GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

“Yes, you do. When education is done best you are already doing this, you are

exciting your members, you are making them think politically, you are allowing

their ideas to be validated”, because that for me is what good education is

about. It is not stuff that I try and put in your heads, it is recognising that you

are doing the stuff for yourselves anyway. One of the most humbling moments

I had, and quite exciting, was seeing the first few presentations for the level 4

course at Quorn Grange Hotel and just seeing the variety of stuff that people

were doing and the amazing approaches people were taking, but probably, as I

said, had not had them validated. They maybe thought they were cheating. I

remember when I first did an education course I was given a book to follow and

I went, “This ain’t going to work”, so I did it differently, but kept quiet about it,

because I thought I was not really meant to do this. It is only years later I

recognise the thing I did anyway is often sometimes the most valid. When I

saw what people were doing on that I was just inspired. I also went, “I can nick

a load of ideas here”, because that is what academics do, but, finally, the next

thing is I went, “The next book, which will be looking at how are we now?”

Probably the first book was celebrating some of the histories we have. I hope

the second book will actually say what are we doing now, how do we develop it

and going to that event just made me assured that it is already written, it just

needs to be put on paper. Thank you. (Applause)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mike. That is the book Mike is talking about. Doug

thinks we have got some copies if anybody does not know about the book or

has not read it. Now to another important partner for many years with the

GFTU. Please welcome Keith Gildart from Wolverhampton University.

PROFESSOR KEITH GILDART: Good afternoon and thanks again for inviting me to

the conference of the GFTU. I think it is my third BGCM now, so I am

becoming a familiar figure. I just wanted to open my little contribution here, just

echoing what some of the previous speakers have said about the importance of

trade union education. I was a student at Northern College for many courses

between about 1988 and then in 1990 I attended one of the long courses, a two

year course. I had come from activism, the National Union of Mineworkers and

I completed a diploma at Northern College and the memories that I have of that

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