Education
Welcome to the CWU
Education & Training Department web area. By navigating around
this page and by clicking on the various links, you will find a
great deal of useful information regarding the work we do on behalf
of CWU members.
From details of your Regional contact for Lifelong Learning, to how to set up a Regional activist course, you can find it here. However, if you can't find what you're looking for, or you need to speak to us direct, please contact us here.
The CWU would summarise the aims of its education programme as follows:
- To provide members with the skills required to negotiate effectively with management and to ensure effective influence on decisions important to members at the workplace;
- To fight discrimination by encouraging greater participation in union activities, especially by women and ethnic minorities;
- To assist the CWU in carrying out its responsibilities to represent its members' interests;
- To promote workers' solidarity in the world and to develop and strengthen free and democratic unions;
- To encourage CWU members to develop their own educational potential in order to better serve the trade union and labour movement.
There are two main strands of work that the CWU Education & Training Department is involved in. These are Activist Education & Training and Lifelong Learning.
The Education & Training Department has a team of people dedicated to helping CWU Branches take advantage of learning opportunities. To find out more about them and who may be able to help you, please click here.
: Lifelong Learning
The CWU is a
leading player in developing Lifelong Learning opportunities for
our members and their families. We even have our own dedicated
website dealing with the issue at www.cwueducation.org. The union believes that
education can transform the lives of working people for the better
and is committed to providing all our members with opportunities to
learn. We have developed a nationwide network of Learning
Centres.
Our aim is to deliver the courses our members want in a manner that fits in with their home and work life. Courses currently being delivered include IT courses, English & Maths refreshers, Communication Skills, English for Speakers of Other Languages, British Sign Language and conversational Spanish. CWU courses are generally offered to members at greatly discounted prices - often they are free!
Our learning centres are supported by a network of Union Learning Reps who are committed to supporting their fellow members' learning journey. Many of them have become learning reps after experiencing what union learning has done for them. For more information on ULR's, click here to find out more.
To find out where your nearest learning centre is, please click here.
Activist Education & Training
The Department has two education and training centres - Alvescot Lodge which is situated on the edge of the Cotswolds, and the Elstead Hotel in Bournemouth.
After a £1.5 million refit and 18 months of construction work, Alvescot Lodge, opened in July 2009 in sparkling condition. Situated twenty miles west of Oxford, it boasts freshly decorated learning spaces kitted out with the latest technology, including a bespoke IT room, a brand new accommodation block with 24 en-suite rooms, a fully-renovated restaurant along with a bar and social areas. Alvescot sees 1,200 students pass through varied courses every year, mostly on a week-long residential basis. Contact details - Alvescot Lodge, Alvescot, Bampton, Oxon OX18 2PY. Tel: 01993 843373
The Elstead Hotel in Bournemouth is close to the sea, and other amenities are being used at the moment to deliver our core residential education programme. Contact details - Elstead Hotel, Knyveton Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH1 3QP. Tel: 01202 293071
We also run a large number of regionally based accredited courses for activists. Please contact Alvescot Lodge for further details.
The CWU enjoys an enviable reputation in the wider Trade Union and Labour movement for the excellence of its education and training programme. We recognise that properly targeted education and training will ensure that our reps develop the skills and confidence required to take part effectively in the industrial relations and broader political process.
Are you a committee member or a branch representative? Are you interested in equal opportunity issues? Are you interested in the industrial relations process? If the answer to any of the above questions is YES, please contact your branch secretary for details of how to benefit from the CWU's education and training programme. For an application form, and for a prospectus of our current residential courses for activists, please click here.
