Education, work and social mobility in Britain’s former coalfield communities: reflections from an oral history project

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on an oral history project which focuses on former coalminers’ experiences of education and training. It presents the stories of five participants, all of whom undertook significant programmes of post-compulsory education during or immediately after leaving the coal industry and achieved a degree of social mobility over the course of their working lives. The paper compares and contrasts their experiences with those which now exist in Britain’s former coalmining communities which, it is argued, have been substantively attenuated over time, especially for young men. Whilst it is evident that individual choice and motivation can play an important role in helping (or hindering) young people’s journeys through education and employment, the central argument of the paper is that individual labour market success lies at the intersection of structure and agency – although the data presented also demonstrate the extent to which opportunities available to young men in the former coalfields have been diminished by de-industrialisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• social mobility
• coalfield communities
• oral history

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In England, grammar schools were intended for children who would go into white collar or professional occupations. They were incrementally abolished from the 1960s onwards, although grammar schools still exist in certain parts of the country. The 11-plus was the examination pupils needed to pass to attend a grammar school. O-levels were Level 2 qualifications which were replaced by GCSEs in the late-1980s; A-levels still exist and have, since being introduced in the 1950s, been regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for university entry.

2. Norheart University is a prestigious institution now part of the Russell Group, a self-appointed interest group consisting of the most selective research-intensive universities in the UK.

3. Sandwich courses entailed blocks of attendance at a university or college sandwiched between periods of paid employment in industry or commerce. They were quite popular during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

4. Mining remained a significant if diminishing industry in the central coalfield (Yorkshire and the English Midlands) well after the closure of the rest of the industry, the last remaining collieries finally shutting in 2015.

5. FE colleges provide a diverse range of learning opportunities in adults and young people over the minimum school-leaving age of 16. This includes academic courses, special needs education, and learning for leisure and pleasure but their main raison d’ etre has always been vocational and work-related education and training.

6. Higher National Certificates are Level 4 work-related courses of higher education which have now been largely replaced by foundation degrees in England. Ordinary National Certificates were Level 3 programmes.

7. HS2 is a high-speed railway project originally intended to connect London with other major cities in the Midlands and the North of England. The ‘northern leg’ of the project was recently abandoned.

8. Sparkwell University is, like Norheart University, a member of the Russell Group.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no funding for the research upon which this paper is based.