EIS Glasgow Learning Rep, Liz Russell, was nominated for, and won, the STUC’s Helen Dowie: Union Learning Rep of the Year Award for 2025-26.

This award, which is administered by Scottish Union Learning, celebrates the life and work of Fife-born activist Helen Dowie, who was active in the trade union and union learning movements for all of her adult life, and was instrumental in helping trade unions develop early forms of union learning representatives.

Liz is a secondary teacher of English in Glasgow City Council, an active member of EIS Glasgow’s Local Association, and has also been an accredited EIS Learning Representative for a number of years. She undertook the diploma course for this role in 2020, during a period of lockdown as a way of continuing her professional learning when access to in-person opportunities had ceased.

When I put myself forward for this role, it was to help and support other members.

On completing the course, Liz has continued to be incredibly active in the role and a strong advocate for teacher-led professional learning ever since. On her motivations for undertaking the role, Liz said, “When I put myself forward for this role, it was to help and support other members.”

Liz has been instrumental in meeting this goal of supporting her fellow members with their professional learning needs, particularly in the context of Additional Support for Learning (ASL), and has delivered excellent sessions for local members on meeting diverse classroom needs.

This provision of support links directly to the EIS’s Stand Up for Quality Education campaign which highlights the impact of the under-resourcing of ASL on teachers and on learners, the challenges of striving to meet the range and complexity of needs in the classroom, the impact on teacher workload, and the imperative for high quality professional learning to support teachers in this endeavour.

Members in Glasgow who have attended Liz’s professional learning sessions have reported that they found the sessions to be engaging and supportive. Commenting, Jane Gow, Local Association Secretary for EIS Glasgow said, “Her courses were really to help out her colleagues in the classroom. To be able to have Liz offer courses, within the EIS, to her colleagues, was just fantastic.”

The scaffolding approach offered by Liz, supplemented by signposting to further resources, has meant that members who attend her professional learning twilight sessions feel supported, both during the session, and afterwards through accessing professional reading.

Liz also facilitates ongoing professional, collegiate discussion during these sessions, and ensures that all members feel able to participate and share experiences and knowledge, regardless of how long they have been teaching. Liz’s sessions have also allowed for increased engagement with the wider Local Association, and have acted as a gateway for members to engage with wider trade union structures.

Liz’s sessions have also allowed for increased engagement with the wider Local Association, and have acted as a gateway for members to engage with wider trade union structures.

On this, Andrea Bradley, EIS General Secretary, said, “Professional learning is a way of reaching out to members and bringing them into the activity of the union. The good thing about the work that Liz has been doing over the last few years is that there’s a very strong connection to the EIS’s major campaign, Stand Up for Quality Education, and a major component of that is pressing for additional funding for additional support needs provision in Scotland’s schools.

And part of that additional funding has to be about providing the requisite professional learning for teachers. Liz has very much been helping to set that agenda and showing local authority employers the importance of teachers having that professional learning.”

Liz is an active and well-respected member of the EIS’s Learning Reps Network, where she frequently contributes to discussions on good practice, sharing at the termly meetings. She has been cited by other members of this network as a frequent source of support, particularly to newer Learning Reps, and those dealing with the challenges of ever-restricted facility time amidst a context of detrimental cuts to teacher numbers across the country.

Liz has clearly demonstrated ongoing professionalism and commitment to the Learning Rep role, and to supporting her fellow members in accessing impactful and relevant professional learning and in sharing good practice.

The EIS is delighted that Liz’s commitment to this role has been recognised by her trade union colleagues at the STUC and Scottish Union Learning. Commenting on Liz’s award win, Andrea Bradley, EIS General Secretary, said, “She puts in a power of work, on behalf of our members, on behalf of the EIS, and we are hugely grateful to her for that.” Congratulations to Liz!

If you are interested in becoming a Learning Rep for your Local Association or FELA Branch, please contact Zoe O’Rourke on zorourke@eis.org.uk