Building Learning Lincs

Today Lincoln MP Karen Lee and UNISON Assistant General Secretary, Roger McKenzie, will launch UNISON’s Learning Lincs project to support the training of public service workers across the county. 

Lincolnshire public sector employers will gather to listen to UNISON’s union learning representatives (ULRs) outline what they are providing. The ULRs, who work in schools, hospitals, councils and the police service have come together to look at ways to support members with education issues. They have already run a wide variety of courses aimed at increasing confidence, dealing with stress and supporting them at work, and they hope to build on this success by continuing to work together. 

Their aim is to find out what members want to learn and help them to do that. That could be helping them find the right course, advertising learning grants or even organising courses themselves.

Many of our members are not aware of what learning is out there, lack the confidence to come forward or maybe can’t afford the costs. Our job is to support them in whatever way we can, either by giving encouragement, finding funding or setting up a course that’s easy for them to get to. For some, this is the only education they have access to.

– Nigel Wass, police community support officer and UNISON learning rep

In the past year the ULRs have organised:

  • Confidence courses in Spalding, Horncastle and Lincoln
  • a Managing Stress course in Lincoln
  • a Children’s First Aid course in Grantham
  • a Dementia Awareness workshop with the Open University in Skegness
  • a Deaf Awareness course in Spalding

and much more.

In addition, ULRs have spread the word about UNISON learning grants and have enrolled dozens of members onto distance learning courses and helped them gain qualifications.

Before becoming MP for Lincoln I’d been a nurse for 14 years. During that time I came to recognise how vital education is in order to provide excellent public services. I became a UNISON union learning rep and am proud of the courses we ran across the county and am delighted to launch this project which is a great benefit to the people of Lincolnshire.

– Karen Lee MP

Want to know more about the Learning Lincs project? You can download the project’s launch newsletter here.

For more information about member learning in the East Midlands, contact Gavin McCann, UNISON regional learning and development organiser.

UNISON assistant general secretary Roger McKenzie and Karen Lee MP at the Learning Lincs launch

UNISON assistant general secretary Roger McKenzie and Karen Lee MP at the Learning Lincs launch

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