Introduction

This study covers the years 1926 to 1970 - from the General Strike to Labour's electoral defeat in 1970 and, by following on from an earlier volume covering the years 1868-1925, completes just over a century of involvement by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in education. To some extent writing the first volume was an easier enterprise, for the nearer one comes to the present so the amount of documentary material available increases dramatically. One result of this has been that whereas in the first volume it was possible to cover TUC campaigns regarding schooling for children and young people as well as education for trade unionists, with a few exceptions, it has not been possible to repeat the pattern this time. It was decided therefore at an early stage that education for trade unionists would be excluded and this decision was made easier by the fact that there were several books which already covered this area and there could be a question of repeating information already well established by such studies as A.J. Corfield's Epoch in Workers' Education; John Holford's Union Education in Britain; A TUC Activity; J.P.M. Millar's The Labour College Movement and Brian Simon's edited volume The Search for Enlightenment. This has also allowed certain aspects of other areas to be included such as further education, youth training and higher education. The study therefore concentrates upon the manner in which the Trades Union Congress, through its Education Committee, acted as a pressure group within the education system to campaign for improved educational opportunities for children and young people and the closely related welfare programmes which would make such provision effective.