National Education Union praises The Centre for facilitating ‘seamless adjustment’ during pandemic

The largest education union in Europe (@NEUnion) has praised training provider The Centre (@CSCTheCentre) for facilitating its seamless adjustment to the conditions caused by the pandemic, adding that its training over the years has had a tangible, long-term and positive impact on the organisation.

The National Education Union (NEU), an amalgamation of the legacy NUT and legacy ATL unions, was formed in September 2017. The NEU is the largest education union in Europe, supporting and representing more than 450,000 members, including the majority of teachers. Trainees, newly qualified or experienced teachers, lecturers, support staff or leaders, working in every sector across the UK, including local authority, academy and independent schools, sixth form colleges and FE/HE are all supported by the NEU.

Part of the NUT since June 2017, The Centre began working with the NEU in 2018, resolving enormous uncertainty around the amalgamated organisation by giving staff the skills necessary to compete for the roles available. The Centre showed themselves to be responsive, professional and effective, taking time to understand the organisation’s specific culture and challenges and supporting it through training around recruitment and selection, grammar and punctuation, handling complaints, time management and unconscious bias, among many other areas.

During the pandemic, The Centre facilitated a seamless adjustment to the conditions created by the pandemic, supporting the transition to remote and flexible work, and responding to new challenges as and when they arose. The NEU says invaluable support from the centre has contributed to bringing the union closer together during the pandemic.

The Centre also worked closely with managers and other senior union staff, allaying fears and giving them the tools to adapt to a volatile world with confidence. They kept to their high standards while making life easy for staff at a difficult time.  Many staff members have chosen to take The Centre’s open courses voluntarily in order to develop existing skills and learn new ones.

Learning and Development Manager Siji Abiodiun, MCIPD, said,

“When the NUT and ATL came together, The Centre took nothing for granted, despite its historical relationship with the NUT.

“Since then, it has been a loyal partner of the union, providing excellent and tailored training interventions proactively and reactively, communicating constantly, and embracing feedback from our team. It is human nature to want life to be made easy for you, and The Centre does exactly that.”

“During the pandemic, they supported us as we adjusted to a radically changing and volatile world. We consider them an important contributor to our success and continued evolution as a union.”

James Pearson, Apprenticeship Director at The Centre said:

“We have a longstanding partnership with the NEU and we are proud to support the work they are doing.

“We have strived to support them as they have grown and faced new challenges, and we are pleased to be able to say that our programmes have had such a positive effect on the organisation. 

“We hope to continue to work with the NEU as they go from strength to strength and remain their trusted training partners.”