Michael Newman: Dismay, Anger, Hate & Love

Having written books such as Defining The Enemy and Teaching Defiance it's no surprise that Michael Newman advocates a passionate and politically positioned role for adult educators. If we are educating to bring about social change he argues we must deal with strong emotions such as anger, hate and love. He also maintains we must acknowledge tensions in our beliefs; we may recoil from violence but we can't deny that sometimes it works to bring about change for the better. Far from being a firebrand Newman believes these strong emotions are the basis of a moral and principled approach to how we go about our role in activist and union education. He explored these ideas in a talk to union educators at the 2009 Trans Tasman Union Educators Conference in a large echoey room at Union NSW, Sydney.

Download podcast: 64kbps mp3 or 128kbps mp3

Michael Newman Aspects of Learning Podcast

Amongst the highlights of the 2009 Trans-Tasman Union Educators Conference were the two addresses from Michael Newman. Michael's talk were thought-provoking and, sometimes, controversial - in particular his comments about the place of hate in union education. Many of us found his talks inspiring and a catalyst for reflection on our practice as union educators. Many thanks to Michael for agreeing to have his talks recorded and made available on-line.

This is the first of two recordings. This talk on Aspects of Good Learning was delivered on the opening morning of the conference.



Download podcast: 64kbps mp3 or 128kbps mp3

Michael Newman Aspects of Learning

Unions On-Line Wiki

In conjunction with the workshop I co-presented at the Trans-Tasman Union Educators Conference in Sydney in November I have started a wiki as a collaborative space for union educators who are interested in supporting and encouraging on-line union engagement and activity.

The wiki is Unions On-Line. If you join you can edit and add content to the site. The principle behind the wiki is the same as the inspiration and purpose for this blog. However, I hope that the wiki format will encourage participation and collaboration amongst union educators. At the conference we utilised the wiki as a place to create a plan for an education module on introducing union members to twitter. One of the hopes I have for the wiki is that more of this type of sharing will occur. The wiki also allows for the working and philosophy of the development of education for on-line activity to be open and up for discussion. Please visit and consider joining to add your ideas.

This blog will remain as space for my musings on union education and on-line union activity.

Educating for Social Networking for Social Change

At the Australasian Union Educators Conference I'll be running a workshop on the role of union educators in educating and supporting people to utilise social networking and web tools for union activity. There are so many tools that allow people to come together on-line to discuss, debate and plan that it seems union activity and engagement should be an inevitable outcome. However, the on-line presence of many unions is flat and un-engaging, and even attempts to use Web 2.0 and social networking have often not had the pick-up or the impact we may have hoped for.

The problem may be that we just expect members to pick up these tools and use them successfully. Actually, just like any other organising we want our members to participate in, we need to have a clear purpose, develop understanding and support people's developing ability to use them if they are to be successful.

There are some particular issues to contend with - lack of web and tech skills amongst union educators, uncertainty about the involvement of educators in an area that may be seen as the doman of the webmaster, variable web access amongst members and nervousness about the lack of control over the views expressed to name a few. However, even if we can deal with these issues it still remains that we need to have a planned approach to encouraging worker engagement that is grounded in the same principles that shape our approach to union education for face to face organising.

Michael Newman

When I first started working as an educator in the union movement a colleague, Dr Joce Jesson, introduced me to a book by unionist and educator Michael Newman, The Third Contract. Over the last seven years I've returned to this book and others by Newman time and time again. Based on his experiences and observations as a union educator Newman describes the potential of union education to engage and empower in a way that I find deeply insightful and inspirational. Newman examines the relationships of power in union education and challenges educators do the same. He argues that the real power of union education is unleashed when educators adopt a radical stance envisioning the union not as the organisation they work for but as the sum of it's members. The Third Contract is a must-read for anyone working in the field of union or social change education and is available as a free pdf download from Michael Newman's website.

Michael Newman will speak at the Australasian Union Educators Conference 24-26 November 2009.

Using Video and YouTube

I've started a Union Education YouTube channel to collect togther videos that are either about, or could be used in union education. If you have suggestions of videos that could be added to the channel or ideas about how video and youtube can be utilised in union education please leave suggestions and discussions in a comment.

http://www.youtube.com/user/unioneducation

Just Another Cog in the Machine

Also worth a look is What Have Unions Ever Done For Us?