The TUC has long campaigned to raise the skills of Britain's work force. It's good for the country's competitiveness and helps people find more fulfilling and better paid jobs. Here are links to our most recent policy and research work on skills, education and lifelong learning.
22 February 2010
Learning & Skills Policy Update - February 2010
In this issue: Skills White Paper - Skills for Growth; Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act; Government social mobility paper; Downing Street Launch event for Apprenticeship project; National Apprenticeship Week; Group Training Associations/Apprenticeship Training Agencies; Right to Request Time to Train Project Launch Event; Inquiry in to young people not in education; Higher Education framework; Train to Gain and Skills Pledge; Advancement and Adult Careers Service and Skills Accounts; Low carbon skills strategy; Learning and skills institutional framework; Collective Learning Funds; Learning representative initiatives in the UK and New Zealand
PDF version available for download
3 February 2010
Right to request training
The new right to request training will be in operation from April 6 2010. The TUC has long campaigned for workers to have statutory rights relating to training and enthusiastically support the introduction of this right. Guidance for workers on how the right will work is available from the government's direct gov website...
27 January 2010
Help your business to survive and thrive by investing in training
New Train to Gain leaflet. Train to Gain offers skills advice at no cost to your business. It is part of the Government's Solutions for Business, a wide portfolio of highly targeted, publicly funded business support products and services, designed to help qualifying English businesses survive and thrive.
14 December 2009
‘The Learning Revolution' White Paper BIS
On 23 March 2009 the Government launched a White Paper ‘The Learning Revolution' setting out its policy on Informal Adult Learning (IAL). In ‘The Learning Revolution' White Paper BIS acknowledged unionlearn, particularly through the agency of its ULRs, as an important potential delivery partner for Informal Adult Learning...
26 November 2009
Learning representative initiatives in the UK and New Zealand, a comparative study - Research paper 10
The learning representative concept is now being adopted by unions in other countries. One such country is New Zealand where the learning representative initiative is relatively recent and therefore less developed than that in the UK but is already having considerable impact.
25 November 2009
Skills for Growth: the National Skills Strategy
The Government published its Skills White Paper – Skills for Growth – on 11th November and subsequently released the detailed skills funding plans for the next financial year.
The TUC welcomed the broad thrust of the White Paper and in particular the focus on strengthening the apprenticeships route further whilst also maintaining investment in key skills entitlements (e.g. Skills for Life, Level 2 entitlement and Level 3 entitlement for young people). However, the TUC also highlighted that achieving the goals set out in the White Paper would require a ‘genuine commitment from businesses to invest in staff training' and a renewed focus by Government on the third of employers that currently provide no training.
PDF version available for download
11 November 2009
Skills White Paper puts apprenticeships at the heart of education
Commenting on the Skills White Paper, published today (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“By providing extra funding for advanced apprenticeships and helping trainees to go on to university, the Government is putting apprenticeships at the heart of our education system. Modern apprenticeships have come a long way since going into long-term decline in the 1980s and 1990s.
30 October 2009
Apprenticeships are Union Business
The 30th October marks the launch of the Apprenticeships are Union Business initiative supported by unionlearn (the TUC's learning and skills organisation.) The event is being attended by over 100 delegates at the Holiday Inn, Liverpool City Centre. Speakers will include unionlearn Regional Manager, Dave Eva, Louise Ellman MP for Liverpool, Riverside and Jack Stopforth, Chief Executive of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
North West
5 August 2009
Learning & Skills Policy Update - August 2009
This newsletter is intended to keep you abreast of policy developments in learning and skills and the TUC/trade union view on them as well as keeping you up-to-date on a range of union learning initiatives.
In this issue: Maintaining investment in skills, Skills activism agenda, Apprenticeships, Right to Request Time to Train, Train to Gain and Skills Pledge; UKCES: Ambition 2020; ESOL ...and more.
PDF version available for download
3 August 2009
Union impact on learning and skills - August 2009
In this issue: Information Sources; Demand for union supported learning; Barriers and incentives to union learners; Union recognition, negotiation and training; Union Learning Representative impact; Unionlearn impact...
PDF version available for download
