Learning materials

Citation

(2006), "Learning materials", Education + Training, Vol. 48 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2006.00448aae.002

Learning materials

You Can Do ItThis Is What We Do

DVD/VideoTUC Learning Services2005

These two new films from the TUC seek to showcase the crucial role union learning reps and unions play in encouraging and supporting fellow workers to take up learning opportunities at work.

You Can Do It features a number of individuals talking candidly about their experiences of learning at work; the difference it has made to their life at work and their lives in general. One of the key messages in the film is overcoming initial fears and the role union learning reps and tutors have played in helping the individuals featured. Union learning reps are encouraged to use the film when promoting the courses they run and when trying to recruit more reps.

This Is What We Do highlights the work of three trade union “skills for life advocates” talking frankly about the work their unions are doing to get people learning at work. Skills for life advocates are key players in the trade union movement who have pledged to support learning in the workplace.

Gordon Brown Chancellor of the Exchequer, no less, introduces the film and explains why he thinks the role of the advocates, and the army of 12,000 union learning representatives, are so important in transforming the lives of thousands of working people. The advocates featured in the film are the bakers’ union chief, Joe Marino, Unison West Midlands Regional Secretary, Valerie Broom, and Amicus Deputy General Secretary, Ed Sweeney and features them going about their daily business to show how learning at work is an integral part of their role and the work of their union. For example, Valerie Broom is filmed calling in at a local school where the school kitchen staff have signed up for skills for life training in key areas such as reading and writing. One of the staff featured has since gone on to become a full time Unison member of staff.

Although both films are produced with a trade union audience in mind both are useful tools in the broader campaign to open up learning opportunities at work and, indeed, in everyday life. The films, available in DVD and video format, are available free of charge to union members and further details can be obtaind from the TUC’s Learning Services section at www.learningservices.org.uk