Return to Learn is a learning and communications skills course with a high level of personal development and student guidance built into the course work. It was developed through a partnership between the WEA and the public sector union UNISON dating back to 1988. It can be accreditated through the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
The course has 60 hours of tutor-student contact, with learners expected to commit a similar amount of their own time to study.
Return to Learn opens up existing and new learning and career opportunities. The course is designed for workers who have few or no formal qualifications, who have had a poor experience of the education system, or who have been way from learning for a long time.
A survey of students in 2002 showed that:
- 80% were women.
- 42% were part-time workers.
- 91% left school age 16 or under.
- 76% earned less than the Council of Europe decency threshold.
The programme now operates throughout the whole of Scotland through support from the Scottish Executive Health Department and Social Work Services Inspectorate. The focus is on public sector workers; workers in private and voluntary sectors contractors to these services; and the utilities companies.
Link******** Return to Learn A Guide to Good Practice explains how the programme should be managed.
Skills escalator
The partners have extended the Learning at Work programme to offer starter and progression routes.
Starting Points is a 45 hour course, delivered in three hours per week. It covers form filling, report and letter writing, improving spelling and grammar, writing emails, calculations and using computers. SQA qualification is available at Access 3 or Intermediate 1 Communications Skills.
Return to Learn is a 60 hour course, delivered in ten full day sessions one day per fortnight. It covers study skills and techniques, report writing, critical thinking exercise, personal development and confidence building and using numbers. SQA qualifications are available at Intermediate Level 2 Communication Skills and Intermediate Level 1 Personal Development Skills.
Improve Your Study Skills provides an insight into contemporary health care issues, while at the same time allowing students to develop their skills in note taking, essay writing and over all communications skills, as preparation for further study. SQA qualification is available at Core Skill Higher in Communication Skills.
Other courses include Introduction to Computers and Women's Lives.
Link to the Grid *********
Lifelong Learning Adviser Courses are delivered by the WEA for UNISON activists through their Scottish Union Learning Fund.
Home Office Refugee Project
The WEA is a learning provider on the UNISON Home Refugee Learning Project funded by the Home Office. The project provides a high-quality and sustainable infrastructure of learning at work for refugees interested in working in the health and social care sectors. Learning aims include awareness of active citizenship, English as a second or other language and intercultural awareness, both within the refugee group and between that refugee group and the wider population.
Work with other trade unions and employers
Adaptations of Return to Learn and Starting Point courses to meet the needs of other trade unions have been offered. The Return to Learn Team work closely with our Workplace Literacy Tutor Organisers who have developed a wide range of trade union and employer contacts.
Find out more in the Adult Literacies pages