GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

evening meals. There is a bar. People can take about those issues and carry

on talking about them as well, particularly for those ESOL students, those

students whose first language is not English. The amount of opportunities that

gives them to upskill those languages, particularly if you are in Yorkshire where

we have all kinds of weird idioms and every place that you go will have those

odd little phrases that they do not always pick up. When they are surrounded

by people they will and that is the sort of thing that helps them settle in the

workplaces.

Great networking opportunity for local branch as well, the amount of times that

people do not know there is a branch nearby that they can get involved in.

There are maybe a couple of people that work for the same workplace, but

maybe 200 miles apart and have different terms and conditions. Why, if it is

the same employer? They start connecting that way. As I say, there is 800

acres. We are very fortunate that MPs will visit as well. Local MPs will come in

and speak to trade unionists about how they have got into and another avenue

potentially for them. As I say, there is an award winning library. Enrichment

activities. We do stuff on an evening. There is a bar, but other things happen.

The accreditation and, again, Paul touched on that one. 65% of our trade

union students arrive without a qualification above level 1. This is the first

qualification they have got. I was the same when I left school, left with nothing.

The first qualification I got was a trade union one and that meant something to

me. That certificate at the end really meant something to me and I genuinely

believe it means something to our students as well. There is the chance for

progression, there is stage 1 and stage 2, and the other things that go on. We

have a brilliant language support, an ALS as well, adult learning support for

people with mental health, anxiety, dyslexia, dyscalculia. That support is

instant. It is next door to us. Having worked at other colleges, sometimes it

can take two and three weeks to be assessed. At our college we are kind of

used to dealing with students that are outliers, so that support is in place within

an hour or two.

The quality of the teaching as well, 100% of students rate the quality of

teaching on the course as excellent or good, which again I think that is another

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