Overview

The Trade Unions Congress is the world's oldest trade union parliament. Although it is better known for involvement in industrial action, such as the General Strike of 1926, its main endeavour has been to form policy that would improve working and living conditions for the majority of the population. The TUC has always seen education as the fundamental right for people and taken a passionate interest in every aspect of the system: nursery, primary, secondary, further, adult and higher; as well as the supporting welfare services such as medical inspection and school meals. This book explains the philosophy of the TUC Education Committee, which fuelled its drive to expand educational opportunities for all: in particular free secondary education for all and the establishment of schools that would treat all children as worthy of equal consideration in terms of facilities and opportunities. Comprehensive school was seen as an opportunity to bring children from different sections of society together, in the hope that a common curriculum and social integration would help establish a society that was less divided economically, socially and culturally. In the pursuit of this goal the TUC often found its ideas in conflict with those of powerful pressure groups - such as the lobby for fee-paying schools and some sectarian groups - which sought to defend sectional interests. The TUC often won the educational argument, but it became clear by 1970 that any reforms gained were only temporary: influential groups reformed and were always ready to reclaim old privileges, even if the slogans used to justify them were new. The TUC's struggle to persuade governments that a sound education is a fundamental right for all people is therefore an ongoing struggle.

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<p>'It is a heart-warming record of a long march through the committees but reads like an adventure story.' - Adults Learning<p>'This book is an impressive piece of scholarship ... a formidable addition to the literature, one which will be sought after and should be on the shelves of any serious commentator on educational politics in Britain during the twentieth century and Clive Griggs is to be congratulated on it.' - Educational Review

'It is a heart-warming record of a long march through the committees but reads like an adventure story.' - Adults Learning 'This book is an impressive piece of scholarship ... a formidable addition to the literature, one which will be sought after and should be on the shelves of any serious commentator on educational politics in Britain during the twentieth century and Clive Griggs is to be congratulated on it.' - Educational Review

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