A retired member of Fire Brigades Union (FBU) as made use of the lockdown to build up his skills online – and the first thing he did was contact the union’s Education and Lifelong Learning Team.

Tony Purnell recently contacted the FBU Learning Centre to see if he could study one of the Distance Learning Courses they have available. He was very pleased that the answer was yes and he immediately applied for our Level 2 Nutrition & Health course.

Tony explained

I wanted to make the most of my time whilst we were in a restriction of movement situation. I noticed that the FBU were offering free distance learning courses so I decided to explore the possibilities on offer. I found that there is quite a choice of courses available.”

As I am now an "Out of Trade" member I wasn't sure that I qualified to take a free course. I contacted the FBU Learning Centre via their website to express my interest in becoming a distance learner.

I decided to study for the Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Nutrition and Health as I volunteer my time as a cook and thought that I could do with some knowledge based around this subject to help me provide nutritional healthy meals."

Tony had chosen this particular course because he works as a cook in the voluntary sector and has to cater for different groups of people. One group in particular are quite elderly and Tony wanted to find out about their nutritional requirements so that he could fulfil their nutritional needs. 

During this period of lockdown it has meant the union sending out the Learning Course Materials by post to their students and then providing support alongside advice and guidance by telephone, email and even video calls.

Tony recalls

I was contacted by area project support organiser Tim Davis who went through what would be required of me as a distance learning student, explaining the modules, setting time frames for assessment completion and explaining how to submit work.

As I had already decided by then which course I would like to Tim made the necessary arrangements to enrol me over the phone. Within 48 hrs I received my learning pack through the post. This comprised of three module books, assessments and prepaid stationary."

Tim said:

All of us at FBULearn are in admiration of Tony as he now volunteers his time preparing food for those vulnerable in the local community and that he also wanted to find out more about health and nutrition to benefit not only himself but others.”

Tony has now completed his course programme and enjoyed his experience of distance learning. He explained:

The modular learning system is easy to grasp. I had to read through the work books carrying out the exercises as you go and then at the end of each module carry out an assessment and send it off in the post.”

It's all pretty relaxed as there are no exams. The best thing for me was that you can study where and when it suits you from the comfort of your own home and get a recognised qualification.

Tutor marked each of my assessments and provided me with excellent and bespoke feedback.” 

When Tony got the okay to progress to the next module he was able to carry on until he completed the final assessment. Once this was done he received overall feedback and course summary from the Tutor who will award learners a pass or ask them to do a bit more work in a specific area.

Tony was awarded a pass and he is really looking forward to getting his certificate, something that had the added benefit of not costing Tony a single penny!

Tony added;

I enjoyed learning about kitchen hygiene and food safety as I felt that it was practical knowledge that I could immediately make use of as it is quite a responsibility preparing someone else's food and I want to get it right!

I also found it interesting learning about food disorders and what causes them. That's included in the course too! I also learned about food allergies, nutritional requirements of different groups and many other topics. I found the course really useful in gaining the knowledge to help me plan meals and get the best nutrition from our food. Although I am an ex mess manager I would recommend this course to anyone, it's well designed and enjoyable to follow."

If you want to find out more about courses like the one that Tony took go to the unionlearn Learning @ Home page.