Do you remember the Reliant Robin? It was three-wheeled car, legendary for falling over as it cornered. My first union learning job was teaching psychology to a group of reps and their partners in a room above a pub opposite the Reliant factory gates.

"Teaching" is a loose description; I kept one chapter ahead in the textbook and vainly tried to manage the discussion. The sessions didn't fall over but never went in a straight line. Nothing was ruled out: power, relationships, work, madness – but never in the right order.

All seemed to feature on the Reliant assembly line. That was my apprenticeship. I quickly learned that teaching is demanding and needs professional skills.

After that, it was a relief to teach shop stewards on the nicely structured TUC Health and Safety stage one in Solihull Technical College; though Noise Meters never attracted the same level of interest as the psychology of sex.

Reflecting on my seven years as director of unionlearn, those early lessons are not forgotten: All human life is present in union learning. It does not come neatly boxed up. Courses can be messy. Learners are adults. The workplace is sometimes a better classroom than a classroom. And relationships are always the most interesting and important part.

I have seen three Conservative skills ministers: John Hayes, Matthew Hancock and Nick Boles. We had good relationships with them all, which didn't hurt when it came to discussions on funding. I won't forget John Hayes declaiming about jazz in a Berlin restaurant to a bemused audience of German skills policy analysts.

Or Matthew Hancock opening the Stable Staff learning centre in Newmarket where he had just narrowly come second in a charity race; or Nick Boles laughing – but not disagreeing – with my urging a group of Apprentices to join a union after we had jointly presented them with Apprentice of the Year Awards. We disagreed about many areas of politics, but all three cared a lot about adult skills and all three supported unionlearn.

Looking back, the best thing is the people. TUC staff are a lovely bunch and unionlearn and union staff are completely committed to union learning and union learners. There is a great team spirit and unions are not shy about standing up for what they believe is best for their learners. After all, Learning is about gaining confidence, speaking out, and questioning received wisdom.

So, union learning managers are, rightly, a vocal lot. Unionlearn staff are also not shy. Managing unionlearn is a team job, leading staff and working with unions by discussion and consensus, balanced with the need to make difficult decisions when necessary. This is a lesson every manager should learn.

The worst thing has been managing cuts. Staff in unionlearn and in some unions have had to cope with an annual round of restructuring and job losses. But we have won almost £2m by bidding for other sources of funding. It will never replace government funding, but it helps.

The unionlearn board, led by Mary Bousted the General Secretary of the ATL, have been a fantastic support. Many members of the General Council (the TUC high command) sit on the board. Sue Ferns (from Prospect) and Mary Bousted also sit on the key finance subcommittee that has done a brilliant job helping to steer unionlearn on a sensible course; balancing government demands for ever tighter rules with a reality check on what will actually work.

My fondest memories are of the learners: speaking at a NAPO conference on the skill needs of BME probation officers. A long late night session at Wortley Hall (a lovely country house outside Sheffield which is owned by a group of unions, great for short breaks) discussing strategy in the miners' strike (or rather Arthur Scargill) with some ex-miners and firefighters.

Debating the merits of the CPI and the RPI with a group of GMB quarry workers, they were evenly divided. Being told exactly what was wrong with "family wage" arguments by Northern Ireland women hospital workers. Doing a course on job evaluation systems to Local Authority manual workers, which eventually led to a 20% pay rise for home helps.

Arguing the merits of learning centres in a Yorkshire ULR briefing event – they were unconvinced. Running a workshop with the Army Training Corps on apprenticeships to bemused unionlearn annual conference delegates. Opening a UCATT Learning centre in Tyneside with a group of young construction apprentices getting their first ever qualifications.

Presenting Learner Awards to middle aged warehouse workers achieving Level 2 English. Explaining the mid-life career review card game (look it up on the website) to a conference on community learning. Listening to some UNISON members in SERTUC who were bursting with pride at gaining their University Degree certificates.

These are the real job. I have hundreds of such memories as we all do in the union learning world.

Looking ahead, it is clear that Unionlearn is here to stay. In fact, it is the only skills organisation set up in the last 20 years to have survived. It is flourishing, with 240,000 learners and almost every union now involved. Much more important than the numbers is the sense that learning is now woven into the fabric of union life.

Almost every union has got ULRs written into the Rule Book and a lively internal programme of learning – funded by ULF or by unions themselves. At the annual TUC Congress, around one in seven motions are about skills and learning. Many union executive bodies now have Learning Reps who got active and moved into a broader role. It is wonderful – I feel proud and lucky – to have been part of this success story. Long may it continue.

Read my review of the first 10 years of unionlearn and unionlearning.