UNISON Ulearn Northern Ireland

I’ve worked here for 15 years working in quality assurance and also waste monitoring. I left school a long time ago with 2 GSEs. I missed out at school because I went travelling with my family but qualifications didn’t seem as important back then. I had done various training since joining the Trust, but they were all work related. When I got the email about Return to Learn it looked like the thing to kickstart me back to learning. I’d often said to myself, I’d like to have 5 O levels. If I went for another job, my experience wouldn’t count because I don’t have the 5 GSCEs that they look for now, so I wouldn’t get in the door. Return To Learn was for me, a chance to see could I achieve them?

When I went to the first session, I was apprehensive because I wasn’t sure what it was going to entail. The tutor made everyone feel very much at ease and explained things very well, a very good approach. It was very interactive within the group. We had to write down all about ourselves and then hand it to someone else in the group. These were people that I’ve known for years but we discovered more about each other, what talents we have, what interests we have.

We had two residentials which were excellent. We did activities which encouraged us to see things from two different view points using role plays. I never thought I’d be able to get up in front of people and do that, but because we got to know everyone so well first, we trusted people, so I didn’t feel a fool, I know no-one would laugh at me. Where we were that evening, one of the girls brought a bodhran with her and we made our own entertainment, I did Irish dancing for the first time. The residential really adds to the course, people can be very distant sitting round a table, but going away together really allows people to get to know each other very well.

English isn’t my strong point and I found out different things about using English. I learned things that I probably did in school, but it was way in the back of my mind. I’m more conscious now of how I write, even emails, it’s improved my awareness of how I use English. I enjoyed doing the assignments, we had to write stories, did some Maths and had to do an interview with someone in relation to your job. I interviewed the site services manager, which was very interesting. We got a lot of feedback from the tutor on how to improve our work.

After the R2L I went and did an IOSH course, which I had to write assignments for, I think that If I hadn’t the R2L course behind me, I’d have found the IOSH course a lot more difficult. Last October I started an ECDL course here in the Trust. The R2L course is brilliant, I’d encourage anyone to do it, regardless of your age, or your qualifications, it was a very enjoyable learning experience.