UNISON Ulearn Northern Ireland

I left school at 16 and went straight into work. I didn’t have any qualifications, but later got involved in youth and community work in the area. This allowed me to do my Stage 1 & 2 in youth & community work through Down & Connor Youth Council and I achieved my Sports for All Leader award.

I’ve been a caretaker here in St Marks for the past 17 years. I’ve been in UNISON since I started working here and after a few years I was asked by one of the branch officers if I’d be interested in doing the steward’s training because we had no shop steward. The course was very good, we had people from different unions there and we learned about employment law and unions more generally. It definitely gave me a bit of confidence.

The opportunity to do Return to Learn came up a few years ago. I liked the fact that I could get a qualification but really didn’t know what to expect. I was anxious about going in and sitting down in a group where I knew nobody, if there would be anyone there my own age – nearly 40. I thought there would be 19 year olds there and I’d be the only one my age. But the people there were like myself, older, some people from cleaning, some catering, some security at the universities. There were a couple of residential weekends, the learning was good and the craic was good as well, it was a chance to get to know people.

I put a lot of work into it but I still surprised myself because I got 6 credits at level 3 which is the highest you can get. It was difficult to come home from work and sit down to work on an assignment, but I was determined to complete it. Overall there was a great atmosphere, there were good discussions and people supported each other. It was a lot more enjoyable than school, no-one looking over your shoulder and it very easy going. We had a tutor who was good at explaining things and treated us as adults. The Return to Learn is a great course for anyone who has been out of education for a long time. If I can do it anyone can.

After that it gave me the confidence and I went on to do the ECDL and RSA exams. This year I’ve been elected Branch Education Officer and I’m hoping to encourage more people to access learning with UNISON.