Achieving Industrial Democracy. via non formal education
| Pages | 20-24 |
| Published date | 01 January 1980 |
| Date | 01 January 1980 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054942 |
| Author | Liz Chell,Derrick Fielden |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Achieving Industrial
Democracy
via
non
formal education
by Liz Chell*
and Derrick Fieiden†
Introduction
In this article we deal with the implications of rapid
technological change for the individual at the place of
work in particular, but also somewhat more generally
with regard to the extension of his leisure time. We
argue that rapid technological change is inevitable, and
that employees must develop some means of coping with
such change. We suggest that there are two such means:
one is through an extension of industrial democracy;
and the other is through an entirely new initiative to
extend education to the place of work. Moreover we also
argue that these two means are not mutually exclusive
but intimately linked. Industrial democracy is not likely
to be achieved, excepting through an extension of educa-
tion at the place of work, and secondly, the concept of
education per se should be given particular sensitive
treatment. We are dealing with recurrent education at
shop floor level in industry and, as such, an important
assumption we make is that recurrent education does
not mean "more of the same thing", for example, by
simply increasing the number of non-vocational classes
in Adult Education Centres, vocational courses in Fur-
ther Education Colleges and ITB training at the place
of work. It means that engaging in education intermit-
tently throughout life is accepted as relevant to people
of all classes and occupations, and that work and
learning can recur naturally during an adult's life span.
It emphasises the individual's capacity to organise his
own learning and requires much greater flexibility and
responsiveness from formal education than it shows at
present.
Thus the inevitable outcome of rapid
technological change which can now be
envisaged will be social change of
a fundamental kind
Thus the inevitable outcome of rapid technological
change which can now be envisaged will be social change
of a fundamental kind. These changes require a vast
amount of new learning. This should be understood as
the.
acquisition of new coping behaviours, more likely
to be developed as a result of conscious and unconscious
learning experience when taking on a new role, rather
than the learning of pre-existing and probably written
material, with an emphasis on cognitive content. This
is what is implied by "non-formal" education. We be-
lieve that the active encouragement of such a system
would be a radical departure from the existing system.
Non-Formal Education (NFE)
In Britain this term has not yet entered common par-
lance and still has an unfamiliar ring about it. We
suggest that it is valuable as a term which incorporates
all the structured learning which takes place outside the
purview of Ministries of Education and the like. On the
other hand, it does not encompass all learning which
human beings acquire during their lifetime, but only
that which has some deliberateness or intention. It is
surprising to discover the scale of NFE. Initially, most
people perceive Education to mean that which the for-
mal system provides in schools, colleges and universities.
But on reflection and after consideration of what people
actually do with their lives, one comes to realise that a
great deal of learning is organised by individuals and
groups in settings, and for purposes, outside the formal
system.
It seems that formal education represents the
visible tip of the iceberg and that NFE may well repre-
sent as much in proportion as that invisible mass of
ice below the water level.
We would suggest therefore that this NFE is essential
for an efficient society, certainly if it aims to be a
democracy. For example, it has long been recognised
that the effective functioning of voluntary societies and
clubs,
trades unions, political parties, and so on, depends
on the capacity of members to take on and learn about
new, and often exacting, roles. The society itself is
partly a learning environment for its members even
though its primary objective may be social, recreational
or political. In this article, we are concerned to show
that this can happen too — and needs to happen
—
with-
in the place of work.
Readers may wonder why the term non-formal is
employed. Informal is already well established in
educational circles as descriptive of a style of teaching.
It is possible to have informal approaches to teaching
and learning within the formal system; and, conversely,
formal approaches within the informal system. Some
industrial training has been constructed in this way.
3 An Industrial Interphase
Articles have appeared in the national newspapers,
programmes have been shown on the television, the
media have focused upon the problem of the advance
of silicon chip technology. The orientation that the
media have given to this "problem" may be wrong. For
example, in one article reported in The Guardian (1) it
was discussed as if the problem could be couched in
terms of understanding silicon chip technology per se.
This of course would be ridiculous and misleading
representation of what the problem is all about. Put
simply, the problem is the ability of the majority of us
to understand in depth the social problems and conse-
quences which may be caused by the advance of silicon
chip technology. In the broadest terms one could say
*Lecturer in
Organisational
Behaviour,
University
of
Salford
†Senior
Lecturer,
Department
of Adult
Education,
University
of
Nottingham
20 Employee Relations,
2,1
1980
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