administration.

Union learning rep training

Numbers of ULRs trained over the past few years reflect the continuing difficulties particular to the ULR role, which have been exacerbated by the economic and employment relations climate and the need for unions to prioritise pressing industrial problems at the expense of this agenda. Release for training is difficult to obtain, despite the underpinning rights, and courses fail to recruit despite strong tutor input in drumming up support.

The union rep, or shop steward, holds the key role in the workplace in terms of the relationship with the employer, now more so than ever, as union workplace activity is directed towards workplace essentials. Union reps are bargaining in a much harsher economic climate than ever before and the learning and skills agenda will be most useful at the heart of union activity at a time when pay bargaining is yielding scant returns. The unionlearn board decided in 2013 to take the learning agenda to the heart of union and employer workplace activity by mainstreaming it within the Stage 1 Union Representatives’ Course, (the Shop Stewards programme) to avoid a marginalisation of this work during times very different to those in which the role was conceived and developed.

TUC Education launched the new programme in 2013 with a particular focus on embedding the key elements of the ULR role so as to make the most of union strengths at a time when union resources are at a premium. This meant that an additional 1,565 ULRs were trained in 2013, slightly higher than anticipated. In addition, 1,039 ULRs were trained on the five-day dedicated programme and 665 ULRs


progressed to the Stage 2 programme making a total of 3,252 ULRs accessing training in 2013, 2,587 of them new ULRs. This represents a strong showing and a considerable boost to ULR numbers.

Figure 1: Numbers of ULRs accessing training, 1999 to 2013

TUC Education online

The demand for online courses has continued to increase with more than 2,000 reps obtaining full qualifications online in 2013. The online offer allows reps in far-flung geographical locations to access reps training. This includes UK overseas territories such as Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, as well as Cyprus, Germany, the Scottish Highlands and other parts of the UK where it is difficult to sustain classroom delivery, and even a submariner. A new version of the Union Learning Reps Stage 2 has now been added to the extensive list of online courses offered to trade union representatives.

In order to further enhance the online offer, a new learner management system website and virtual learning environment was launched in 2014. This supports existing learners and embeds online and blended learning across the programme, allowing users to easily access TUC resources and information on TUC campaigns. It also hosts eNotes, which now has more than 5,000 union reps registered for web-based updates on issues such as the living wage, domestic abuse, bargaining for skills and supporting apprentices. The new site also hosts the potential for an Open Badge offer which will be developed and trialled this year: www.tuceducation.org.uk

Trade union education


New developments

A new version of the TUC Tutor Training Manual has been developed and launched. This contains the essence of the TUC’s approach to trade union education and is designed to be used by all organisations with an interest in this work as well as for the development of TUC tutors. It contains a new section on online learning.

Trade union education is education with a purpose. So it is vital to monitor the impact the training has back at the workplace. The first impact study was published in 2012 and was the largest survey of trade union education ever conducted, with full survey returns from 1,046 reps. A second version, Still Making a Difference, published in 2014, drew on an even larger sample with returns from 2,400 representatives.

The new edition of Out at Work, the TUC Education workbook designed to be used across the curriculum to support work on LGBT issues, is launched in June and joins the suite of equality workbooks including Working Women, Tackling Racism and Disability at Work.


Section six

6 Delivery

The Union Learning Fund

The Union Learning Fund (ULF) was established in 1998 to promote activity by trade unions in support of creating a learning society. Its primary aim is to develop the capacity of trade unions and Union Learning Representatives (ULRs) to work with employers, employees and learning providers to encourage greater take-up of learning in the workplace. It is funded by BIS.

ULF performance report 2013–14

The table below sets out ULF performance against the key outcome measures as set out in our BIS Grant Funding Agreement.

ULF performance against profiled targets (Apr 2013 – March 2014)

Outcome Number in ULF

bid

Actual Total

Actual against bid ( per cent)

New ULRs completing Stage 1 initial training ***

2,527 2,876 114 per cent

ULR follow-on training **** 2,401 1,419 59 per cent English & maths learners 22,090 22,793 103 per cent Learners on ICT courses 22,349 39,985 178 per cent Learners on Level 2 courses 10,406 13,574 130 per cent Learners on level 3 courses 2,996 5,030 168 per cent Learners on FE programmes 12,113 21,668 179 per cent Learners on HE programmes 3,199 1,364 43 per cent Learners engaged in IACL** 29,394 42,049 143 per cent Apprenticeships 5,488 5,971 109 per cent Learners on CPD 25,223 46,073 183 per cent New learning centres opened**

124 68 60 per cent

New learning agreements signed with employers**

233 106 58 per cent

Total ULF learners** 108,792 158,483 146 per cent ULRs trained ULR Stage 1 TUC Education*

2,583

ULRS trained TUC Education generic course*

1,565

Delivery


ULRs trained TUC Education follow-on courses*

705

Reps trained TUC Education (minus ULRs)*

41,679

Regional outputs 14,588 Total number of learners via the union route

219,091

* Actuals are reported annually in arrears to TUC Congress.

** ULF total excludes IACL, new learning centres opened and new learning agreements

*** Includes 1,311 on standard 5 day course and an additional 1,565 ULRs on generic

course

**** Includes 714 via ULF and 705 via TUC Education

In 2013-14 the Union Learning Fund supported 38 unions to deliver 44 projects at a total cost of just over £13 million.

ULF projects performed well ahead of expectations in 2013–14 (by over 45 per cent per cent) with 158,483 learning outcomes recorded against a target of 108,792. Projects did particularly well on English and maths, ICT, Level 2, Level 3, Continuing Professional Development, FE and apprenticeships. They did less well on higher education (due to higher fees) and Learning Centres or Learning Agreements, due to the tough economic climate and difficulty persuading some employers.

Key ULF outcome measures (April 2013 to March 2014)


ULF Projects recorded over 42,000 learners taking up opportunities in informal adult and community learning (IACL) both in the workplace and in local community learning centres, enabling thousands of people to take the first steps back into learning and, with the help of ULF, trade unions signed over 200 new learning agreements with employers and learning providers. Research has shown that around half of informal learners go on to take up more formal learning within a year or two.

With the support of ULF and unionlearn, unions and their ULRs continue to reach the parts of the workplace and their communities that mainstream education and workplace training are unable to reach, thereby extending and strengthening the influence and relevance of unions. The evidence from the 2013–14 year reinforces evidence from previous years that trade unions have a proven track record in reaching those who are vulnerable or marginalised and unlikely to participate in learning otherwise; union learning also helps other learners on Level 3 programmes or CPD or higher learning. ULRs are particularly effective in supporting disadvantaged and less confident adults in areas of learning such as English and maths, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), digital inclusion and informal adult and community learning.

Unionlearn regions

The six unionlearn regional teams continued to be active over the year, supporting Union Learning Fund projects and offering a wide range of other support to unions, workplaces and community organisations on all areas of union learning.

The regional teams’ support for ULF and other union learning includes organising and helping deliver learning at work day activities and celebration of learning events. The regional teams continue to act as the link to local providers in all sectors: further education, higher education and private providers. These links include agreeing local protocols and service level agreements and administering the unionlearn quality award.

Regional teams link with local strategic bodies such as the LEPs (Local enterprise partnerships) and other partnerships. The teams support applications to programmes such as ESIF (the European Structural and Investment Fund) and give guidance on local strategic priorities to trade unions across their region.

Delivery


Summary of Regional Outputs April 2013–March 2014

All regions Annual Target

YTD Achieved

Developing union capacity ULR follow-on training (not TUC Education)

89 1,144

Supporting the most disadvantaged and at risk learners

Skills for Life or functional skills 820 680 Maths/numeracy 152 175 ESOL or vulnerable and disadvantaged workers, inc unemployed

100 633

Digital inclusion 2,222 2,416 Mainstreaming learning Level 2 1,010 797 Level 3 10 50 Level 4/HE 455 628 IAG 604 690 IACL 1,821 5,062 Innovation Community engagement on learning and linking with trade unions

41 389

Green skills 11 86 Well-being 354 1,353 Older learners 4 27 Engaging employers Non-union organisations 28 84 Other employer engagement 11 61 Apprentices Apprentices briefings 34 67 Apprentices other 120 246 Total 7,886 14,588

Note: The above table is additional to the help regions provide for ULF projects.

By their nature, regions’ work to support union learning is extremely varied. The brief descriptions below give a flavour of typical activity.

North West

The region has been particularly active around digital inclusion, leading on a digital project setting up 50 digital hubs, training 200 digital champions and engaging over 1,000 learners in the first six months of a two-year project.


The team has also worked on developing a digital engagement tool to help union learning reps to support learners with functional skills, health and well being, green skills and equalities.

The region has signed protocols and service level agreements with a number of colleges and universities providing greater access and discounts to members across the North West. Regional collective learning funds have continued to develop and show how cooperation between employers, unions and providers can help to support learning. The regional team carried out a survey of existing funds and this showed high levels of satisfaction from unions and members.

The North West team has supported the union learning fund projects active in the region and also supported the national Mid-Age Career review project as well as work with Apprenticeships and traineeships. The NW team was awarded the Dementia Champions Award by the Alzheimer’s Society for its work on mental health awareness.

Yorkshire and the Humber

Over the course of the year unionlearn has supported and delivered a number of digital sessions to members of the public who attend Castleford Community Learning Centre. The sessions were delivered on iPads and used as an engagement tool to get adults back into learning in a more fun, indirect way. All these sessions were well attended and very interactive. The sessions have provided a unique learning experience and because of this many of the students have gone on to do other things related to digital technology.

“One of the best courses I have attended” says student Gilbert Smith

Unionlearn provides support for Castleford Community Centre and their ULF project. The support enabled the centre to deliver a wide range of courses to suit students’ needs.

Informal adult and community learning events were also very successful across the region and the team worked very closely with a number of local authorities to support functional skills.

Midlands

The Midlands region focused on five key themes: Apprenticeships/traineeships, health and well-being, digital inclusion, equalities and migration.

Delivery


Northern Region learning and well-being results 2013–14

Award Campaigns 2013 No of

Sessions No of

Participants

Alcohol and Drug Awareness 20 3129

Stop Smoking 37 12039

Healthy Eating 45 13011

Physical Activity 87 16534

Weight Management 26 1978

Stress & Mental Health 69 25652

Cancer Awareness 48 6964

Men’s Health 15 1129

Health Checks 28 2122

Sexual Health 3 521

Musculoskeletal 12 4340

Other 60 12719

Total 753 100138

The Midlands region’s activity on Apprenticeships and traineeships has built higher levels of sustainability among affiliates and employers, encouraging individual branches to confidently negotiate on apprentices and introduce employers to the unionlearn Charter for Apprenticeship thus improving terms and conditions for young workers. Four new charters were signed and joined the growing band of employers committed to quality jobs for young people. Regional staff have delivered a number of employee rights and responsibilities workshops at the request of employers and providers, reaching 200+ young people across the region.

The regional migration project, using educational conversion of qualifications software, has supported migrant workers to convert homeland qualifications into the UK equivalent, empowering beneficiaries to use qualifications for better opportunities.

The region has supported union reps to raise the profile of health and well-being with one focus on good healthy food and another around mental health. 120 union activists attended the regional conference on


mental health and a further interactive workshop attracted another 20 reps, demonstrating the importance of the topic.

Unionlearn staff have been able to break down some of the barriers to digital inclusion, providing formal and informal ICT workshop sessions to a wide group of people from diverse backgrounds, with ages ranging from 20 to 84. Groups included church congregations, retired members’ associations and unemployed workers.

The team organised a successful Keeping Equalities on the Learning Agenda event with 26 people attending, signifying how learning crosses all boundaries. International Women’s Day saw the promotion of a new book, Calling Time on Women’s Wasted Potential, written by Mary Alys, regional manager, who died in 2013. This popular event was a fitting way to remember a much loved member of unionlearn staff and tireless campaigner for women. It attracted 25 women, who took part in the workshop session identifying childhood aspirations, the barriers they faced and opportunities for their progression.

SERTUC (Southern and Eastern Region)

The region has been working with over 20 providers across the region delivering functional skills courses for unions. On Apprenticeships, staff have been leading on activities with London Councils, in the London Borough of Camden and with Cambridge Regional College and Unison in the east of England and have been promoting apprenticeships and traineeships as part of the green skills partnership in London, which in turn has linked in to the Energy Efficiency Industrial Partnership strand of Employer Ownership of Skills.

SERTUC have continued the collaboration with Birkbeck University and had over 500 Union members take up the 10 per cent per cent discount for higher education with them for the academic year, 2013–2014. Birkbeck has continued to deliver activities on promoting health, work and well-being with the engagement of PCS and our support. The team are continuing discussions with higher education institutions and pathways to progression into HE and are developing relationships with the University of Bedfordshire, Goldsmiths, and East London.

The region supported delivery by unions of seven Energy Best events that engaged with members and retired members on fuel poverty, raising environmental awareness, switching providers and giving energy savings tips. SERTUC have worked with a host of community organisations around the green skills agenda and have signed a

Delivery


memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Groundwork London and assisted them in brokering 20 apprenticeships in horticulture as part of the green skills project which SERTUC helped set up, broker and support.

The region also supported Constructing your Future, a project (supported by Ucatt and Unite) to deliver a team of trained ULRs who are also qualified to teach, the Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning sector level 3 Certificate (PTLLS). The project also enrolled and trained 27 unemployed learners in Hackney in partnership with The Redmond Centre. This will continue at the Redbridge Centre to set up a training centre of excellence that is accessible to union members and the local community.

South West

The region recently supported unions in Plymouth City Council to produce a greener workspaces agreement to cut carbon and save workers money. The team worked with the Citizens Advice Bureau to deliver Energy Best Deal sessions to workers, helping them to be more energy efficient at home.

As well as support for union learning fund projects and supporting events such as Learning at Work Day, officers in the South West are running a successful ESF (European Social Fund) Skills Support in Redundancy project in Cornwall. This supported workers facing redundancy and helped build confidence and skills. It also trialled the USE-IT engagement tool (a unionlearn app on a handheld tablet which can do an initial skills diagnosis in about 15 minutes) in workplaces across the region. The region supported a number of groups, including one for events that are linking unions with the wider community such as a World of Work event based around ’Working lives in Exeter during WW1’ and ‘Try this....’, a week-long skills share festival in Dorchester which in September held over 30 free workshops across the county town.

Last year saw the region run a successful Call 2 Learn project which resulted in collective Learning Agreements being signed in workplaces across six counties, and built working relationships with employers that have continued beyond the project’s life. This is continuing to develop.


7 Appendix 1 List of publications

Apprenticeships – a guide for teachers and support staff - See more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/apprenticeships-guide-teachers-and-support-staff#sthash.zBZTiEqy.dpuf Managing Future Talent: how do you create workplaces that give young employees the opportunity to thrive? - See more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/managing-future-talent-how-do-you-create-workplaces-give-young-employees-opportunity#sthash.QCyOrILM.dpuf Research Paper 19 - Under-representation by gender and race in Apprenticeships - See more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/under-representation-gender-and-race-apprenticeships-research-summary#sthash.dK0BCxSx.dpuf Research Paper 18 - Skills for sustainable employment - See more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/skills-sustainable-employment#sthash.H9MRtC0o.dpuf Towards a European quality framework for apprenticeships and work-based learning - See more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/towards-european-quality-framework-apprenticeships-and-work-based-learning#sthash.bekcZKiy.dpuf Technician Registration Toolkit: A free resource for union negotiators and reps. See more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/campaigns/technician-pathways-stem/technician-registration-toolkit#sthash.ajyKn4dR.dpuf Learning and Skills policy update newsletters – See more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications?field_taxonomy_campaign_tid=All&field_taxonomy_region_tid=All&type=All&keys=TUC+Education+update&=Search

Union Development case study collection http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/union-engagement-learning-workplace-and-community TUC Education Workbooks produced include: New Union Reps Stage 1 Course (incorporating the role of the ULR) Health & Safety Stage 1 Course New tutor training manual Still Making a Difference: The continuing impact of trade union education on Britain’s workplaces – see more at http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/still-making-difference Cancer in the Workplace: TUC Education and Macmillan Cancer support working together to improve the experience of people affected by cancer – see more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/cancer-workplace-workbook-union-representatives Mid-life Career Review Evaluation Report: helping older workers plan their future

Appendix 1 List of publications


Supporting Learners Strategy 2014–17 Climbing Frame App promotional leaflet

Value My Skills Transferable Skills Card Game

Match Up! Card Game 3 editions of the Learning Rep e-magazine – see more at: Spring 2014 http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/learning-rep-spring-2014-edition Winter 2014 http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/learning-rep-winter-2014-edition Autumn 2013 http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/learning-rep-autumn-2013-edition TUC Education updates - see more at: http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/publications/tuc-education-update-november-2013

E-notes: https://www.tuceducation.org.uk/ Apprenticeships Bargaining for Skills Climbing Frame Supporting Learners Supporting Mid-Life Development Building a Stronger Workplace Union Facility Time Equality Law Additional Paternity Leave Understanding Universal Credit Vulnerable Employment The Sick Note European Works Councils


8 Appendix 2 Contacts

Regional offices

Southern and Eastern Midlands

Congress House

Great Russell Street

London WC1B 3LS Tel: 020 7467 1237

24 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PA

Tel: 0121 236 4454

Yorkshire and the Humber Northern

33 Park Place

Leeds LS1 2RY

Tel: 0113 242 9296

Commercial Union House

39 Pilgrim Street

Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6QE

Tel: 0191 232 5565

South West North West

Church House

Church Road

Filton

Bristol. BS34 7BD Tel: 0117 947 0521

Orleans House

Edmund Street

Liverpool L3 9NG

Tel: 0151 236 7678

Wales and Scotland have arrangements external to unionlearn. Contact details are:

Wales Scotland

Transport House

1 Cathedral Road

Cardiff CF11 9SD

Tel: 029 2034 7010

TUC Education in Scotland

4th Floor, John Smith House

145 – 165 West Regent Street

Glasgow G2 4RZ Tel: 0141 221 8545

National

Congress House Great Russell Street London. WC1B 3LS

Tom Wilson Director [email protected] 020 7079 6922

Liz Rees TUC Education manager

[email protected] 020 7079 6923

Iain Murray Strategy manager [email protected] 020 7467 1264 Ian Borkett Service manager [email protected] 020 7079 6940

Dave Eva (Liverpool base)

Delivery manager [email protected] 0151 243 2556

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9 Appendix 3 Glossary

ESOL English for speakers of other languages

UKCES United Kingdom Commission on Employment and Skills

SERTUC Southern and Eastern Region of the Trades Union Congress

IACL Informal Adult and Community Learning

CPD Continuing professional development

Level 1 Also known as ‘foundation level’ or ‘basic skills’; equal to standard of a primary school leaver; subdivided into Entry Level 1, 2 or 3

Level 2 Broadly equivalent to grades A–C at GCSE, i.e. expected achievement at 16

Level 3 Broadly equivalent to A Level, i.e. expected achievement at 18

ULR Union learning representative

ULF Union Learning Fund

ICT Information and communication technology

FE Further education (typically in local colleges)

HE Higher education (typically in university)

IAG Information, Advice and Guidance

BIS Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

QIF Quality Improvement Framework

SAR Self-assessment review

OECD The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

LEP Local Enterprise Partnership

ESIF European Structural and Investment Fund (previously the ESF)

MoU Memorandum of understanding

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