Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The survey of students attending day-release in Autumn 1977 (Study number 1234) lacked any explanatory power of why individuals in the target audience who were aware of the Trade Union Studies Project and/or had seen some publicity decided not to become involved. This sort of problem became more relevant as it became increasingly obvious that the Project was not attracting the numbers of students that its originators had envisaged. The research project had, at the beginning of 1978, only surveyed representatives who were currently experiencing a particular kind of trade union education and were thus, presumably, already effectively tied in to the publicity network. This not only left out representatives who had not experienced trade union education but also branch officials and other active trade unionists who do not actually hold representative posts entitling them to paid educational leave for T.U.C. courses. Reaching this group became even more imperative as time wore on and growing contacts with lay representatives made it more obvious that their attitudes to trade union education in general and `own-time' study in particular would be significant in evaluating the `penetration' of the Project. The `penetration' survey, then, was used both to get such basic information and to structure a discussion at branch and other trade union representative meetings.
Main Topics:

The questionnaire asked whether people had any experience of trade union education and, if so, what kind, i.e. postal course, day release, in plant etc., and their general attitudes to trade union education. It sought their knowledge of and involvement in the Project; asked which kinds of courses they preferred to attend, and checked how far they would be prepared to study in the way demanded by 'Trade Union Studies'.