New Trade Union Education Curriculum Agendas

Post-war British trade union education was pioneered in University adult education departments from the 1960s, utilising liberal adult education processes and developing methodologies to support active collective collaborative learning. Those traditions were eroded from the 1980s by TUC priorities for short training courses for shop stewards, largely provided in FE, and by employer and Government hostility. Since 1997, there has been some growth in trade union education provision which has been largely reactive to funding and has mostly passed HE by. There is no evidence that current provision is the result of strategic planning.

The project will use focus groups and questionnaires amongst key constituencies to assist in the identification of need for new curriculum areas and learning methods to meet the changed needs of trade unions. The results will be disseminated amongst both trade union and educational networks, and also by seminars at Northern College and UNL.