Case studies

Case study one: Croxteth Hall and Country Park

Polly Barry from Liverpool Community College approached Irene Vickers who is the manager at Croxteth, with details of a possible project with her staff. The project involved providing basic skills provision for staff at the workplace. Irene was happy for Polly to talk to the staff and see who was interested. She also advised Paul Hobday who is the learning representative at Croxteth on what Polly was offering.

Paul having attended briefings on basic skills run by TUC Learning Services (formerly Bargaining for Skills) knew the benefits of basic skills training for his members and encouraged them to attend the talk that Polly was to give. Twenty staff attended the first meeting and expressed an interest in learning, some people where interested in basic skills and some in IT training.

What the learners thought about the programme

"It is nice to get an opportunity to learn at work something that I have needed to do for many years in. I was nervous about the whole course at first, but soon realised that everybody else was too, so we sought of overcame our fears together as a group."

What the union rep thought about the programme

"The reaction of my members has been brilliant. Apart from the enjoyment they got from the course, it gave many of them an opportunity to use computers for the first time and realise they don't actually bite!"

What the manger thought about the programme

"Basic Skills was something very new to me at first, and I would probably hold my hands up and admit that I wasn't totally sure what it was all about. However, having witnessed the courses taking place and the reactions of the learners to the courses, I have seen a fairly major change in the way my staff are working. Many of them are communicating a lot better than before, particularly with management, and the confidence of a number of staff members has increased immensely."

Case Study Two: Ford Motor Company

Monday morning in August, and instead of starting work on the production line at Fords Halewood, 838 workers are bussed to Knowsley Community College to start a two-week personal employability programme. The programme has been designed to help workers improve their Maths, English and IT skills.

The two weeks at college is only one part of a re-training project set up to prepare the workers for the transition from producing the Ford Escort to Jaguar X400-dubbed the 'Baby Jag'. The new car will require improved production techniques and as such place more demands on production workers.

Feelings were mixed and some workers were apprehensive of what lay in store for them, many had not been involved in education for some years, but the friendly and professional staff at the college created a relaxed and informal environment. The staff at the college had nothing but praise for the Fords workers.

"This has really blown away the cob webs" and "now I can help the kids with the homework" were just two of the comments overheard by two of the senior stewards when they walked around some of the classes.

The trade unions on the plant supported the programme and were keen to see their members given the opportunity to improve their skills. They worked in conjunction with the TUC's Learning Services North West and were on hand to offer confidential support and advice to all members.

One of the stewards from the TGWU said, "Our members were quite wary of the underlying reasons behind the course. Some members thought that these courses might be used to identify people without the necessary skills to work on the new Jag and thus lead to them job losing their job? Through the work with the TUC Learning Services and our own work within the company, our members' fears were allayed and response to the courses warmed considerably."

On speaking to some members about their feelings, the overwhelming response was very, very positive. Many of the people had left school with little or no qualifications. Many had never touched a computer before and were quite fearful of them. However, by the end of course this had changed substantially.

A TGWU steward was quite overwhelmed by the response of the learners: "I cannot get across to you how much the vast majority of people enjoyed this course. Even the more cynical members have approached me saying what a good, enjoyable experience this fortnight has been."

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