General Council Report 2002: Chapter 11

General Council Report

• national education centre
• 11.1 Introduction
• 11.2 Building and residential developments
• 11.3 Training and consultancy
• 11.4 Management development
• 11.5 Organisational development
• 11.6 Investors in People
• 11.7 Organising
• 11.8 National courses
• 11.9 European involvement
• 11.10 Information and technology services

national education centre

11.1 Introduction

This year, the National Education Centre (NEC) has consolidated the expansion of work that it took on last year. It has increasingly become the first port of call for the TUC’s affiliates when they wish to undertake any training and development activities. This year has also seen the NEC expand into the local community which has enhanced the diversity of uses of the Centre and its profile.

11.2 Building and residential developments

The National Education Centre’s three-year refurbishment plan is continuing to be rolled out and many significant changes have taken place in the last year. The dining room seating capacity has been increased to 75 and a more modern flow system has been introduced which will help ease the throughput of customers. Changes to our menu structure will also help cater for the ever-diversifying dietary needs of customers.

Beginning in August 2002 all the Centre’s bedrooms will be redecorated, together with the general public areas, including the main conference room. There are plans to redesign the reception later this year to make it an even more welcoming and functional environment as it gets busier.

The NEC aims to be at the forefront of the development of new technology. The Centre has invested in bringing its Media Suite in line with the latest in digital standards for a greatly improved quality of service which offer greater versatility to potential users. The NEC’s client base has significantly increased and the use of outside marketing sources and a presence at trade shows have helped to supplement existing training courses with new business. This means that the NEC can continue to provide training to affiliates at reasonable prices by charging commercial rates to its newer customers, and funding improvements to the standard of training facilities. The centre now frequently opens at weekends, when it is available to unions and outside organisations. The income from external bookings means that the costs to unions can be kept down and weekend meetings and away days, which are increasingly popular with unions, can be made cost effective. A leisure breaks package for affiliates is also being developed which will promote the use of the centre outside the training and education arenas.

11.3 Training and consultancy

The NEC continues to review and expand the range of training, development and consultancy services that it delivers to affiliates. To draw these strands into a cohesive whole, the NEC’s training and development officers now work as one team and a Training and Consultancy Manager has been appointed to co-ordinate and develop this work.

The NEC team has a range of experienced training and development officers who can deliver consultancy and development activities in all the areas required by affiliates. This range of work has included, in addition to the areas discussed below, the development of recruitment assessment centres for a number of unions and, in one case, the design and implementation of a survey of members’ views and attitudes.

Assessment centres have been a continuing area of work since their inception as part of the Organising Academy recruitment process. This year saw Connect use the concept for their Executive’s selection of its candidate for nomination to the post of General Secretary, who has now been elected. Connect, with NEC support, developed a job description and person specification for this post and an extremely testing assessment centre for candidates to undertake to demonstrate their skills.

11.4 Management development

Following the successful introduction of accredited management development programmes, four participants achieved a Certificate in Management this year. Of these, three participants came through the promotion of the programmes to black and Asian officers and staff arising from the work of the Stephen Lawrence Task Group.

The popularity of these programmes is increasing with more than 30 people having attended an induction programme, Managing your Development, which enables participants to identify their development needs and the appropriate level of qualification to progress.

In addition to the Certificate in Management, the Diploma in Management will be introduced in January 2003. This has been delayed by restructuring of the award by the qualifying body, NEBS. The NEC already has such demand for this programme that a waiting list has been put in place and programmes will be run more frequently if this level of interest continues.

The NEC is also investigating the implementation of a Level 5 Executive Diploma in Management.

11.5 Organisational development

The NEC continues to offer leading edge organisational development consultancy to affiliates. This involves a range of projects from a straightforward training needs analysis through to a large-scale review of the union’s aims, objectives and activities. Each of these projects will involve a specifically designed programme of interviews and meetings in order to conduct the in-depth analysis required to deliver a comprehensive report-back.

Following the delivery of the report and recommendations, affiliates will continue to use the NEC to support the implementation of training or other initiatives arising from the organisational development review.

11.6 Investors in People

The NEC continues to support affiliates in their efforts to achieve the Investors in People (IiP) standard. One of the NEC’s Training and Development Officers is now an accredited Investors in People Adviser who, as well as working with affiliates, is also now supporting the TUC in the ongoing re-recognition and assessment process.

The NEC has recently been appointed to assist Prospect in achieving the IiP standard following the merger of EMA, who previously were recognised as Investors in People and IPMS, who had conducted some initial work towards achievement.

11.7 Organising

With a dedicated training officer supporting the training work of the New Unionism project, the NEC has continued to offer high quality organising training to assist trade unions in developing their organising strategy and culture. The NEC continues to deliver the Organising Academy training which now has two intakes a year. In addition, a one-year graduate programme for organisers who have completed their initial year on the Academy and who are staying with their sponsoring unions has been developed and delivered. The second intake to this successful programme is now underway.

The NEC continues to work with affiliates developing the skills of their officers in organising. In a new area of work, the NEC has completed a comprehensive organising review of the PCS Commercial Sector. The recommendations of this report will inform the long-term plan for the development of organising in the Sector.

European unions are increasingly showing an interest in organising tools and techniques and the NEC has assisted with a number of these projects in trade union centres abroad including Cyprus and Russia.

11.8 National courses

The NEC continues to deliver its National Course Programme. The content of this programme is reviewed and updated annually to ensure it continues to be relevant to the needs of affiliates. This year new courses on organising and partnership skills have been offered to encourage the development of the skills and knowledge of trade union officers in these newer areas of union agendas. These courses, along with the courses which continue to be popular such as negotiating skills, employment law courses and media skills, provide the officials and staff of affiliates with the opportunity to network across the range of union participants on courses. As well as learning about the specific subject area, national courses provide participants with the opportunity to exchange ideas and strategies from all aspects of the trade union movement.

Increasingly the NEC is asked to provide specific tailored work for affiliates and will sometimes be expected to tender for this work in competition with other providers. The fact that the NEC is often successful in these circumstances is a clear demonstration of the unique package of in-depth training and development knowledge and skill combined with trade union understanding which the NEC can offer.

11.9 European involvement

The NEC has always worked with and supported ETUCO in its programme of development for unions and their officers across the EU. This has continued in the past year with a number of the Training and Development Officers delivering programmes in conjunction with European colleagues. The NEC has also hosted a number of visits from international trade union centres, providing accommodation, support and organising programmes of training and education relevant to their needs. The NEC has also become a partner in the largest ETUCO/EU funded training project to-date, Dialog-on. During this two-year programme the NEC will be running a transnational and a national course on social partnership.

11.10 Information and technology services

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department continues to consolidate its position as a provider of an ever-widening number of computer-based services both to the trade union movement and to the local community. As well as providing skills training around the use of ICT, the department is increasingly concerned with all forms of computer-mediated learning.

As a learndirect learning centre both in the Trade Union Sector Hub and the local geographic hub, the ICT department has seen its activities increase considerably, with 600 learners on its books; as a UK Online centre it also continues to provide training for those denied access to online services. Additionally, 2002 has seen increasing co-operation with business through such bodies as Business Link.

The Virtual Learning Environment learnOnline also continues to be a major area of activity. LearnOnline has been the main means by which TUC Education Online has been offered in the regions. In addition, the NEC has been working with a number of affiliates at a national level to help them either to develop their online education provision or to experience e-learning for the first time. Version 4 of learnOnline is currently being developed with the help of our private sector partners, OfSM. Furthermore, learnOnline will in future establish partnerships with software developers which will secure both the long-term commercial viability of the product and ensure that it is the most powerful Virtual Learning Environment in the market. With the emergence of version 4 in the autumn, affiliates will be provided with information on the new product and how it can be used in education and organisational development.

The NEC ICT department continues to play a full role in Europe and is currently leading a Leonardo da Vinci project concerned with delivering the European Computer Driving Licence by diverse means, including via learnOnline. Other partners include the Irish union SIPTU.