Royal Mail staff celebrate successful learning

Royal Mail staff in Springburn have taken part in a writing competition as part of an Adult Learners' initiative which was suppored by the Workers' Educational Association and the Communication Workers Union.

Over recent years, the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) has developed an excellent relationship with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at Royal Mail through participation in the Workplace Learning Steering Group.

The Royal Mail now have a first class learning centre in their Springburn mail centre, which was used as a base for the initiative.  The WEA has also increased the number of learners using the Springburn centre through the delivery of its adult literacy and numeracy programmes.

The Royal Mail, the CWU and the WEA worked together to organise a writing competition for staff based at the Springburn mail centre. The CWU also promoted the competition to its 600 members at the centre.  The CWU and WEA offered excellent prizes for those taking part, including a Nintendo DS, a day in lieu off work and £30 worth of book tokens.  Each entrant also received a complimentary £10 book token. 

The WEA organised weekly classes delivered by an experienced workplace literacies tutor.  Thirteen learners took part in the classes and ten learners submitted at least one story or poem for the writing competition.

WEA staff and the senior development officer for literacies and health with NHS Greater Glasgow served as judges, giving up their own time to read the stories and provide feedback for the entrants.  The level of effort and quality of the learners' work was such that the WEA plan to organise a similar event as part of the Aye Write! Book Festival later this year.

The award ceremony took place on Wednesday 18 November with most entrants attending. Union representatives also came as did managers from the Royal Mail. The Glasgow's Learning ALN Initiative was represented by the ALN co-ordinator and voluntary sector officer who announced the winners.  Each of the judges was available on the day to talk to the entrants.

Participants expressed they enjoyed taking part in the programme and competition.  One learner found the feedback from judges particularly useful stating: "Sharing the experience with others and hearing their stories has been a great plus for me. The judges' comments were invaluable. Putting my imagination to the test, along with others learners, was enlightening."

Another participant gained confidence noting: "After doing the course I feel I'm able to express myself through writing. It's made me more confident when it comes to writing stories and reading."

Another learner was inspired to get his writing published declaring:  "As far as I am concerned the course and the competition were excellent.  My goal was to start and finish a story which I did.  I also wanted to take up writing as a hobby but now I am more serious about it and would like to try and get my work published." 

Another participant enjoyed collaborating with colleagues stating: "The most successful thing I found was having my colleagues reading my story and enjoying positive feedback.  This was rewarding and made me glad I took part.  My original aim was to try and create a believable story which people could relate to and after reading the positive feedback from the judges, I feel I have achieved this."

The Royal Mail, the WEA and the CWU view this as an excellent example of successful partnership working.  It has raised awareness of literacies needs and inspired participation in literacies learning.  The initiative has helped developed the skills, confidence and creativity of the participants and proven that literacies learning can be fun.  The WEA plan to build on this success by organising more literacies provision aimed at less confident learners.