Donald McCombie is a Union Learning Rep and Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator with Birmingham City UNISON Branch and has been presented with the unionlearn ULR of the Year Award for Supporting Older Learners at the unionlearn Annual Conference at TUC Congress House in London.

Donald was presented his award by TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady and Skills Minister Anne Milton MP at the annual gathering of learning reps, union officers and education providers.

Donald is involved in a UNISON learning project in Birmingham that has been running for five years, working with older workers who have been threatened with major life change regarding their employment.

The work is ongoing, but one month particularly stands out. In October 2016 Donald delivered support workshops for a record 241 learners. These were mostly workers over 50 who were threatened with redundancy or forced job transfer. The workshops included ‘Managing Change’, ‘Get that Job’, ‘Stress Management’, ‘Interview Skills’ and a variety of other learning activities. This also involved creative activities for National Poetry Day as part of a campaign to save Birmingham’s libraries.

That month’s activity level was so high as a result of sustained learning activity and partnership working with the UNISON Birmingham Branch and the City Council.   

Donald said:

The investment in union learning over a considerable number of years has paid dividends in terms of personal support for members who are often very challenged by changing circumstances later in life. With over a thousand members each year benefitting from the project, it has been truly a demonstration of lifelong learning in a very practical way."

Davinder Sandhu, UNISON Education Officer, said:

Donald is one of our long-standing, long-serving, ULRs. As well as delivering training, Donald is very prolific in organising and promoting courses, and he includes all the community, particularly encouraging older learners. He’s a great communicator, he talks about learning with such passion, and he really gets that across. Donald could have retired years ago, but his love of learning has kept him in the role."

Donald says:

I became a learning representative to play my part in demonstrating how effective adult learning in the workplace could be for all members, whatever their age or circumstances. I also see workplace learning as a fundamental building block to creating a fairer society, where equality and diversity are at its heart.
As a ULR, you have a significant part to play in changing the lives of individual members and the organisations that they work for, plus the chance to develop yourself and add to your personal skills and knowledge: it’s a very important and responsible role."

Unionlearn Director, Kevin Rowan, said:

The unionlearn Annual Conference celebrates workplace learning and the role of unions in supporting members across the country. Union Learning Reps are vital in promoting learning and skills development, which not only helps workers, but also employers – and the award recognise all their hard work.
Donald has done a fantastic job supporting older learners across Birmingham, and encouraging staff to take up Mid Life Career Reviews. Unionlearn is very pleased to present them with the 2018 ULR Award for Supporting Numeracy Learners."

Photo © Jess Hurd