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TUC Education UpdateFebruary 2010 Issue Welcome to the February edition of TUC Education update. Over 7,000 people have subscribed to the Update, receiving up to date news as soon as it is published.
Making a difference - union reps surveyThe quality of trade union education across the UK is very high - OFSTED inspectors have consistently graded TUC Education units at 1 (outstanding), and union education officers are closely involved in maintaining relevance and accessibility. We wanted to find out what happened in UK workplaces as a result of all this work, what impact the training had back where it counts. This is the largest survey of trade union education ever conducted, with full survey returns from 1,046 reps, and goes to the heart of what TUC Education seeks to accomplish. The results are impressive. More than 800 union reps took the trouble in this survey to give concrete examples of what they have done back at work as a consequence of being trained.
The survey aimed to find out who the course participants were, what union roles they carried out, how far TUC courses helped them develop the skills they need for their role, and whether there had been an impact on changes in the workplace and in the union. The full survey report Making a difference; the impact of trade union education on Britain's workplaces was published at the end of January and is available to download from the unionlearn website at http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/education/learn-3228-f0.cfm Fired up by online learningGareth Watson, Unite representative and health and safety rep at BAA Aberdeen Airport Fire Service talks about his experience of online learning. 'There were a number of reasons for me choosing to study TUC Education online courses. Firstly being a shift worker as well as balancing commitments at home meant that attending college based courses would prove difficult. Also due to my location the choice and availability of the courses on offer was not as extensive as in other areas of the country. The option of being able to study whilst at home and work whilst gaining invaluable knowledge and skills was what made this method of learning so appealing. Initially I completed the Getting Ready for E-Learning (GREL) course which was a great starting point for getting you accustomed to the online environment as well as brushing up on your computer skills and getting to know your fellow course members. After completing GREL I moved onto Health and Safety Stage 1. This course really helped to build my knowledge and skills in health and safety and gave me a better understanding of the role and functions of a union safety representative. Other course members were fantastic.  Since then I have gone on to complete Introduction to Pensions, Next Steps for Health and Safety Stage 2 and I am currently attending the TUC Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety online. I have found the courses to be well structured and the tutors have all been helpful and supportive - going beyond the call of duty to provide additional information. The main benefit though has been the mixing with other reps through online discussions and activities. I've come out of the course with some great contacts. I would thoroughly recommend online learning to others and it is definitely something I will continue to do -the more knowledge you acquire the more confident you become in your role as a union representative.' If you are interested in TUC Education's online learning programme, please visit the unionlearn online course directory www.unionlearn.org.uk/online or contact Craig Hawkins, TUC Online Learning Officer e: chawkins@tuc.org.uk Online Diploma courses for union professionalsTUC Education is offering two Diploma courses in Employment Law and in Contemporary Trade Unionism for union professionals for the first time in 2010. The nature of union professionals' work has always made it extremely difficult to offer lengthy courses as their workload tends to be unpredictable preventing them from being able to commit to regular classroom-based courses. Online courses, however, offer a great degree of flexibility in terms of completing and submitting work. The Diploma courses run for 36 weeks over three terms, so there is a substantial commitment required from learners. The courses have been hugely popular and have already commenced. The Contemporary Trade Unionism course is being run at Gloucestershire College and the Employment Law course is being offered at The Manchester College. Demand for the Employment Law course in particular has been so high that we have had to offer two new courses to meet the demand with new cohorts established at Wirral Met College and East Riding College. These will start nearer to Easter as we deal with all the additional applications. If you'd like to know more about these courses contact Martin Hegarty on 020 7079 6946 Diploma presentationsEight members of staff with The Highland Council, who represent their trade union colleagues in the workplace, have gained their TUC Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety through a health and safety training scheme sponsored by the Council and the TUC in association with Stow College, Glasgow. The diploma represents the completion of 55 days of training at the college and in the workplace and will help extend the promotion of health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace. The full Diplomas were presented to: Peter Duncan, Unite A certificate for successful completion of the Organisation & Law Units of the course goes to Alister Wemyss, Unite. The students completed 10 days of training in both the first two stages of the course and then 35 days training for the third stage. Successful completion of the course is recognised by IOSH for entry at the level of 'Tech IOSH'. Councillor Carolyn Wilson, Chair of the he Highland Council's Resources Committee, said: 'My congratulations go to our staff for gaining this hard-earned Diploma. It adds to the quality, and now quantity, of representatives that can support occupational health, safety and welfare. This is the only partnership agreement of its type in Scotland, and is a model that is held in the highest regard by the TUC, Stow College and the Council itself.' Online learningOver the past five years TUC Education has offered a successful and comprehensive online training programme to trade union reps. The range and scope of courses offered is continuously expanding and more and more reps are accessing this form of training. More recently we have begun to offer online Diploma courses to union officers and these have proved to be extremely popular. We are now looking to further enhance our reps courses by enriching the content of our online courses, using newly available technological tools and video media. To enable us to do this we have secured funding from the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) - http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/index.html - to develop our online programme as part of the European Union's Lifelong Learning Programme. The ?300,000 project, Developing e-Learning Tools for Trade Union Education (DeLTTUE), involves partners from Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria and Greece as well as other partners in the UK. Over the next two years the project developments will enhance the online learning experience for union reps in all of the participating countries. We will keep you updated on developments as they happen. For further information about our online courses visit www.unionlearn.org.uk/online . What's new?
Look out for
Who to contactRegional Harry Cunningham - REO in Scotland t 0141 404 1746 e hcunningham@tuc.org.uk Pete Holland - REO in the North West t 0151 236 7678 e pholland@tuc.org.uk Julie Cook - REO in Wales t 02920 347010 e jcook@tuc.org.uk Marie Hughes - REO in the South West t 0117 947 0521 e mhughes@tuc.org.uk Trevor Sargison - REO in Yorks & Humber t 0113 242 9296 e tsargison@tuc.org.uk Ian West - REO in Northern region t 0191 232 3175 e iwest@tuc.org.uk Pete Try - REO in East& West Midlands Rob Hancock - REO in Southern & Eastern Angela Perry - REO in Southern & Eastern t 020 7467 1238 e aperry@tuc.org.uk Clare Moore - Northern Ireland ICTU Education & Training Officer t 02890 247940 e clare.moore@ictuni.org National Liz Rees - National Trade Union Education Manager Jackie Williams - Education & Training Officer Martin Hegarty - Education & Training Officer Craig Hawkins - Online Learning Officer t 020 7079 6947 e chawkins@tuc.org.uk Newsletter (1,800 words) issued 23 Feb 2010  Occupational Health and Wellbeing in the workplace Trade Union Education in Preston Provided by Manchester College Union rep courses Scotland – January to June 2012 |
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unionlearn Telephone 020 7079 6920 |
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The survey was based on union reps attending TUC courses of any type over the previous five years. It included newly elected reps with little, or in some cases no, experience as well as reps with several union posts and twenty years or move of union activity. The sample was randomly drawn, however, with no attempt to make a selection based on any criterion other than availability of an email address. Given the relatively high response rate, the survey therefore provides a reliable profile of the participants in TUC courses and their activities.
