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Chapter 10 - National Education Centre

Issue date

GENERAL COUNCIL REPORT

Chapter 10 National Education Centre

introduction

A thorough review of the of the National Education Centre's resources, management services and procedures was initiated in 1997 and will continue into next year. The aim of the review is to ensure that resources are concentrated upon those priority areas of staff and professional officer training which unions have identified as priorities . Increasingly, this has meant providing more courses which are tailored to unions' demands and providing consultation services in addition to training and development activities. 10.1 National Course Programme

A number of courses published in the annual open programme have been reduced, redesigned and updated, with new courses introduced. Along with new service standards for internal course administration procedures, these changes have helped to produce higher average course attendance numbers and a much lower course cancellation rate during. The next stages of the review will concentrate upon gearing course outcomes to the national standards in the trade union S/NVQs and other relevant vocational qualifications, so that course participants are able to generate evidence of competence for S/NVQ assessment. The national course statistics for 1996 are set out below.

10.2 Training and development services

The NEC's customised training service of bespoke courses for individual unions continued to expand and forty courses were provided on demand for twelve different unions in 1996. Major developments in this area included a distance learning course for potential professional officers and an integrated, eight-day personal development programme for officers in another union. A number of projects have been undertaken to assist unions to manage organisational change. These include working with one union to introduce a programme of staff development and with another to complete an analysis against the Investors in People standard.

The range of services offered in the area of information technology were also expanded to provide a needs analysis and training programme to assist the introduction of new information technology systems in the head offices of two affiliates. Work was also carried out at the request of other affiliates to exploit the potential of information technology for communication, publicity and data collection. An international conference on 'Using the Internet' was also held and attended by ninety people.

10.3 Scottish/National Vocational Qualifications (S\NVQs) for professional trade union officers Following the launch of the S\NVQs in May 1996, work has been progressing with a number of unions to guide candidates through the qualification. Training was

provided for Development Advisors and Assessors in four unions along with development advice and assessment for individual candidates in a number of other unions. Other unions have sought development programmes, based upon the S\NVQ standards to underpin trainee officer schemes, helping trainee officers to gain the level three S\NVQ by the end of their traineeship.

10.4 Employment Occupational Standards Council (EOSC)

The TUC continues to play an active role in the EOSC at both Council level and in its committees. The EOSC consists of representatives from trade unions, personnel and training bodies and has the task of developing standards for those people actively involved in the employment relationship. It is anticipated that occupational health and safety will be included under this umbrella before the end of 1997. The TUC took part in two major workshops as part of the general review of the occupational standards for which the EOSC is responsible and the specific review of the standards in the professional Officer S\NVQs.

10.5 European partnerships

The TUC increased its participation in a range of European partnerships during 1996\7. It provided participants and tutors for a range of courses organised by the European Trade Union College (ETUCO) including the flagship European Training Course in partnership with LO Denmark, OGB and CFDT. This course gives young professional officers an understanding of the structures and policies of the European Union and significant developments in European industrial relations issues. The TUC also hosted a specialist 5 day seminar on part time working in partnership with LO- Sweden. This seminar focused on the challenges involved in recruiting, retaining and representing part time workers and planned a strategy for pert time working which would accommodate real choice for those working part time.

The NEC was also a partner in a number of European-funded programmes including Leonardo programmes, European Works Council training materials, the development of a European qualification for professional officers and a programme on the development of distance learning using information technology.

The NEC also hosted three week long study programmes for the Austrian OGB with a total attendance of 108 students.

Course statistics

Table 1: National Course Programme 1996

Course Number Men Women Total
Advocacy Skills 4 14 9 23
European H & S 1 7 2 9
Databases 1 4 2 6
Desk Top Publishing 2 2 7 9
Employment Law 3 30 18 48
Employment Law Update 1 13 2 15
Education Methods 1 3 26 13 39
Education Methods 2 1 7 7 14
Equality Law 1 4 5 9
Industrial Tribunals 3 24 10 34
Windows 1 4 1 5
Managing Your Office 1 1 6 7
Management Techniques 1 4 3 7
Negotiating Pensions 1 8 2 10
Negotiating Skills 2 13 9 22
Pension Fund Trustees 1 9 1 10
Publishing on the Net 2 9 3 12
The Office Secretary 2 0 21 21
The Office Supervisor 1 1 2 3
Presentation Skills 2 8 8 16
Public Speaking 1 5 9 14
Preparing a Wage Claim 1 2 3 5
Radio Skills 1 4 2 6
Recruitment Strategies 1 5 0 5
Risk Assessment 1 8 2 10
Spreadsheets 1 4 1 5
Telematics Introduction 4 14 8 22
Telematics in Bargaining 1 7 4 11
Time Management 2 9 13 22
Small Claims Court 1 8 4 12
Training Needs Analysis 1 3 4 7
TV Skills 1 4 3 7
Using Computers 6 29 18 47
Financial Information 1 4 2 6
Using the Media 1 8 1 9
Totals 59 302 205 (40%) 507

Table 2: National Members Courses 1996

Course Men Women Total
Womens' Summer School 0 29 29
Equality at Work 5 3 8
Speaking in Public 8 4 12
Trade Unions and the Economy 7 4 11
Youth school 16 10 26
Totals 36 50 8

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