Raymond Williams and the new industrial trainers: a critique and a proposal

Raymond Williams was a literary critic, sociologist, novelist, and political activist but above all teacher, with theory of education as societal process running through his work. He styled the UK’s educational establishment 1960s ‘Old Humanists’; guardians dominant elite culture who were losing their influence to new ‘Industrial Trainers’, harbingers an economic order based on mass production consumption for which technical skills needed. The eclipse Old Humanists occurred transition from higher increasing focus in degree curricula ‘employability’. Yet England, qualification is now under challenge, government policy promoting qualifications specific occupations better options many learners would otherwise choose ‘academic’ degrees. However, this turn reflects thinking more akin Williams’ twentieth century Industrial Trainers than twenty-first needs. These are likely be met by mixed interweaved ‘technical’ learning provided portfolios modules built up over time, including progression between levels study that not necessarily linear nor within same subject or occupational area.