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Unionlearn was established in 2006 by the TUC in order to provide an ongoing framework to support union led learning in England. The union learning agenda is itself a dynamic way of developing trade unions, responding to the needs of trade unionists and constitutes an important element of the union offer.

Further information about our history, mission statement and aims of the organisation, can be found by following the links below.

Our history

The history of union learning is a long and progressive one. It begins with the colleges established for the education of working people, which were set up in the late nineteenth century, closely followed by the founding of the Workers' Educational Association.

Read more about our history

Our mission

The unionlearn mission statement:

Our belief is that the life chances of all people can be transformed through access to learning, throughout their working lives. Such learning opportunities must be available to the entire workforce, regardless of their employment status or educational background. Everyone should have fair and equal treatment to develop his or her potential, free from discrimination. We believe learning and skills can best be delivered collectively in partnership with trade unions.

Our purpose is to help unions open up a wide range of learning opportunities for their members. This will both promote their personal progression and develop their trade union role, strengthening workplace organisation. We will guarantee that all provision is of a high standard and continuously improves in both its quality and diversity.

Our goal is to become the centre of excellence for supporting high quality union-led learning. We also aim to become the authoritative organisation for promoting innovation and research and disseminating best practice in such learning.

Our success will be determined by the sustainability of this activity, through unions embedding learning and skills at the heart of their organisation.

Our objectives

  • We will help unions to support their members to access and progress through lifelong learning based on quality standards
  • We will help unions to engage with employers and providers to increase the quantity, quality and fairer distribution of learning opportunities
  • We will strengthen union capacity over learning, including training and supporting ULRs and embedding learning within core union activities and structure
  • We will help unions to secure effective union representation at the workplace through training of union representatives and union professionals
  • We will deepen and extend partnerships with key stakeholders to sustain effective union-led activity
  • We will embed a quality framework across all of our provision to drive up and maintain high standards and work towards a culture of continuous quality improvement
  • We will continue to promote our activities and demonstrate the added value of union learning
  • We will continue to monitor and improve the effectiveness of our organisation in order to meet our stated objectives, including implementing an equality assessment of both internal and external activity

Widening participation

Widening participation is a fundamental part of unionlearn’s mission and we work diligently to provide unions and ULRs with the support, resources and training they require in order to offer their members and other workplace learners an entirely unique learning experience.

It is imperative that we focus on hard to reach learners, who are not likely to access mainstream learning, such as, older workers, those with little to no qualifications and vulnerable workers with no easy access to learning and who we know are less likely to access further training. unionlearn, unions and our partners in learning are in a unique position to support those members and transform their lives.

Union Learning Reps

One of unions’ key contributions to the learning and skills agenda is the ability of Union Learning Reps (ULRs) to engage learners that are otherwise hard for providers to reach.

Equality and diversity

Learning changes lives. It also changes attitudes, provides better job prospects, transforms personal situations and breathes a new confidence into learners. However, many people are still not feeling the benefit of learning – the joy of reading to their children, the discovery of a new talent, or the simple pleasure of acquiring a whole new range of skills.

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