I am currently a tutor for the General Federation of Trade Unions Educational Trust, and I lead two courses in GFTU’s excellent programme of political and labour movement education. You can see the full GFTU programme here, including information about how to enrol.

The two courses I lead are:

Trade Union Leadership and Innovation Programme (TULIP)

This is a programme for senior and middle leaders working in trade unions, linked to the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). The programme has an accreditation option through City and Guilds for those who wish to gain a Level 4 Certificate from the ILM. The programme runs over 5 two-day sessions, based at GFTU’s headquarters in Leicestershire. Sessions focus on leadership and management, managing people, health and safety, finance and leading change. The course engages with, and critically evaluates, several key management theories while locating these ideas within the specific context of trade unions as member-led democratic organisations that seek to bring about improvements in working lives and wider social change.

If you want to learn more about the programme and how it works, contact me for an informal chat.

‘Lessons in Organising‘

This course is based on key ideas about trade union organising that are presented in the book ‘Lessons in Organising: What trade unionists can learn from the war on teachers‘ (Verso, 2023). The book was written by GFTU General Secretary Gawain Little, education activist Ellie Sharp, NEU Deputy General Secretary David Wilson and myself. It is a two day course, based at GFTU’s headquarters in Leicestershire, with individual enrolment (free to members of GFTU affiliated unions). However, there is also an option to commission a bespoke version of the programme that can be delivered elsewhere if your trade union organisation can recruit a viable number of participants. The course is intended for anyone in the trade union movement who wants to think more deeply about union organising as the key to building union power. It explores key organising ideas (both from the book, and from elsewhere) and considers how these might be applied in different industrial contexts.

For an informal chat about the course, or the possibility of commissioning a bespoke version for your union organisation, please contact me.