I never blogged about the National Student Learner Programme training I went on in early September. I was one of two allocated NEC members and, to tell the truth, didn’t really do that much during the three days. I didn’t really think it was worth writing a blog about.

But last week, I went on some FE Essentials training in Scarborough. I’ve now seen the two faces of NUS Training, and I want to draw out a few comparisons and differences.

It’s true that at NSLP, NEC members are there primarily as assistants and to organize evening entertainment. We don’t have too much of a role in the training itself, whereas at FE Essentials, NEC members take an active part in the training exercises. But I still saw enough at NSLP to allow me to conclude that something, to put it bluntly, ain’t right.

The NSL Programme trains student officers (just officers, not rank-and-file NUS members) in “key skills” – how to give presentations, use flipcharts, use OHPs and so on – with the overall aim of training them how to train others in these skills. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that knowing how to effectively use a flipchart isn’t a useful skill – but is this really a wise use of NUS’s money in these financially grim times? NUS used to get external funding to run NSLP, but that funding has since dried up and it’s been taken in-house. I don’t know how much it costs, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the figure represented a big chunk of the price of something like…I dunno…a national demonstration.

If NUS is going to spend money on training student officers in “key skills,” then that training has to maintain a close connection to the day-to-day political life of the union. It can’t just be abstract. If NUS training doesn’t help our members become better activists for free education, students’ rights and social justice then it’s not doing its job.

None of this is intended as an attack on the NUS staff who deliver NSLP training; they’re a dedicated bunch of people and they’re very good at what they do. But now that I’ve had the opportunity to compare NSLP to a different type of training programme, there are some inevitable conclusions I’ve been led to about the nature of the training that NUS should be delivering to our members. These criticisms are about the political (or apolitical) character of NUS training, not about the people who deliver it.

FE Essentials isn’t perfect, but it looks a lot more like the type of activist, campaign-focused training that I feel a union should deliver to its members. Delegates are trained in how to run effective campaigns, how to deal with college management, and given advice on how to make links with trade unions on campus.

The group of delegates on the course I attended were a pretty raw bunch, and some of them had only been elected as SU officers as recently as the previous week.

Some of them came onto the course not knowing what NATFHE was. They went away knowing just this, as well as what union represents support staff at their college, as well as how trade unions and students’ unions can work. Some delegates came onto the course with reflexes and instincts that were set to acquiescence when it came to conflicts with college management. They came away with reflexes set at least some way towards struggle.

At one point, delegates were asked to write “notes to Santa” that listed the things they’d most like improved or change at their institution. Several delegates, whose SU is called a “Students’ Association”, said that they wanted their “Association” to be called a union again. This might seem like something quite superficial but I think it’s illustrative of what proper, political training can achieve if its perspective gets right to the heart of what students’ unions are for and what they can do.

In short, NUS training should be about giving our members training in how to fight. FE Essentials, by and large, is. NSLP isn’t. So, when it comes to any future reviews and restructurings of NUS’s training programmes, if we want our training to produce better activists and not just better flipchart users, something’s gotta give.

In solidarity –

Daniel Randall

PS: I’m all up for debate about this. If you’ve been on an NSLP course and you thought it was brilliant, or if you think my assessment of NSLP as “apolitical” is way off the mark, then tell me. You can email me at daniel.randall@nus.org.uk or ring on 07961040618.

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