Delegate Report from Scottish Union Learning Conference, 9 Nov 2011, Marriott Hotel Glasgow
Opening Remarks
Anne Douglas (Chair, SUL) welcomed delegates to the 4th Scottish Union Learning Conference, adopting for its theme “Union Learning: A Better Way”. In her opening address she gave an overview of the broad nature of everyday work carried out by ULRs before touching on the challenges for the year ahead, including retaining funding from Government and ESF and helping members cope with cuts and redundancies. Achievements in the past year included the introduction of a Learner of the Year award and the support given to the Modern Apprenticeship Project delivered in conjunction with Skills Development Scotland. Materials from the Project had been used to create a toolkit which was included in the delegates’ pack.
Launch of TUC “Tackling Racism” Publication
The TUC campaign on tackling racism in the workplace has resulted in a workbook “Tackling Racism” which received its Scottish launch at the Conference. Sonny Singh spoke of his own experience of racism as a 5th generation Sikh born and raised in Glasgow. He had never experienced overt racism from colleagues at work, but as a public sector worker interfacing with the public he received abuse regularly from his clients. Even casual banter between friends, in which he willingly participated during his school days, he now realised was an insidious form of low level racism which perpetuated racial and ethnic stereotyping and reinforced negative perceptions.
Harry Cunningham (STUC Regional Education Officer) then introduced the workbook for reps and ULRs. The TUC campaign had identified that racism against public sector workers was as big a problem as violence. The workbook includes resources to enable ULRs to educate themselves and others to recognise racism and to understand its effects and provides strategies for dealing with it in the workplace. Copies of the workbook are available from the TUC Publications office.
Address by Dr Alasdair Allan (Minister for Learning and Skills)
The Minister was introduced by Anne Douglas and opened by paying tribute to the late Campbell Christie, General Secretary of the STUC from 1986-98, who died in October.
Dr Allan confirmed the Government’s continuing support for union learning, praising the role of ULRs in upskilling workers through work based learning. The Government recognises that access to work based learning brings economic and personal benefits. Of those who had benefitted from ULRs’ efforts, 75% were non-traditional learners, many having no previous qualifications, and over 70% had improved their prospects by engaging in job related learning.
The Minister also stressed the importance placed by the Government on Life-long Learning as vital to economic and social development, life chances and international reputation. The Government view is that all young people should remain in education after the age of 16, since education improves employment chances and health & wellbeing, ultimately reinforcing the social fabric. To this end employers should invest in education and training in the workplace to ensure a smooth transition between learning and work, and ULRs’ role will be to continue to identify learning needs and match those needs with resources.
The Minister closed by saying that Government shared a common goal with STUC in ensuring the best outcome for Scottish workers and reiterated that it will continue to provide funding essential to the ULR role but that, due to legal constraints, it was prevented from committing funds on anything longer than an annual basis, although he recognised the difficulties this caused.
Address by Grahame Smith (General Secretary STUC)
Thanking the Minister, Grahame referred to the support given to union learning by his predecessors and Cabinet Secretary Mike Russell, crediting them with recognising that union learning was a very wise investment for Government. He described the 1 year funding allocation as a lost opportunity and that a 3 year allocation would be better for planning a learning journey. Recognising that the Government was limited by red tape, however, he hoped that this was one example of red tape that the Government would see fit to cut.
The Conference heard that the SUL fund had proved hugely successful in its first 2 years. 25 of 31 unions had accessed the fund and over 60000 workers had engaged in learning. Courses funded by SULF had included Languages, Business Planning, Film and TV Production and Access to Higher Education. £500,000 is available through SULF this year.
This year’s Helen Dowie Award for Lifelong Learning was won by CWU ULRs from the Royal Mail Centre in Springburn, Glasgow. The ULRs had negotiated with management for the establishing of a £17,500 learning centre run by ULRs. Because the Royal Mail Centre operates 24 hours, ULRs took to running the same courses 3 times a day to accommodate the different shifts. Since the learning centre opened in 2009 union membership has increased significantly.
Address by Rachael Fraser (Policy and Public Affairs Manager, BBC Learning)
Rachael gave a presentation on the BBC Learning campaign “Digital Champions at the BBC”, which has 2 aims:
• to maximise learning potential across BBC output
• to encourage online access take-up through “First Click” and “Webwise” campaigns and the “Give an Hour” networking event which encourages Internet savvy members of the public to give an hour of their time to be paired with a computer newbie to demonstrate and mentor them through the process of going online and safe surfing.
Workshops
All delegates had an opportunity to take part in 2 of 5 workshops during the day:
Learning to Progress? Skills Utilisation and Good Jobs: Examining the role of learning, skills and effective skills utilisation in improving job quality. The workshop focussed on the role of unions in improving the use of skills in ways that bring identifiable benefits to employees asnd improve job quality.
Economic Justice and the Learning Experience: A crash course on understanding economic arguments by translating economic language into everyday English.
Exploring Learning Paths and Progression: Presented by this year’s winners of the Helen Dowie award using their experience to share advice on supporting learners in large workplaces, planning learning effective to career progression and learning about Professional Development Awards through the SQA.
There is a Better Way Through Local Learning Forums: Introducing the role of local learning forums as a method of sharing best practice between unions, providing opportunities for guest speakers to present new ideas and explore the potential for new learning.
- 50 Practical New media tips for Unions: Using Internet networking sites to inform., campaign, organise and promote their cause.
Learner of the Year Award
After a union networking session, workshops and lunch, the Conference reconvened to hear Anne introduce the 1st SUL Learner of the Year. The award was presented to USDAW member Susan Manson from Morrison’s in Airdrie, who successfully overcame dyslexia to complete an IT course. Having started the course she soon felt out of her depth, but after speaking to a ULR she felt confident enough to discuss her dyslexia with the tutor, something she had never done before. The tutor helped her access word recognition software which overcame the problem of her dyslexia and she successfully completed the course, going on to buy a computer which she can use to help with everyday situations like reading mail.
Address by Stephen Mullen (Author)
Stephen spoke about his learning journey, taking him from casual work as a joiner’s mate for his father to an academic life as a historian engaged in research for a PhD at Strathclyde University. His research into Glasgow’s role in the slave trade has been published as a book, “It Wisnae Us!”
