Change your life
Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire, said the poet WB Yeats. Well, UNISON has put that fire under employers’ backsides in sectors traditionally slow to train their workforce. Help us spread the word.
“I bought a computer for my children but I had no idea how to help them use it,” says Andy Davidson, a porter at Buckland hospital in Kent.
This was the prompt that encouraged Mr Davidson to sign up for a literacy course and he hasn’t looked back.
“I started using my brain again and after doing a course in basic IT skills I can now help my children with their homework.”
Mr Davidson gained access to his course through a formal learning agreement in his workforce set up by UNISON, and the opportunity to learn has quite literally changed his life.
He is not alone. UNISON’s learning programme has helped thousands of members gain new skills. Popular courses include language skills for people whose first language is not English, basic literacy and numeracy, and IT skills. There are also many programmes that lead to formal qualifications such as NVQs.
Members working for private contractors (private companies that work in the public services - such as Compass, Carillion, Sodexho and Serco) or in the community and voluntary sector, have historically received less training and development as the employers have not allocated sufficient resources. This means there is massive potential here for UNISON to help deliver workplace learning, and it is a current focus of our learning programme.
“Traditionally many contractor employers have sought to maximise profit on their contracts and they have not put a sufficient resource into training and developing their staff,” says UNISON head of private contractors Dave Johnson.
In December, the union launched a major national program aimed at forging learning agreements and partnerships with leading private contractors. The initiative is a combined effort between the union’s private contractors unit, its education services and outside education providers such as Careconnect, and Workers Educational Association.
“Members will get the chance to gain new skills and competencies that will help them move on to better jobs with more pay,” says general secretary, Dave Prentis. “If you look at Andy Davidson’s case, learning has transformed his life not just at work but at home as well.”
Making it happen
So how will it work in practice? Once the employer is on board UNISON will set up vocational and other courses and unlock funding grants to bring learning in to the workplace.
“Private contractors are recognising that they need to put a much higher commitment into training and development to deliver the new qualifications that are required in health and social care, the knowledge and skills framework for NHS private contractor staff and the demand for higher standards of service,” says Mr Johnson.
But it isn’t just about hitting knowledge and skills targets – it is about developing the employee as well. “If people don’t feel confident at work, we’re saying get skilled up and it will be more fulfilling,” explains UNISON assistant national officer Nadia Miszczanyn, who has had a lead role in setting up the national programme.
“This will also provide an opportunity for them to train in an area that they might be interested in outside their immediate working requirements.”
Mr Davidson is a prime example having spent years working as a labourer before he became a porter.
After completing the skills check and giving Mr Davidson feedback, his tutor worked with him to create his personal learning plan based on him wanting to improve his literacy and IT skills.
He has now completed nearly 20 courses in a range of subjects such as word processing and web publishing.
“It’s not as daunting as you might think,” he says, “It’s all self-taught so it’s ideal to work around my shifts.”
He can email queries to his tutor who is also kept informed of his progress and reasons for gaps in his learning progression such as work demands, illness and computer problems.
“It’s really important that UNISON offers this,” he says. “If it wasn’t funded I wouldn’t be able to afford to do it.”
Mr Davidson’s determination resulted in him beating off stiff competition and winning the NIACE Adults Learners Week Award for Individuals 2005.
“These courses are so worthwhile: I read books now which I hadn’t done since I left school,” he says. “My family was really proud when I won the award.”
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A national agenda
UNISON wants to reach out to many more people like Mr Davidson. So the national campaign will be rolled out to the community and voluntary sector at the beginning of 2006.
In return for UNISON helping employers gain expertise in assessing training needs, identifying and running courses and applying for grants UNISON is asking for recognition, facilities, bargaining and the opportunity to recruit new members.
When UNISON has a presence in the organisation, it will be able to recruit learning reps, education co-ordinators and allocate them to branches.
“There are a lot of health and safety issues in these sectors, and we are really concerned about people’s rates of pay,” says Ms Miszczanyn. “It is an area where we can legitimately recruit: we know there is a crying need for representation and training.”
Also in a bid to specifically target cleaning staff UNISON is offering to channel grants to four private companies that employ cleaners. The money will be spent on creating an ICT package, providing furniture, hardware, software and training: all the employer has to do is provide a room.
Many cleaners do not have English as a first language, yet they need to be able to read labels to mix chemicals, for example. It is a health and safety issue. They also need to understand their rota and read any instructions for machinery. And porters in NHS hospitals need manual handling training.
The benefits are exponential. Once these workers have basic English skills it is easier for them to get further qualifications – whether through UNISON or other organisations.
Even if you don’t feel you need training yourself, this is still an area members can get involved in.
Members can act as stewards and learning reps – helping to spread knowledge and skills among their colleagues, and in the process explaining the other benefits of UNISON membership, and discovering other areas at work people would like to see improved.
story by Nathalie Towner
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