Home > News > November 2005 > 14-Nov-2005

TUC appoints union academy chief

The TUC's union academy has taken another step towards inception with the appointment of its chief executive.

Liz Smith, the TUC's current head of learning services, will head up the new union academy - a project that aims to bring together all the learning and training the TUC offers.

The TUC believes the academy will transform workplace training for staff throughout England and Wales. The new project, which kicks off in April 2006, aims to offer guidance on training for employers and employees with courses ranging from skills like reading, writing and numeracy to MBAs at colleges, universities and workplaces.

The TUC are planning a new helpline and website to provide further help, and are looking to use the academy as a think tank and a skills research centre. The academy will also provide and coordinate all the training for union reps and officers.

Liz Smith has spent most of her professional life working in education and trade unions. In 1998 she co-ordinated the TUC task group that created union learning reps and a government fund to help unions get more and better training for members (the union learning fund).

Union learning reps are union members who advise their colleagues on the learning opportunities available to them at work. There are now over 12,000 learning reps.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "We are very fortunate to have secured such an experienced and talented individual to lead the TUC's new academy as we revolutionise the learning at work agenda.

"The new academy will provide a major boost to the quantity, quality and coherence of the training available to the workforce. The work done by the union movement has impacted massively on the lives of countless members and their families. The academy is a crucial step forward to improving thousands more lives, recruiting more union members and building stronger trade unions."

Liz Smith, who was awarded an OBE for services to lifelong learning in 2000, said: "I am delighted to be appointed as chief executive of such a dynamic and exciting new venture for the trade union movement.

"The union academy is going to transform training at work in this country with the individual having a far greater say in demanding the training they need. Having been involved in unions and education for most of my working life I know first hand the difference a little education can make to a person's life. I am looking forward to helping thousands more people lead better lives through training at work"

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