One of our brilliant SE Union Learning Reps recently ran a “Mindfull to Mindful Colouring Lunch & Learn” – read their account here: “My first lunch and learn session as a URL was for a colouring session linked to Mindfulness and mental wellbeing. I arranged for 2 sessions on consecutive weeks to give those attending […]
How long have you been a member of UNISON? I became a UNISON member 14 years ago when I started working in my daughters’ school as both teaching assistant and midday supervisor, when I moved to EDF Energy I transferred my membership and I was able to be more involved with helping our members within […]
Today is the 50th anniversary of the day that the Open University received its Royal Charter – in effect, its 50th birthday. UNISON has been working with the Open University since 1997 – and during that time thousands of members have enrolled in a wide range of accredited courses, all the way up to degree level. […]
Monday 13th May marks the start of Learning at Work Week, a week dedicated to celebrating and promoting the importance of learning in the workplace. The week, organised by the Campaign for Learning, takes place between the 13th and 19th of May, and this year’s theme is Shaping the Future. Branches up and down the […]
It’s National Numeracy Day today and here at UNISON we’re celebrating the importance of numbers in our everyday lives. Today we are helping everyone in the UK to take action to build the confidence and skills to use numbers effectively. At present, nearly half (49%) of working age UK adults currently have the numeracy levels […]
North West Leicestershire UNISON branch took advantage of Learning at Work Week to spread the word about the learning opportunities the union offers its members, to get people trying something new – and to have fun! Here are some highlights: Monday The branch set up a stall to promote the learning opportunities and grants available […]
UNISON’s U Learn magazine is always packed with good news about learning, new training initiatives, and the phenomenal work that our learning reps do. This summer’s edition is no exception. You can read about… … UNISON member James’s journey through a mental health crisis and recovery through creative writing … how Dorset UNISON branch marked […]
UNISON members at Enfield Local Government branch have found out about ways of dealing with stress in a workshop delivered as part of the union’s member learning programme. In the Staying Strong workshop, participants explore different types of stress and what causes it. They identify sources of stress in their own lives, and consider how to […]
UNISON Learning and Organising Services were proud to watch as two of our learning reps received awards at last week’s Unionlearn conference for their work supporting learning. Jayne Barry from Derbyshire County branch was recognised for her achievements in ensuring that apprentices are supported and receive quality training. A few years ago, as a result […]
Schools may have broken up for the summer, but for us learning is something that happens all year round. And it can be useful to concentrate on the basics – ‘functional skills’, as they’re called – English, maths, and digital skills. Here are some great free resources to help you and your colleagues do that. […]
National Numeracy is calling on the nation to check their maths skills this September. They have renamed the month ‘Checktember’ and will be encouraging everyone to go online and check that they have the number skills needed for everyday life and work. Research released earlier in the year revealed a third of us wish we were better at […]
Helen Capstick, ULR at Solent University I have been a member of UNISON since 2011 but have become more active in recent years when I took on the role of Union Learning Representative (ULR) at Solent University. I became a ULR as I wanted to use my skills to develop more informal learning sessions for […]
There are over 5 million people in the UK who’ve never been online, and a staggering 11.9 million people who don’t have the essential digital skills to navigate life and work. As jobs and the workplace become more digitised workers with low or no digital skills risk being excluded both in the workplace and in […]
This week it’s Get Online Week and UNISON, along with other organisations across the UK, will be supporting people to get online and take part in the digital world. It’s estimated that over 5 million working adults lack the full set of basic digital skills – so with the rise of digitisation and automation in […]
This Thursday, UNISON will release the detailed findings of a significant new piece of research into the learning needs, the hopes and fears of workers in the public services. The University of Exeter’s Marchmont Observatory carried out the research on behalf of UNISON, with a survey sent to members over the winter of 2018/19. Over 38,000 […]
