Home > News > June 2006 > 09-Jun-2006

Unionlearn receives Skills for Life award

Bill Rammel MP, minister for lifelong learning was in Birmingham yesterday to present Unionlearn with an award to mark its work so far on the Skills for Life Whole Organisation Approaches project.

The project, which involves 35 'pathfinder' organisations, initially aimed at raising the profile of Skills for Life.

Along with Unionlearn and organisations like the Workers' Educational Association the other 35 'pathfinder' organisations are drawn from Further Education Colleges, work based training providers, voluntary and community organisations, prisons and the probation service, large employers such as Walkers snacks and Cummins engineering, and schools.

In its next stage the project wants to ensure that Skills for Life are no longer regarded as "add on" activities, but are integral to organisations at all levels. It aims to make literacy, language and numeracy provision central to the whole organisation.

Unionlearn says its learndirect centres have nearly doubled Skills for Life provision across the country in the past year (from 24 per cent of total enrolments in 2004/05 to 44 per cent in 2005/06).

Judith Swift, Unionlearn's union development manager said: "The project has provided the necessary focus for Skills for Life to become infused throughout the organisation. Centres are beginning to see Skills for Life as everyone's business.

"The award from the Department for Education, and the recognition from the QIA, is testament to how hard our learndirect centres have worked to implement all the new ways of working."

External link

Unionlearn

Training Reference is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.

More from Training Reference

Visit our awards feature for information and news about UK learning, training and development awards.

Training and development books

Discover books on a variety of training and development topics at the Training Reference Bookshop

Source suppliers

Visit the Training Reference Directory to view supplier details for a wide range of courses, products and services.

Sponsored links

Back to top