Unionlearn from the TUC would like to honour this week, one of the union movement’s most inspirational union learning reps who is going to start a well-earned retirement.
Helen Penn-Berkeley is a PCS activist and their Regional Learning Coordinator for the Ministry of Justice section in the East Midlands. She became a ULR in 2008, when union learning was almost non-existent in HM Courts and Tribunal Services and immediately made an impact, bringing learning to hundreds of PCS members across the region.
By 2010, Helen had delivered union learning to more than half of the region and had outstripped the employer's own designated team of four learning officers for apprenticeships by a ratio of 3-to-1 – despite only having one day per week facility time for learning activity!
Helen had turned learning into a fun activity, with fun being the key word; if it could not be seen as fun, then Helen wouldn't do it. From knitting to games, from arts and crafts to genealogy, digital photography, languages and much more, and wellbeing activities transformed her events into a roadshow of rewards both for the mind and the body.
Yet in all of this she managed to keep functional skills at the heart of everything. Accordingly, Helen's events were very well attended, and managers regularly requested return visits to provide extra learning opportunities.
In 2014, Helen jointly won the TUC Midlands ULR of the Year with her colleague Mark Robinson. She then backed this up with a certificate of excellence from NIACE, and another NIACE certificate in 2015. She developed a wide network of contacts, including learning providers, charities, and local community organisations, notably with the WEA, who were ever-present at her events.
Always quietly spoken, she commanded respect and provided support to other PCS regions (e g Greater Manchester branch in the NW) to get union learning up and running.
Helen received three nominations for TUC ULR of the year, in 2019 and 2020, having recruited several hundred members onto Level 2 Maths and Literacy courses, more than doubling the recruitment of the region. Helen also invented the maths activity 'Treasure Hunt' later developed by Matt Pointon, and the union learning promotional tool, 'Snakes and Ladders', which was subsequently adopted by Unison for workplaces across the nation.
PCS’s former Midlands Regional Learning Organiser Mark Robinson commented:
Helen has been the most successful ULR the Ministry of Justice has ever seen; one might describe her as revolutionary. She will be sorely missed across the movement and all of her colleagues here at the TUC as well as at PCS wish her all the best.
PCS National Learning Lead Kim Hendry commented:
Helen has been a really active and innovative ULR over many years and has delivered countless learning opportunities and support for East Midlands Learners. She’s a credit to PCS and it’s a real shame that we’re losing her, and we wish her very well in her retirement.
Matt Pointon, TUC/WMCA Skills Partnership Lead added:
Helen was a force for good in union learning. Although not the most vocal of activists, she listened intently and took what she’d heard to create some really exciting and unique learning innovations that have since been adopted nationally.