Distance Learning courses have been steadily growing in popularity with union members over the past few years but the Covid 19 lockdown has given them a real boost, and Usdaw is one of many unions that have been supporting their members access courses.

Members that have been furloughed or are shielding have had time on their hands and this has been a good time to access a course.

Many unions and Union Learning Fund projects, such as Usdaw, have partnership agreements that give learners access to free Level 2 qualifications. Most courses are about 12 weeks in length and are completed in the learner’s own time and are fully funded. Learners have assessor /tutor support throughout the duration of the course that can be accessed at agreed times.

The benefits of being occupied, having something to do can greatly improve wellbeing and mental health. This is important when many people are suffering from depression, stress and other problems as a result of the pandemic. So, it is no surprise that distance learning courses like Mental Health Awareness and Working with people with Mental Health Needs have proved extremely popular.

Two Usdaw learners that have benefited from these courses are Andrew Gilchrist who works for Co-operative funeral and Garth Warren who works for Martin Brower. Both have completed Mental Health Awareness Courses and have then moved onto a new course, Mental Health First Aid Advocacy.

Working in Funeral Care can present its own unique issues, ones which generally people wouldn’t think about. It has been invaluable for Andrew to have had this extra knowledge to be able not only to support his colleagues but to support himself and his own wellbeing during unprecedented times and increased demand for funeral care services.

Garth on the other hand is in a different workplace - Martin Brower- which supplies and delivers to McDonalds. He has been furloughed, which brings its own stresses and worries. It has also put on hold his plans to become a ULR in the workplace. Garth has just taken the mental health first aid advocacy course and is extremely proud to have completed it.

Usdaw Project Worker Neil Chapman said:

Garth posted his achievements on his Facebook page and I contacted him to congratulate him and asked permission to share his achievements via Facebook too.”

He agreed, and I posted this onto my Facebook page and asked people if they were interested in doing this course. Wow the power of social media! I had 19 replies to the post, 13 from union members that we represent and 6 from friends in other businesses”.

Neil feels that promoting learning opportunities through social media at the current time is a good way to engage new learners, saying:

Considering we cannot promote learning as we have done in the past, these are excellent examples of how we can engage learners through distance learning and social media platforms and give people the skills and knowledge to help them through difficult times.”

If you want to find out more about free Level 2 qualifications talk to your Union Learning Rep or check out the unionlearn Skills Network page.