Earlier this year, to mark Heart Unions week, we showed how Birkbeck recognises trade unions through offering a 10% discount for union members in partnership with Unionlearn. In this instalment of the blog, we’ll meet two students who have taken up the trade union discount at Birkbeck, to hear about why they have come to Birkbeck and what the discount means to them as trade union members.

Felix Hamilton is a member of Unite and is a former secondary teacher from Ghana who is in the second year of the BSc Criminology and Criminal Justice. He came to Birkbeck for a change of career.

“Birkbeck’s evening classes are perfect for working people in London. I work full-time as a health and safety inspector for a housing trust and also study full-time. It’s very difficult but I have to manage my time well. It’s not easy doing a full time course and working. It’s all about dedication and commitment. I couldn’t afford to do the full time course without working because I have other responsibilities so I couldn’t give up work, plus I wouldn’t get any other financial support. The discount is really helpful in that respect.

“I came out of teacher training college in 2002 so I had been out of education for a long time. I had done other distance courses but it had been over 10 years without being in the classroom.

“I’m studying Criminology and Criminal Justice because I love the criminal aspects of sociology and learning about human behaviour and how to solve crimes. I’ve been a victim of crime myself, and through my experience I was interested in why people commit crime and wanted to learn more. I had done a Forensic Psychology course before but now I’m learning more about the theory behind offending. Hopefully I can gain experience in the practical side through a career in the Probation & Prison Service after I graduate.”

Barney O’Connor was a rep for GMB which gave him a head start for the LLB course, and he is now in his second year of the Law (LLB) course at Birkbeck after having a difficult time at school:

“School didn’t work for me, I never enjoyed it. I am dyslexic then in my twenties I’ve also been diagnosed with ASD, dyspraxia and ADHD. I‘m bright, I’m clever, I’m just ‘not academic’. This year I got my first 2:1 and I feel great.

“One of the benefits of doing this and being older is that if I’d gone at 18 and failed a module like I did last year, I would have dropped out. Now I’m older, I’ve realised that not everything goes well first time and you just learn to keep on trying. I was told I would never read for pleasure as a kid so nobody would have expected this.

“I heard about Birkbeck through my trade union, GMB, because someone mentioned you could get a discount and then I found out that Birkbeck had a good Law School. I liked that Birkbeck looks at your background, what you’ve done in life, your work experience, trade union work. It just fit what I needed at the time, and it’s still working.

“The trade union discount helps to tell people what Birkbeck was, why it was set up and how it’s still connected to that. My interest in employment law got me here. Through being a trade union rep, I did training on health and safety and the law behind that but I’ve now had the chance to learn more about different areas of Law. I get excited when I talk about Law. I’ve found something academic which I enjoy and that’s never happened before. It’s improved me all round, helped me to deal with lot of stuff from the past, school-wise. Not everyone does law for the same reasons but if you’re involved with the trade union and you have the trade union mindset then it’s a way of keeping that going.”

Further information about the trade union discount can be found here: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/student-services/fee-payment/discounts

To find out more about the union learning project at Birkbeck and opportunities for trade union members, contact union-learning@bbk.ac.uk