Not enough time to learn, says TUC

Citation

(2001), "Not enough time to learn, says TUC", Education + Training, Vol. 43 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2001.00443cab.001

Not enough time to learn, says TUC

Not enough time to learn, says TUC

Keywords: Training, Work scheduling, Industrial relations

Many people in the UK work such long hours that they rarely have time for training, says the Trades Union Congress general secretary John Monks. At a TUC conference which called on employers to give their staff paid time off to study, he pointed out that UK employees work the longest hours in Europe. Workers on the Continent are better skilled and get time off to learn. John Monks said: "The UK lags behind much of Europe on skills. In most other European countries, employees are able to combine work and training and get time off to brush up on their skills. In the UK, with our long working days combined with family commitments, it is hardly surprising that many workers cannot find the time to study. If employers were to start giving their staff paid time off to train, I am sure bosses and workers would begin to reap the benefits almost immediately."

The TUC has produced a leaflet offering unions and employers tips on how to get the best from learning at work. It says that:

• •

  a joint union-employer approach is the best way to tackle learning;

• •

  a team of union learning representatives provides invaluable support to reluctant or nervous learners;

• •

  training providers should conduct a learning audit, assessing what and how people would most like to learn;

• •

  unions and employers should think about opening up workplace-learning centres to a wider audience – perhaps letting the friends and family of workers, retired employees, or even staff working in small firms nearby, join in.

A recent TUC survey of union learning representatives – 2,000 of whom have been trained by the TUC on how to spread the learning message – found that, although 70 per cent felt that they had made a positive impact on learning in their workplace, the one factor they felt would increase the number of workplace learners was paid time off for learning.