General Council Report - Chapter 8
chapter 8 learning and skills
- 8.1 Introduction
- 8.2 Upskilling the workforce
- 8.3 TUC Learning Services
- 8.4 Pay and conditions in the higher education sector
8.1 Introduction
During the past Congress year, the General Council and unions in general have stepped up their efforts to meet the learning needs of their members. This has been helped by the positive support of the Government and other partners to union learning activity and by the establishment of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) with its responsibility for all post 16 education and training in England, other than higher education. The Council with its budget of over £6 billion is providing a more strategic and coherent approach to such provision. Now that trade unions are represented, as of right, at national and local levels on the LSC they have considerable potential to shape the education and training system.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) recognises the pivotal role that unions play in opening up learning opportunities to employees, particularly those who have not received such provision in the past. The continued success of the DfES Union Learning Fund in promoting innovative learning at the workplace has resulted in its extension. The transfer of the former TUC/TEC Bargaining for Skills projects into TUC Learning Services under the aegis of the LSC will ensure more secure funding and greater support for union learning activity in the regions.
One of the most significant developments in workforce development over the last few years has been the growth of the role of union learning representatives. Over 3,000 such representatives have been trained and accredited to date and the government has now recognised the need for them to be put on a statutory footing. Legislation will be introduced to this effect in the autumn for this purpose.
All these developments have continued to be overseen by the General Council’s Learning Service’s Strategy Group, chaired by Jimmy Knapp. The General Council are also involved in policy making through representation on the boards of the University for Industry (UfI) and Investors in People UK. The General Council have also involved unions in policy development on learning and skills through meetings of the National Training Network of union education officers and the TUC’s RDA Network.
Under the Chancellor of Exchequer’s ‘productivity initiative’ a TUC CBI Working Group on Training has been established. It is considering incentives to increase employer involvement in workforce development and support for adult learners (see Chapter six). The Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) of the Cabinet Office is also conducting a review of workforce development for the Prime Minister. The PIU held an early meeting with the General Secretary to explain its remit and has made a presentation on its early findings to union education and training officers at a meeting of the TUC National Training Network. The PIU has also been kept fully informed of the work of the TUC CBI Working Group.
The General Secretary has reinforced the deep concerns of education unions over pay and conditions, class sizes, workload and teacher morale to Ministers over the year. Unease over the future role of the private sector in public services including schools was raised at the meeting of the General Council members with the Prime Minister. The General Council statement on public services reaffirmed these concerns (see Chapter 6).
The TUC Learning Mission
The TUC aims to represent all employee interests in securing the learning and skills they require to maintain their employability, enhance their career progression and guarantee social inclusion. We will work in partnership with employers as well as government and providers in maximising lifelong learning opportunities for union members. Our aim is to create a learning culture in every workplace and for every worker to be a lifelong learner.
Learning in Partnership: TUC Learning Services
8.2 Upskilling the workforce
The Learning and Skills Council
The General Secretary is Vice Chair of the Council and chairs its Adult Learning Committee. Bill Connor represents the General Council on its Young People’s Committee and Tony Chandler (UNISON) is a member of the Adult Learning Committee. There is a union member on each of each of the 47 local LSCs and in a few cases there is an additional union member who represents his or her RDA. The TUC worked closely with TUC regionally and the former DfEE to ensure that experienced union representatives, accountable both to the regional TUC and to their own unions, were interviewed under the Nolan process. In accordance with Composite 20 of the 2000 Congress, a TUC LSC Union Network has been established to support and co-ordinate union representatives on local LSCs and to facilitate close collaboration between them and union members on the national LSC and its committees. Briefings have been sent to members. Discussions have been held with the national LSC on how it could best support the network and its first meeting will take place in the autumn. The General Council have been kept informed of the role and plans of the LSC and its chair, Bryan Sanderson, addressed their December meeting (see also Chapter 14).
The major task of the national LSC has been to draft a corporate plan to cover the Council’s operation to March 2004. The LSC has set targets for extending participation in education and workforce development; raise the achievement of both young people and adults; improve basic skills; and raise the quality and effectiveness of education and training. Local LSCs will develop local strategic plans to help deliver the national targets as well as meeting local economic and social needs. The Adult Learning Committee, chaired by the General Secretary, has advised the Council on the achievement of the national targets for adults and Investors in People, on widening participation, raising attainment levels and improving basic skills among adults. The corporate plan recognises unions as key partners and commits the Council to 'build on the success of the Union Learning Fund in developing workplace champions of employee development'.
The Young People’s Committee is working closely with the new Connexions Service to improve advice and information to young people about post-16 opportunities and to ensure pre/post school-coherence. The TUC office has discussed the operation of the Service including the role of personal advisers at its regular meetings with representatives of the Career Services National Association.
Sector skills
The Government has recognised the need for a more strategic approach to developing sector skills involving fewer but more effective National Training Organisations. Jeannie Drake has represented the General Council on the Government’s advisory group reviewing the recognition of National Training Organisations (NTOs). The DfES issued a consultative paper Building a Stronger Network: Developing the Role of National Training Organisations which suggested ways in which this could be done. The General Council in their response to the paper supported a rationalisation of the NTO network but stressed the need for it to avoid artificial mergers of disparate NTOs which could lead to a loss of sector focus and even less employer identification with sector bodies. There was also a need for NTOs to reflect employment interests as a whole, with trade unions representing employee interests on decision-making boards as of right. The TUC, with DfES assistance, will support union members on the new sector bodies once they have been established.
The General Council indicated that where there is clearly market failure in training then government intervention is required. The former Secretary of State for Education and Employment in his statement Opportunity for All: Skills for the New Economy indicated that, where social partners agree that there is a serious skills problem in a sector and that this is the best way forward, he would use his existing powers to provide statutory backing for appropriate collective skills funding arrangements in the sector. The General Council in their response to the NTO paper stated that there was a need for the Government to determine the broad criteria whereby such powers would be invoked, such as a lack of progress in delivering the NTO’s skills priorities. The social partners would need to have ownership of any resulting collective skills fund.
The further education sector has an important role to play in developing sector skills. The LSC has been given the responsibility for developing Centres of Vocational Excellence in the further education sector. This includes determining pathfinder projects in colleges. The TUC office has been closely involved in this process.
Vocational Qualifications
Sector skills need to be recognised through vocational qualifications if employees are to secure employability and mobility. That is why the General Council have continued to promote training leading to such qualifications through decision-making bodies and through TUC Learning Services.
The TUC office represents the General Council on the Qualifications Committee of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the QCA’s independent group reviewing the occupational standards system. The outcomes of the TUC DfES project to promote union involvement in National Vocational Qualifications resulted in a successful publication National Vocational Qualifications: A TUC guide for Trade Union Learning Representatives and supplements on the three sectors on which the project was based: construction; retail and distribution; and media and entertainment. The publications were launched at successful regional events and were well supported by the relevant NTOs.
Modern Apprenticeships
The Government’s plans to reform the Modern Apprenticeship programme in response to the recommendations of the National Skills Task Force continued apace over the past year. The General Council’s response to the consultation exercise, published in September 2000, supported the general thrust of the Government’s plans to enhance the quality of apprenticeship training and also to increase take-up of this form of vocational training among young people. In the summer of 2000 the Government established a Modern Apprenticeship consultative committee to support implementation of the reform programme and the TUC and affiliated unions were represented on this body.
In March 2001, the Government published its response to the consultation exercise and also announced that it would be phasing out the residue of Youth Training from September 2002 and replacing this with the apprenticeship route. This approach builds on an earlier decision to incorporate National Traineeships into the apprenticeship route under the name, ‘Foundation Modern Apprenticeships’.
At the same time, the Government established a Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee, chaired by Sir John Cassels. The General Council are represented on it by the TUC office. The remit of the Advisory Committee is to advise the Government by the end of September 2001 on a three-year action plan for the development, promotion and delivery of Modern Apprenticeships. Sir John outlined the Committee’s work to a meeting of the TUC National Training Network at which a number of union case studies on Modern Apprenticeships were presented.
Basic Skills
The General Council have given high priority to tackling the problem of seven million adults lacking basic skills. They welcomed the Secretary of State’s statement Skills for Life outlining a national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy. The General Council particularly welcomed the statement’s recognition that 'union-led provision should be a high priority in basic skills education in the workplace'. In its response Basic Rights to Basic Skills, the General Council recognised the Government’s target to reduce the number of adults who have difficulty with literacy and numeracy by 750,000 by 2004, as a first step in tackling this major problem. The General Council welcomed the Government’s plan to introduce national standards and provide effective training and support for tutors and recommended that there should be an entitlement to free information, advice and guidance for adults with basic skills problems. There was also a need for employers to release employees to attend basic skills courses.
The TUC has supported an extensive programme of basic skills provision with over 25 affiliated unions during the year, with as many as 2,000 new learners participating through 30 Union Learning Fund projects. Work has been carried out in partnership with the CBI and in conjunction with the Basic Skills Agency (BSA) to determine a strategy for basic skills at the workplace. The General Council are represented by the TUC office on the Board of the Agency.
Union Learning Representatives have been trained in basic skills awareness in order to provide effective support to members. Partnerships with over 40 basic skills providers have been established. In addition, work has been undertaken on English for Speakers of o ther Languages (ESOL) with groups of unions. A range of publications has been produced with the BSA including CDROMs to support TUC and union education courses as well as basic skills programmes as a whole. The TUC is also working with the CBI to develop a guide to raise employer and employee awareness of the need to improve literacy and numeracy skills.
Supporting adult learners
The General Council were asked to contribute to the Government’s review of financing adult learning undertaken by Derek Wanless. Its objective was to develop a coherent framework for supporting adult learners at below higher education, covering both fees and maintenance. The General Council in their submission Funding Adult Learners reiterated the recommendation of the National Skills Task Force that an entitlement to free course tuition should be introduced for all adult learners up to their first level 2 qualification, eventually leading to level 3. The submission also proposed public support for other study costs, such as childcare and travel, particularly for low income groups. The General Council also noted that lack of time was a barrier further to many adults , particularly those with family commitments, and reiterated, in line with Composite 20, of the 2000 Congress, that paid educational leave should be introduced by employers to overcome this. The TUC has played an active part in the union-led Paid Educational Leave Campaign which aims to raise public awareness of the need for a statutory right to such leave.
A key way of supporting adult learners has been Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) which now discount courses. As many as 1,250,000 people have opened an ILA, although only less than half of them were at level 2 or below. The General Council in their submission to the Wanless Review emphasised the need for state subsidised ILAs to be targeted on such non-traditional learners, for good quality advice and guidance for such learners, and for employers to be actively encouraged to make contributions to collective learning funds. TUC Learning Services has been helping to achieve these objectives through national projects with the DfES over the last three years and through more than 70 Union Learning Fund projects that have ILA outcomes. This year’s TUC DfES project has involved working with a wide range of partners to target learning accounts on particular groups of potential learners such as part-time workers. One of the results of the project has been the publication of an ILA Guide for Union Learning Reps. Arrangements have also been established with the national ILA centre so that unions can become a major distributor of ILA application forms.
Investors in People
The standard has continued to establish itself in both the public and private sectors, with 38 per cent of the workforce being employed by an organisation which is involved in Investors in People (IIP). However less than a tenth of small organisations are involved in the standard. Ensuring that more of them become committed is a key objective of Investors in People UK which has recently revised the standard. The General Council are represented on its Board by Ed Sweeney who has replaced Tony Dubbins. TUC Learning Services continues the Bargaining for Skills work in assisting unions involved in the IIP process. The TUC, in conjunction with unions in the school sector is facilitating a study on the impact and added value to staff of unions assuming a more strategic role in the IIP process.
8.3 TUC Learning Services
The new framework
The evaluation of the ADAPT/UFI Learning Services project found that during the three years of the project there has been an increase in the number and range of unions involved in developing and delivering learning services for members, over and above the training and support offered to existing workplace representatives. It found that the project enabled the TUC to work in partnership with many unions to trial new approaches and develop union-specific learning materials. The evaluation report recommended that union learning services be effectively integrated with other union structures and that strategic thinking needs to underpin further development to help ensure learning services are sustained in the longer term.
The ending of the TUC TEC regional Bargaining for Skills projects in England and the transfer of their activities to the Learning and Skills Council in April provided an opportunity for a more coherent and comprehensive framework with stable funding as proposed in Composite 20. Under a new brand name, ‘TUC Learning Services’, teams led by a regional co-ordinator and development officers at national level deliver TUC learning activities in England. The TUC has secured core funding from the DfES of about £1.5million for each of the next three years to cover the costs of these 28 staff. An additional 30 staff are working at regional/local level and are funded through a variety of sources including local LSCs, European Social Fund Objective 3 and RDAs. The national team provides support to Union Learning Fund projects in general and union involvement in basic/key skills, ILAs and Learndirect, in particular. The regional teams support Union Learning projects, assist and support networks of union learning representatives and help forge union/employer partnerships.
Ufi learndirect
The development of the University for Industry (UfI) , now branded as ‘learndirect’, is a major government initiative that seeks to ensure that a much wider range of individuals have access to learning opportunities through the provision of learning on-line. The TUC is closely involved in these developments and Roger Lyons represents the General Council on the UfI Board. Unions have also been involved in UfI/learndirect hubs. Through these, the TUC has encouraged unions to work with employers to add a learndirect facility to existing learning centres or to establish new centres. A trade union sector hub has been established which will have a network of learndirect centres in trade union centres, colleges and workplaces, supported by union learning representatives (see also Chapter 12).
As part of the ADAPT/UfI project, eight unions have also been involved in dialogue with the UfI through a union/UfI ‘cluster group’. The group has been established to ensure that unions influence the development of learndirect and are aware of and involved in UfI developments. They have been directly involved in the partnership development of local or sector UfI hub bids.
The TUC and unions have worked to promote and support union engagement in learndirect supported by the DfES to develop union-friendly materials such as ‘essential skills for work’.
Union Learning Fund
Since its establishment in 1998, 215 projects have been supported by the DfES Union Learning Fund. These have helped to build union capacity to deliver lifelong learning for their members. The scale of Union Learning Fund activity has increased by a third over last year, with 95 projects funded to a total of £4.2million.
The Fund’s future has been secured through the Government allocating £7million. for 2001-2 (including £1million for basic skills), £9million for 2002-3 (including £2million for basic skills) and £11million for 2003-4 (including £3million for basic skills). The Secretary of State for Education and Skills addressed the annual Union Learning Conference in July and announced £1.2million for 26 new projects. A publication showcasing case studies arising from recent projects The Smart Set: Union Learning Reps at Work was launched at the event.
The evaluation report of Year 3 of the projects found that there had been a significant increase in the extent to which lifelong learning for members has been integrated into many union agendas. Capacity has increased through the development of skills of key staff, the increase in union learning representatives, the development mechanisms to support their work in the workplace and emerging
Union Learning Fund Outputs: 1998-2000
- almost 14,000 employees taken part in learning
- 3,250 learning representatives trained
- over 25,000 employees been reached by awareness reaching activities
- nearly 6,000 ILAs opened
- almost 9,000 employees have had their learning needs assessed
union strategies on lifelong learning. It found that there had been a significant increase in the achievements and capacity relating to basic skills activities. The evaluation report signalled the need to shift up a gear and to devise a medium term strategic framework within which Union Learning Fund activities can develop. This involves strengthening and extending partnerships with major stakeholders, such as the LSC, providers, NTOs, and employers and by developing union learning strategies. The TUC is considering ways in which this can best be done.
Union Learning Representatives
The most significant outcome of the Union Learning Fund projects has been the number union learning representatives trained over the past two years. However a lack of employer commitment to support representatives has limited progress in many workplaces. The General Council and individual unions have therefore pressed the Government to introduce statutory rights for union learning representatives as proposed in Composite 20. The Government issued a consultative paper in May Statutory Recognition for Union Learning Representatives which proposes that such representatives have rights to paid time off for their training and to carry out their duties in recognised workplaces on the same lines as union representatives in general. The General Council welcomed its main recommendations. The paper does not however propose that union representatives will have the statutory right to negotiate over training and the General Council reiterated their view that unions should have such a right. The General Council circulated initial comments to unions to assist them in preparing their responses and then finalised their own response on the basis of their views. A joint TUC /Campaign for Learning publication The Quiet Revolution: The Rise of the Union Learning Representative has been widely circulated to promote the case for statutory recognition. The Government plans to introduce the measures in an employment relations bill towards the end of the year.
8.4 Pay and conditions in the higher education sector
Following a series of talks between all the higher education unions co-ordinated by the Deputy General Secretary and the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA), agreement was reached in June on resolving the outstanding dispute concerning pay and conditions and on the establishment of new industrial relations machinery for the sector, as proposed by the Bett Report of 1999. The higher education unions and the UCEA have agreed to replace the present ten negotiating bodies with a single national Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES). Working groups have been established to recommend to JNCHES a new single pay spine for implementation by August 2002; arrangements for equal pay for equal value; and modernisation issues, including other issues arising out of the Bett Report.
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