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What is the Future of Learning at Work Week?
Learning at Work Week is an annual campaign that aims to raise awareness of the benefits of learning in the workplace for employers and employees. The campaign started as a one day event in 1999 and has become a key part of Learning and Development activities in companies across England. Now 15 years on, the event has expanded to greater scales with ambitious plans for future growth.
Findcourses.co.uk caught up with Tricia Hartley, Chief Executive of the Campaign for Learning, to find out where the national charity see the annual Learning at Work Week going in the future.
Where do you see Learning at Work Week (LAWW) going in the future?
Going UK wide
One of the goals we have for the future is to make Learning at Work Week a UK wide event, we are keen on trying to consolidate activities through the four administrations and expanding on it this way. We have had some links already into Scotland, a little bit in Wales but almost nothing at the moment in Northern Ireland. This would help a lot of companies that work UK wide and that are already doing activities for LAWW in several offices across Great Britain. Of course the systems and funding elements work differently in the four countries, but it should not be beyond the bounds of possibility to organise something that meets company’s needs.
Getting the message out there
Another aspect of taking LAWW further is expanding on the work that Findcourses.co.uk has been doing, such as making training providers aware of the possibilities for them, and also for colleges and helping them see what they can get out of it. Some colleges are currently involved and tweet about their activities, but most aren’t. I’m really pleased about the partnership that we have with the Association of Colleges as this is a step in the right direction towards them pointing out to their members the value in LAWW. If the Association of Colleges is doing that for colleges, and Findcourses is pointing out the value to training providers then we’re getting the message out there.
Helping companies think outside the box
LAWW is really good opportunity to continually promote and expand on the idea that it’s is an opportunity and a space for companies to really experiment and try new things – something risky, something different to see if it works. Trying things during LAWW that are linked to your business objectives means you can build on new ideas and strategies in the future. LAWW is the opportunity to think outside of the box, do something unusual, and make the most of some of the opportunities like digital tools that are out there to help learning. Thinking wider about collaboration is going to be key for the future of LAWW.
Improving collaboration
The Learning Connections theme that we had in 2014 helped companies to think outside of their own organisations and thinking how they could collaborate with other departments or other companies in their industry. Last year, one of the award winners was a company in Oldham that had opened up their learning centre to other local organisations, and the community. They are based in a very deprived area where skills levels were very low, and opening their doors between 9-5 to the local community and allowing people to use their computers, with people helping them learn new skills had a huge impact on many people. This was a successful partnership between the company and their union.
In the future we’d like to pull together Business Parks to get more involved in LAWW as they can bring many companies together in one area that can all learn from each other if they collaborate more closely.
Impacting the wider community
Other interesting outcomes from LAWW are companies linking their involvement to CSR. This year one company ran a speed networking event for young people in a local school, where students could go into the company and representatives talked to them about different jobs at the company and how they got started in their careers. Another company explicitly linked their LAWW to volunteering and CSR activities for their staff. LAWW can have real benefits for the local community as employees go out and actively seek to spread learning opportunities.
Being part of everyday for everyone
As the event has expanded from a day to a week already in 2014, it could well be a month in the future – although that would be an awful lot of organising! The vision we have for the future is that everyone will have the opportunity to learn something new everyday and that learning cultures are established and considered normal in all workplaces.
Find out more about Learning at Work Week
Findcourses.co.uk works in partnership with the Campaign for Learning to help promote LAWW and help companies organise events with training providers. Find out everything you need to know in our Guide to Learning at Work Week, find out about the Campaign for Learning and read Case Studies in our dedicated guide.